All About Hair Extensions
Many people recently have been going for a short haircut but it is hard to deny the appeal of long hair and with hair extensions, you can have long hair too. Many people find it difficult to grow long hair due to the time required or the thickness of their hair. With hair extensions, your hair is added to real or synthetic hair that is attached to your existing hair near the scalp. With today’s technology, it is hard to tell whether hair is an extension or not because it is easy to match your original hair color.
Human hair extensions utilize real hair from donors and other sources. More expensive human hair has the benefit of being able to be treated like your regular hair. You can wash it, condition it, dry it with a blow dryer, or even color it all without damaging the extensions. You can even apply heat treatments without damage. You often have to go to a salon to get real hair extensions.
Synthetic hair extensions are made from a variety of different fibers and are more widely available. You can purchase synthetic hair extensions in beauty stores and drug stores. Due to the wide availability and the selection of fibers, the quality of synthetic hair extensions can vary. Typically, you can’t treat them with heat styling as aggressively as you can with human hair extensions.
There are five different ways to apply hair extensions to your hair and what is right for you might not be right for the next person. Each one has its benefits and its drawbacks. You need to decide which method you can afford and how long you want the extensions to last.
Recently, bonding or gluing hair extensions into place has become popular. The bonding method uses heat to attach keratin-tipped extensions to your hair. Gluing uses an adhesive that is applied to the roots. Both of these methods take very little time but they typically don’t last as long.
Clip-on extensions are temporary and don’t require you to seek any specialists. These attachments will only usually stay in for a day but they have the benefit of being able to be reused. This method is great for someone who is looking to change his/her hair color or add flair quickly.
Using the micro link process, hair extensions are added to your natural hair with rings or tubing. There are two different ways to attach the hair with this method. First is crimping the rings into place so that they apply pressure on the hair. The second is to heat the keratin tubing until it tightens–similar to what is done with electrical wires.
Fusing is the process of using a specially designed adhesive to connect your real hair to extensions. Attaching your hair with a fusion process typically involves braiding your hair and the extensions together and then applying the adhesive with heat. The adhesive melts and attaches your hair to your extensions. This process is expensive and often takes more than a couple of hours to conduct, depending on the amount of extensions being attached.
With the weaving method, your original hair is placed into cornrows and the extensions are sewn into the rows. This process is time-consuming due to the fact that your original hair has to be braided and the extensions have to be sewn in. A fair amount of people also find this process painful because of the tugging on your hair.
Once you have your hair extensions in place, you are going to want to make sure that you treat them properly. Human hair extensions can be treated just like the real thing but it is best to be gentle on them because you don’t want to ruin your extensions. Synthetic hair extensions should be treated with care and it is recommended that you get special hair brushes to work with them and that you use conditioner every night so that your hair is easy to work with. If you damage your extensions, you will probably have to go back to the stylist because it will throw off the balance of the hair.
Often times, hair extensions will last you for months and many of the different application methods are both time-consuming and expensive. Come on in to Moodie Hair Design and Spa and talk with one of the hair professionals to figure out what type of hair extension is right for you. Moodie Hair Design and Spa is one of the premier suppliers of hair extensions in Ottawa.