Kate Gosselin's New Hair Extensions Reportedly Cost $7,000

This week Kate Gosselin premiered her new long hair on the cover of People magazine, calling her new style and outlook on life "Kate Clean Slate." But if the fans who copied Kate's old spiky 'do want to follow the reality star's style lead again, they might need to take out a loan: Kate's new extensions reportedly cost a whopping $7,000. Ted Gibson, the stylist who created Kate's new look (and who was taped doing so by TLC), estimated that amount when he discussed the 20 hours he spent on Kate's hair makeover with the online gossip site RadarOnline, so we asked an expert to verify this. Turns out, she backs up Gibson's claims:

"The stylist [Ted Gibson] was probably using top-quality hair. Hair costs between $500 and $2,000, and anytime you do celebrity extensions, you use the highest quality hair possible," said the Neil George Salon's senior extensionist Kacey Welch, who adds long locks for celebs like Kristin Cavallari.

Beyond the cost of the hair (she says the best for a blonde are Eastern European locks, which are the priciest), the application can be time-consuming. Welch explained, "It sounds like she got individual hairs added over her entire head, which is expensive because it takes so long to apply. And if her hair was short and she went long, she would need a lot of hair. $7,000 is definitely on the high side, but if he's going to the client's location, then spending 20 hours on color and cut and application, that all increases the cost."

Stylist Ted Gibson also revealed the most time-consuming part of Kate's hair transformation: "I would say 15 of those hours were working on Kate, trying to convince her to cut her bangs," he said. "I felt like she was hiding behind that front piece." Gibson didn't mention whether Kate paid for the extensions herself.