What’s The Deal With Extensions?
Many clients I talk to feel like their hair is thin, fine, breaking or they are losing hair at some point. They feel like like it’s impossible to get their hair back into it’s once luscious, or for some, never luscious state.
Hair extensions are a wonderful way to enhance the appearance of your natural hair. They are used to add length, thickness, body or colour and give you that confidence you crave with having gorgeous hair.
So what exactly are hair extensions? They are a means of adding additional hair to your natural, existing hair. Almost anyone can wear extensions as they help with many personal insecurities towards your hair type. Did you have to cut all your hair off due to breakage? Add extensions for length so you don’t have to go through the grow out phase. Is your stylist recommending that you don’t lighten your hair as it’s too fragile? Add extensions to give you the blonde of your dreams without the damaging effects of bleach. Do you have thin, fine hair and just want to add a little fullness, add a single row of extensions to your natural length to create more body in the hair. Had a baby and having thinning around the hairline? K-tips are great for filling in that area while being virtually undetectable.
What are the different types of hair? There are two different types of hair used for hair extensions, we have human hair and synthetic hair. Human hair is exactly how they sound, they are made from real, human hair. Remy hair means that the cuticle is intact and running the same direction from top to bottom. This ensures virtually no tangling and allows the hair to remain smooth. Synthetic hair is made out of different blends of fibres and contain no human hair. They are usually plastic and are meant to imitate human hair.
Real and synthetic hair come in all sorts of different colours and can be applied with almost any method of installation. Synthetic hair tends to be stiffer and move differently from human hair which means they tend to not blend as well with your natural hair. They can also be wiry and coarse to touch. Human hair extensions can be treated just as you would your natural hair. They can be coloured, blowdried, curled or straightened. The biggest difference to your hair is that they don’t have a follicle so they are unable to produce their own oils.
Synthetic hair is a cheaper option, although they do not last as long as human hair. Heat styling will damage them and melt the fibres and you will usually only get a few months out of a synthetic extensions. Human hair on the other hand, can last anywhere from 10-12 months depending on the care and quality of the extension.
So what kind of extensions are there? There are so many methods for applying extensions these days! There are clip ins, which allow you to install and remove them daily. There are sew in hair wefts. These come in both hand tied and and machine tied. Machine tied wefts are made using an industrial sewing machine to attach hair to the weft. These wefts are denser and heavier than hand tied wefts as they need to be big enough for the machine to grip while sewing the hair. Hand tied wefts are much finer. They are produced by manually tying the hair to the extension seam and knotting it in place. This creates a very strong but much thinner weft. Because they are thinner, stylist are able to layer more hand tied wefts in the hair without additional weight and tension on the clients scalp and hair. K-tips are another great option for extensions. These are Keratin Protein Tips and are individual extensions applied using a fusion technique. K-tips are great for very fine hair and if you want 360 degree movement with your extensions. They are also used around hairlines to give extra fullness that you can’t get with wefts in those areas. Lastly, we have tape ins. These are 1” pieces of hair that are installed using medical grade tape. Tape ins are applied by sandwiching two wefts of hair to the client’s hair.
Every technique and type of hair has a unique purpose. It is recommended that you and your stylist consult to determine the best method, weight and type for your hair type. Quality is key though. Extensions are an investment you can enjoy for a long time with proper care and application.