Cradle Falls . webs . com

Questions that are Frequently Asked of me… or things that people might wonder about. I’ve done my best with this, and I will add more Q & A's when I think of more, but if I still have not managed to answer your question, please send it to me- unless I'm sick or dead I should respond within 24 hours :)

For the sake of convenience, I have split the FAQ up into the following categories:

• Introductions
• General
  
• Dreads
• Yarn & Wool
• Cyber
• Payment
• Shipping
  

Fake hair is a way to change how you look quickly and dramatically, is less weighty on your scalp and pocket than having salon extensions done and is easier to take on and off than your shoes, so your psuedo-Victorian boss can’t get grouchy at you. Apparently some customers don’t like being served by someone with ass-length Neon Green dreads. Funny, that.

Oh, and I’m Amy, and my business’ name is Cradle Falls.



No… Cradle like the cradle in the lullaby:

Rock-a-bye baby on the treetop,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
Down will come baby, cradle and all.

To me, this has all sorts of symbolism; of growing up; of coming across “dark” and exciting things that are perceived as dangerous by the nanny state; Satan’s mythical Fall from Heaven and a child’s first loss of naivety. All of which are in some way intrinsic to the goth subculture as a whole, methinks.



Nope, Cradle Falls require no glue, or any other ickies you care to mention :D

Each fall is attached to an elastic ribbon, which you tie round the base of your buns or ponytails, completely covering them. This process takes about ten seconds.

Hairpiece sets are a combined fall and matching Alice band arrangement, dread extensions are installed by braiding them directly into your real hair, human hair extensions simply clip in  and dread wigs, you just plonk straight on your head, like a hat. Nothing could be simpler, except maybe a member of the Sugababes :P



Well, traditionally 'ponyfalls' are attached to a cloth hairband, unlike hairpieces, which are usually attached to a tie-around strip of elastic ribbon or lace. I make hairpieces because 'ponyfalls' are just... crappy-looking (although much cheaper and quicker to make). However, times and terminology have changed, and these days, 'falls' means hairpieces and 'hairpieces' means falls. I just prefer the term 'falls', is all. Plus it's quicker to type ;P

But officially *clears throat* hairpieces are what I make. As well as wigs, hairpiece sets and extensions, of course :)



Absolutely, whether you're as bald as an egg or have hair down to your ankles, there is something for you, and if you can get your hair into pigtails, even better! If not, then a wig or extensions might be in order, or you could just wait for your hair to grow, of course!

As for actual falls, tiny stubby ponytails won’t stand up to anything heavier than babylength yarn or braid falls (including hairpiece sets)… 4” long ponytails can handle long yarn or braid falls (including hairpiece sets), and 6” or longer can handle pretty much anything. Bear in mind, though, that these are estimates based on my own hair. People with incredibly fine, soft, baby-type hair might need to grow their hair slightly longer, and possibly steer clear of rexlace full stop.

All Cradle Falls are unique creations for the unique person- whatever your hair type or style, there is something for you here!



Yes. Even Barbie has glow-in-the-dark hair extensions these days. Even if you’re a total chav, you could get away with it for clubbing- maybe think blonde clip-in human hair extensions, rather than Black and Red foam falls? ;)

If you want your falls/ extensions to look at all natural, you’ll need the base colour to match your real hair’s colour. You can send me a photo or even a little snip of your own hair and I’ll do my best to match it. If you don’t give a crap about people knowing that you’re wearing fake hair, then your options are obviously much wider :) Or you can always dye your real hair to match your fake hair, of course! I did this for years until I finally settled on dying my hair black, 'cos it goes with everything :D



No problem at all, it’ll look great :D You don't have to have a 'natural' colour as a base, you can have any you want :) I had pink hair for ages, so the majority of my own falls and extensions were pink to match, with accents in other colours like purple and blue.



Yep :D Just tie your hair up into buns and the falls will completely cover them, rendering you very, very cute ;P If your hair is quite long or thick, please remember to mention this when you order so I can bear it in mind when designing your order.



Could do, but in a good way- you might not need (although you may well want, for the volume factor) so many strands in your falls, so your falls could be cheaper; this is especially true with dread extensions. Hurrah!

If your undercut is up to about top of the ear level, then about 35-40 double ended extensions might be better than the standard 50-55, and if you only have a Mohawk strip of hair up there then you might only be wanting about 15 - 20 or so. I can, however, make them thicker to compensate. Email me for a quote.



Nope. They don’t tend to get dirty, so much as a bit smelly from clubbing, cooking and so on, and a nice squirt of Febreeze will take care of that. You can also try hanging them up in the bathroom while you have a hot shower to give them a steam clean ;)

Please do not try to shampoo or condition fake hair, because, well, it's fake, and it doesn't respond in the same way as real hair would.

Yarn braid falls are machine washable, if you're careful. Put them in a pillowcase or similar to protect them, and put them on the shortest, coldest cycle with an absolute minimum of detergent. Then hang them up somewhere to drip dry (not over a hot radiator and definitely not in the tumble dryer!). Please do not attempt this method with anything other than yarn though!

Don’t fold foam or rexlace falls, or leave them on radiators, hobs etc, and if they really are dirty, you can gently wipe them clean with a damp cloth.

Don’t microwave, bury or set fire to Cradle Falls hair.

That’s about it, really ;)



As long as you follow the above instructions and generally treat them nicely, they could last years. Yay!

Of course, you don’t have to be wearing the same thing for years- I wear different falls, wigs and extensions for nights in, nights out and days shopping, for example :) This is the advantage of having hairpieces that are as easy to change as your facial expression.

Dread extensions can be worn for 4-8 weeks at a time before they grow out and start looking messy. But at this point, you can just take them out, wash and brush your hair, and put them back in again :) If they need to be tidied up a bit, I can re-seal them with my steam gun for you :)





Wear them higher on the head- i.e. have really, really high ponytails. If the falls are long, drape a piece from the front at each side over the fronts of your shoulders. You can also use a headband, scarf or similar to cover some of the hair at the front of your head.



That's fine, I just use the terms 'babylength' (12.5"), 'mid-length' (19") and 'long' (24 - 25") to give you an idea of pricing, and because these three lengths are generally the most popular. I can make most things from ear to ankle length- just ask :)



Please email me as many links and attachments as you like! I can look at a photo and know exactly what it is and how to make it :)



Of course. I’m here to help :) Just email me telling me what your overall look is, whether it be traditional goth, cyber, Faery, raver, Wiccan, vamp, etc, or what particular effect you’re trying to achieve. It might also be an idea to have a look at the relevant Gallery for ideas on colour and texture combinations.



If you like :) Please send me a message describing what and how much you have, and I'll get back to you :)

Yes, because they are real dreads, they're just made out of plastic hair instead of human hair. Just like with 'real' dreads, I backcomb the hair, hand roll it into dread shapes and then seal them.

If you get a dreads kit to match your real hair's colour, the effect is almost indistinguishable from having dreaded your real hair. The only differences being: a) they aren't greasy, b) they aren't smelly, c) they take a couple of hours rather than a couple of months to get settled, and d) you don't have to shave your head when you want to take them out ;)



DIY Dread Extensions Kits, which give you a fantastic head-full of multicoloured ropes, are braided into your hair and last about 6 weeks.

Kathryn Quinn gives some good advice for washing your hair while wearing them:

"If you cannot stand to go without shampooing your scalp, then try to hold all the [dreads] out of the way when you shampoo - just run diluted shampoo over your scalp and massage in using your fingers, before rinsing with a well-aimed showerhead. I have also seen people suggest that you bag the bulk of your wool hair up in plastic bags to keep it dry - no doubt a comical scene in the shower, but it definitely helps."

So there you have it. But, to be honest, hair doesn't really get "dirty" or smelly, and washing your hair more than once a week when you have extensions in can actually wash away the natural oils that look after your scalp and keep it healthy. I never bother washing my hair when my dreads are in, and it's all good :)

Not particularly, as they are bigger and brighter and softer and fuzzier and more colourful and dready! They look more like wraps than anything in daylight, and quite similar to dreads under club light. In this sense they look nicer than organic braids, especially as organic braids can be loose at the roots and get a bit yukky looking after a while :P



Send me the link and if it's at all possible, I'll make it into falls for you :)

Tricky, indeed. But not impossible. I could make you some falls especially short and with fewer strands than standard, to make them lighter, but if your hair really won't take it, you could just have some rexlace mixed into some yarn falls, for the look of the plastic without the weight! Mixing some rexlace into a wig or a DIY Dread Extensions Kit is always an option, too, it looks really funky :)



Not as a matter of course. I personally prefer using other materials for a cyber look- however, I can make those enormous crin (aka cyberlox) falls- just ask for a colour chart, as what colours are available seem to be constantly changing :P

For a cyber/ techno club look, I personally think that rexlace or foam falls are best. The rexlace looks cool because it gives the appearance of your real hair having being turned into fine, shiny plastic strands, and foam falls also have some of that larger-than-life dayglo effect of cyberlox, but without that weird way that cyberlox floats around.

Example prices are shown at the bottom of each type of hair's page, or check out the Price List for an overview. Email me for a tailor-made quote. I try not to have an overly rigid pricing system as I am attempting to make fake hair a “cheap/ fun” thing rather than a “huge-serious-commitment-expensive” thing :) I can’t guarantee that I’m the best deal around, but I haven’t seen anyone selling what I sell of a similar quality for a lower price. This is not because my goodies are shoddy- I just don’t slap on as much extra onto the price for profit as everyone else.



Working to a certain budget is no problem, just let me know what it is and I'll figure out what you could get for it! I used to be a student, so I totally understand ;)



UK people: by Paypal, personal cheque, direct bank transfer, postal order or well-concealed cash sent by Special Delivery so I can catch the postman.

Non-UK people: by Paypal only. If you don't already have a Paypal account, you can set one up for free at paypal.com.

There is a 4% additional charge for using Paypal, so remember to tell me if you want to use it so I can adjust your quote accordingly. This is only because Paypal skim off 4% of whatever I receive through them... gits.

If you can't pay all at once, I don't mind being paid in installments, but I need to have the whole payment before I start making your item.



Well, if you're working to a microscopically tiny budget, I'd point you in the direction of plain yarn falls- a single babylength plain yarn fall in one or two colours will only set you back about £15.

If you *have* no budget, I’m willing to do swapsies! I have quite weird taste in stuff. There’s all the usual vices like clothes (I’m a UK size 8), shoes (I’m a UK 7) and so on… My constantly updated WISH LIST can be found in the Swap Shop. As you can see I am *oh so* shallow and materialistic… I just *love* shiny things! ...it's not exhaustive though, so if you get the impression you have something I might like and it's not on the list, just tell me anyway :)

If you have anything like any of the items on the list, and would like some fake hair, email me and we can come to some sort of trade/ part- exchange deal, or I can give you a gift voucher for future Cradle Falls cravings ;)

Usually between 7 and 28 days, depending on what you want, what I have in stock, and whether I have any other orders to finish before I can start on yours. Email me with what you would like for an estimate. The at-a-glance combined order tracker and public waiting list gives you a quick idea of how many other orders I need to complete before yours (if any) and thus how long you'd be likely to have to wait. I've basically just copied and pasted my list of 'orders to do' into a blog and deleted the names and addresses, but 'at-a-glance combined order tracker and public waiting list' sounds so much cooler, don'tcha think :P



Probably not. But email me anyway :)You never know. I put falls on eBay from time to time, so have a look by clicking >here< for some bargains- and don't forget to add me to your Favourite Sellers list! ;)



Of course, there is no discrimination here, lol. You'll probably have to pay a little extra for the shipping, that's all.

Then please contact me with it :)