Hair Extensions: Everything You Need To Know

Yesterday I had keratin bonded (glue) hair extensions put in.  I have had these done before and my sister is the hairdresser so I’m becoming a bit of an expert now!  Therefore, I wanted to share my experiences with you.

The extensions that I have had put in are 100% human hair (European).  They are a dark brown colour which I got matched to my own hair and are 20 inches long.  I originally bought 100 grams although I have about 25 grams left over so I am going to return those as they are untouched.  It cost me £50 per 25 grams and I bought them from a place called Tasha Jacks in Kent.  They have a variety of colours, lengths and other types of hair such as Asian or Russian.

When I had them before

I had them put in with a glue gun taking tiny sections of my hair and gluing tiny strands of the extension hair to it.  This whole process took about 3 hours.

Once they are in your hair you are not allowed to wash your hair for roughly a week.  This is because the bonds are not allowed to get wet as they need to completely dry the whole way through and set to your hair.

When I had them before

Once you are able to wash your hair it is important you take care of the extensions.  A lot of places suggest you buy ridiculously overpriced hair extension shampoo and condition but honestly for me I found that regular shampoo and condition that I always used was absolutely fine and didn’t damage the extensions at all.  What I will say is when conditioning your hair, be careful not to put any conditioner directly on the bonds because it could make them slide out.  I always put extra conditioner on the ends of the extensions too because I find these dry out a lot but it depends on the type of hair you’ve got.

When styling the hair obviously be careful of heat near the bonds.  You don’t want to put the hairdryer too close to them as they could melt.  And similarly you don’t want to put any kind of straighteners or curling tongs near the bonds because again this will melt them.

Just before I had them taken out

If I want to brush my hair when it is wet I use a normal hard plastic bristle brush like a Denman or something and start at the ends and working up until I get to the bonds.  I normally hold the top of my hair with one hand so as to not pull too hard on the bonds which could rip them out.  If I want to brush my hair when it is dry or to brush it back into a ponytail etc then I use a special hair extension brush which has soft bristles and is a lot gentler.

Another thing to be careful of is Moroccan oil or hair oil etc.  This is great for putting through the ends of the hair because like I said mine really dries out but don’t put it anywhere near the bonds because they could slide out.

After I had them taken out

Sometimes you will find when you first wash your hair after having them put in, that one or two will fall out.  This is completely fine and you can always ask for them to be put back in.  Some people will go back and have maintenance done on their hair every month or so but I found that I didn’t actually need that at all.  My sister done a really good job when she put them in last time and in 6 months only two fell out.

I kept mine in for 6 months because I found after this they started to really grow out and you could see some of the bonds through my hair.  Also, the hair that had grown above the bonds started to matt slightly and obviously I couldn’t brush it through and so they were starting to matt together in a clump.

After I had it cut

When you have them taken out you can either go to a hairdresser’s or do it yourself.  I actually went to the hairdressers last time because I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing and I didn’t want to ruin my hair but I think this time I will do it myself as it took a long time and was rather expensive. 

So basically for removal you need to get acetone on some cotton buds, wrap it round the hair and then secure in place with tin foil.  Once all the bonds are covered you need to leave for 30mins to 1hr or until the bonds start to soften.  They will then either slide out or you can use some pliers (you can buy special ones just for hair extension removal) to break the bond and remove it along with the hair extension.  You could also use some oil or conditioner to help them slide out.

When I had them done yesterday

I did find that some of my own hair came out in the process which is as to be expected.  However, my own hair had grown a great deal in the 6 months I had the extensions in and so I had about 4 inches cut off and it was back to being really thick and healthy again.

Once you have had them removed you want to use a good hair mask once a week and put oil on the ends every other day to really help restore it back to health.  I also found it really helped to have a good cut as it had gone quite dry and thin at the ends.  I’m not going to say it doesn’t ruin your hair by having the extensions because it does to a certain extent but nothing that can’t be fixed in a month or so and it hasn’t put me off having them done again 5 months later!

I hope you found this post useful and feel free to ask any questions.

Lauren xx

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