Woman says 6,000-mile trip to get hair extensions done ends up saving her money: ‘100% worth it’

A TikTok content creator, Bryn Elise, has posted a video about travelling to Turkey for a week to get her hair extensions done for cheaper than it would have cost had she had them done in the US.

As it turns out,  the 27-year-old ultimately spent less for the entire trip and the hair extensions at a price of $1,750.  She said the whole experience was “100% worth it”.

In her video, Elise explained that after “an email from my US salon letting me know that they were raising the prices of the extensions I get to $4,450,” she began to search for new alternatives. While looking at photos for hair inspiration, the TikTokker realized that the majority of the photos she’d saved on Instagram were from Bilal Karatay, a “world-class stylist” who was based in Turkey.

Struck with a brand new idea, Elise decided to slide into Karatay’s Instagram DM’s in order to get a quote. The content creator was bowled over when Karatay responded to her with a quote of only $500 for a complete hair service including hair extensions, bleaching, and toning.

Elise admitted to Buzzfeed that initially, she believed that there “must have been some miscommunication” when she first saw the quote. With inflation hiking up prices across the board in the US, the TikTokker couldn’t wrap her head around hair extensions priced that low and was certain that she had “misunderstood” Karatay and that she really owed him $1,000.

Elise revealed: “My hair the first time cost me about $550, the second time $500, and the last time I went the prices had decreased to around $450. That’s just because the US dollar is very strong right now against the Lira."

Because of the US dollar’s current valuation, Elise was able to optimize costs and plan a week-long vacation in Turkey. The overall trip’s reported cost of $1,750 amounts to $2,700 less than the $4,450 quote she got from her US hair salon. In her video, she broke down the costs for viewers: “If I am strategic with my travel dates, I can find round-trip tickets to Istanbul for around $700-$800.”

Concerning food and lodging, she advised: “You can get gorgeous apartments in Istanbul for less than $350 a week on Airbnb so that’s what I’ve done the last couple of times. Food prices can vary but you can get a meal in a nice restaurant for under $10!"

While people said they were glad that Elise had figured out how to save money for a salon visit, many expressed scepticism in her comment section and said Elise wasn’t factoring in the added cost of maintaining the extensions.

When a person with hair extensions has hair growth, typically the extensions either need to be removed or replaced. This requires those with extensions to visit a salon every three to four months for upkeep. Factoring in this information, the total cost would lead to Elise having to travel to Turkey three times a year for an estimated total of $5,250 a year, still less than the $13,350 the content creator would have to pay a year if she continued patronising the US salon.

While neither total sum is by any means cheap, Elise noted: “I have been to Turkey to get my hair done three times now and the price always differs a little due to fluctuations with the Turkish Lira. It actually has continuously gotten a little less expensive each time I go."