Hellooo!
As we all know, the Hair Fair 2012, organized by Sasy Scarborough and her team, has opened to the public today. And oh wonder oh wonder – I made it in! Surprisingly quickly even, only cost me like 20 attempts per sim. 
So, here is a summary of my first impression and my favourite styles that I got. 
Participants
There are many, many stores participating. I was especially happy to see some new stores on the horizon, such as LaViere, which is a bran of Azure Electricteeth from Tee*fy, known for her good taste and high quality designs. Then there is Götzsche. I have no clue who they are, but I do know that their style reminds me a lot of LeLutka, with a bit of Elikatira in it. I like it and that name makes me laugh, german girl that I am! ISON by Harry Hyx also has some nice hair, whcih unfortunately didn’t really fit to my avi but is nice regardless. Illusory looked pretyt neat, too, though it simply doesn’t fit my style. Anya OHMAI also released some really cute hairs. Prolly gonna buy them when I get back into the sim.
Of course there are also a TON of old dogs participating, in no particular order: LeLutka, Exile, Clawtooth, Lamb., Wasabi Pills, Analog Dog, D!va, Damselfly, Kik, Waka & Yuki and so many more.
However, I found it a bit sad that a couple of the largest stores (or at least ver ypopular stores) such as Truth, Maitreya and Burley don’t seem to participate. Whatever their reasons, I would have loved to see them there as well!
Layout, setting and lag
The setting is pragmatic and plain, yet not unpretty. I liked the one from 2011 better though, it was more…eyecandy so to say. But then again, I go there to waste my money on pixelhair, not to admire the pretty setting. 
The whole layout is really easy to navigate and despite the sims being full at all times, I experienced only a bit of lag. Instructions how to avoid lag can be found on the Hair Fair Blog.I highly recommend to read those. In short: No script, reduced draw distance, layer clothing or mesh clothing, no unecessary prims, no particles, reduce the number of avatars shown to you…and you shall be relatively fine.
Vendors
Overall most vendors worked just fine. It would have just been so much better if truly every designer had sent out the Demos in the respective group. Either SL isn’t loading them, or there is a bunch missing. Because it is really anoying having to buy and try demos AT the fair. Please?
Also, if you really HAVE to pack your demos/hairs into a prim, make sure it delivers upon attaching it. Clicking it hardly ever worked for me, and people are impatient.
Quality of items
I must say, I am a tiny little bit disappointed. I have the feeling (MY opinion!!) that a lot of creators did not really release something new, but simply offered a hairstyle that was very similar to something they already have in their store. That’s not necessarily bad, but not overly creative either.
Speaking of creativity: There are only so many over-the-shoulder-styles that I want to buy. I sometimes wished creators would look out what others make and try to be different instead of offering the 1000th version of the same updo or long hair. BUT: Admittedly, there are also only so many styles you can do. I am not sure, maybe my expectations are just too high.
Overall I think there were a lot of good items to be had, but a lot of poorly made ones as well. Trying the demos is absolutely a must!! There is a LOT of mesh-hair out there right now, so trying the demos really is important.
Now for the hairs!!
Left: Lamb! /Middle: D!va / Right: Götzsche
Click on the pic first to view it in its larger version.
Lamb’s hair is really cute imho. It looks soft and realistic, which I love. One thing that always bothers me are hairs that I would love to remake in rl, but everyone knows not even with ten bottles of hairspray that would ever work. One thing that I noticed is a ‘break’ in the texture on the strand on the right, the semi transparent one. Not sure why it does that, but it doesn’t bother me enough to not like this hair a lot.
D!va has realsed some very, very cute styles for the Hair Fair. They are soft and sweet. However, and that is something that will forever bother me about D!Va: Making hair no mod is an absolute NO GO imho. Making your stuff no mod won’t protect you from copybotters, so …just let it be, please? I happen to know that D!va always fits to my head, but as you can see, their black isn’t really black and more like…gray? I’d love to be able to tint this hair. But given how cute it is, I fear I will have to deal. 
As I said before, I think Götzsche is like a mixture of Elikatira and LeLutka. Their textures are good and the mesh seems to work just fine with my shape in most animations. However, what I noticed after buying, is this strange stray strand on the very left. I am not sure why it is partially invisible from the front. From the very side, it looks normal. Does anyone know why that is the case?! I love it regardless.
Left: Elikatira / Middle: Exile /Right: LeLutka
Click on the pic first to view it in its larger version.
Elikatira’s releases for the Hair Fair is found a bit disappointing…besides this one!! I am in love with it. It looks really soft and as always, the quality of both texture and primwork is awesome. Yes, primhair!! Not mesh. Usual sculpts. And it looks so cute! I also like that Elikatira offers a so called ‘Essentials’-Pack with all basic colours in it for just 30L more than the regular price.
Exiles hair comes with or without feathers. I personally really like them. Without the feathers I thought the style looked pretty bland. I really like the texture as usually and the hair works well with my AO as well. I however wasn’t too impressed with the other styles by Exile, but that is a matter of taste I guess.
LeLutka’s hair has awesome textures and it fits SO well. The hair can be worn with or without attachment, which is a mesh-item. I personally love the very classy style of this hair and prefer it without the attachment. It does remind me of an old, old style from Lamb and finally it fits to my head, too! The other styles offered by LeLutka were pretty awesome as well, though didn’t fit my personal style.
Left: Fasionably Dead /Middle: Fashionably Dead /Right: La Viere
Click on the pic first to view it in its larger version.
I never really liked FD’s hair..until Toast Bard, the creator, sent me a review copy today…in brunette!!! ARGH! That was evil, because I bet she knew I’d instantly love it and run to buy it in black. 
J/k. I really like this new hair. It is mesh and I think both styles look really cute. I prefer the left one I guess. The only think that bothers me a bit is the shinyness/glitter on the texture. You can see it on top of the head. It didn’t seem as bad on the brunette copies. I am not sure, but that does not seem to match the quality of the overall work on the hair. But..I still like it!
LaViere’s demos did not contain the dark grayscales, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw this. While on the blondes and especially on those with neon tips or strands the textures seemed really, really nice, the textures on the darker hair seems a bit…blurry? I am not sure. It seems a lot less detailed. Might be due to the colour, but other creators pull off a good black, too! However, these are her first hairs and given the quality of her item swith Tee*fy, I am sure she’ll improve. The style of the hair is REALLY cute tho!
So, that’s it so far. Hope it helped you a bit and good luck getting into the sims.
The SLURLS are as following:
Hair Fair 1
Hair Fair 2
Hair Fair 3
Hair Fair 4
Have fun there!!
Arica.
PS: A correction on my part: LeLutka’s vendors were set correctly, I was simply mislead to believe the scripts in it were to use the vendors as usual LeLutka vendors. My apologies! I got it all mixed up while shopping on two accounts.
