hair extensions blog

Hair extensions have nowadays proven to be of great help to those who want their hair to look long and dense. As all must know, they are of two types, viz. natural and synthetic….

Hair Extensions have nowadays proven to be of great help to those who want their hair to look long and dense. As all must know, they are of two types, viz. natural and synthetic. In some ways the natural extensions are good, while in some other ways, the synthetic ones score over them. The synthetic extensions, though are cheap and available in hoards of colors and textures, cannot tolerate heat and so cannot undergo processes, like straightening or curling. Whereas the natural extensions, can undergo processing, though they cost high. These natural extensions have different ethnic origins, such as India, China, Eastern Europe and Russia. There are two ways in which you can lengthen and thicken your hair with artificial extensions, viz. permanent and temporary.

The permanent type of extensions can last up to six months if they are applied skillfully and taken care of well. There are in turn various techniques to apply these extensions. There is a technique called hot fusion bonding, in which heat is used to warm up the extensions and then they are attached to the hair just near the scalp. Same way, there is cold fusion bonding method too, which is less damaging, because a glue fuses the extensions with hair in it and not heat. These techniques are the most high-priced ones and cost somewhere around $300 to $2000 according to the time taken for the application and its quantity and standard. Amongst both, cold fusion is more expensive. Another method is weaves and braided hair extensions in which wefts of the extensions are sewn to the braids formed of your natural hair. These braids are formed in horizontal line near the middle of the scalp and after they are finished, wefts are sewn and the natural hair is combed over them so as to make them invisible. Its price is nearly $150 for each seating and it needs to maintain quarterly. Another technique is called micro-looping. Here real or synthetic hair is attached to small plastic loops. Your natural hair is passed through these loops. The loops are then taken toward the scalp and are tied there. The price for these ranges from $150 to $1500. You can carry on fine with them even for six months, but they are even re-used. However, in spite of their natural appearance and longer duration, the permanent extensions bring in some difficulties too. First of all, they require a lot of maintenance and the cost of application and maintenance is very high. The methods like heat, glue, chemicals etc. can damage the hair, especially if they are improperly applied or maintained. Micro-looping causes less damage, albeit it has its own disadvantages. Firstly, the loops can slip down and secondly, they are absolutely unadvisable for fine hair, because they can uproot the hair easily.

Due to the disadvantage of permanent extensions, clip-ins has become more preferable. These temporary extensions cost nothing compared to the permanent ones and offer a wide variety to choose from. In these, the extensions are strands of hair attached to clip or row of clips, which can be snapped below the natural hair in such a way that the clips are not visible. These have become today’s trend because of the ease and comfort they offer of self-application, added with low cost, which allows you to collect a lot of them and use a different one for every occasion. Again you have a wide choice of synthetic extensions amongst them. The best quality among the synthetic extensions is monofiber or monofilament; their price is $20 to $40 for each packet. They show a striking similarity to human hair and are available in enormous range of colors. They can be formed into permanent extensions also. One more category is silky straight Kanekalon which cost $5 to $10 for each packet. They are extremely silky, straight and glossy, but they are good only for straight or braided styles. Another variety, called silky braid Kanekalon, is perfect for dreadlocks, braids and straight styles. They cost $2 to $4 per packet. They have a coarse texture and come in limited range of colors, but give a good look to the wearer. One more category is Jumbo braid Kanekalon, which is as cheap as $1 to $2 per packet, moreover offering various colors. But they are a bit difficult to manage and are good if you want a quick disposable hairpiece. You can get readymade braids and dreads too; the price of braids is $5 maximum and that of dreads may be a little higher.

Clip-in Hair Extensions are more advisable to use because they cause less damage to your own hair and you can try a number of experiments with them and have fun!

How long is your hair? Do you know what kind of hair extensions you are planning on getting for your hair? Do you have any idea what the length of the hair extensions need to be? The reason I ask this is because longer hair extensions also cost more money simply because you can’t just make long hair extensions, sometimes you will want real human hair and when that is the case you will pay so much per inch of real hair. For instance if you want a set that is 22 inches long then you are going to pay much more than if the set was only 16 inches long.

One of the ways you can determine your hair extensions lengths is by measuring your hair from the middle of your head to the bottom of the lowest hair. The reason why you do this is so that you get hair extensions that are longer than this, if you don’t then all you are going to do is make your hair look fuller as opposed to being longer. The one thing you should do is add at least 3 inches onto your hair length, doing this will give you some room to play with and if you want to cut the hair extensions to give it a different look then you can do that.

Tips to getting the right size

Measure right – What a lot of people don’t do is measure their hair to know exactly what size of hair extensions they should buy and this is a huge problem once you buy the extensions. What you don’t want to do is measure your hair from the wrong spot, you need to measure from the very center of the back of your head since that is where the hair extensions will sit.

Calculate the length you want – If you want your hair to be 5 inches longer than where it is now then you need to calculate for that. What most people do is they will buy hair extensions that are just an inch or so longer than their hair already and the problem with this is when your hair finally does grow your extensions will then be useless. Just remember that if you want to use your hair extensions for a long time then you need to get a size that will work for many years to come as opposed to just a few months of regular use.