THE BLONDTOURAGE

You can’t always get what you want? Ummm… Ya I do.

What could possibly be better than instant gratification? Nothing.  Your hair is blonde, so your pretty much get what you want when you want it, BUT now you want MORE blonde hair.  NOW.

Voilá! Hair extensions. 

Unfortunately, this isn’t a wave your wand type of demand.  Once again, having blonde hair is going to make this something you again have to research and carefully make the right decision about.  Boring but necessary, ladies and gents!

Im going to try and outline the most important factors in the easiest way, but remember there are SO many exceptions I’ll probably only cover about %80 of cases.

Types of Hair Extensions

Clip-Ins

The most sorority friendly extensions out there, these are able to be used with great variation out of all the extension types.  Add to that you take them out at the end of the day, and you have yourself some super easy blonde hair! (Not to be confused with your super easy friend Jessica, who also wears clip-ins.)

PROS:

• You can use as little or as many clips ins as you want!  Add one for a thicker bun/top knot, or add 10 wefts when you want to look better than the actual bride.
• You can have different lengths and colors and use them appropriately to match whatever stage your grow out is at or whatever color your ends are at the time.
• You can take them out at the ends of the night
• You can remove them at any time for a color or chemical service or treatment

CONS:

• They require some skill to put in if you don’t want to look drunk when you show up.
• Any swimming in clip-ins is not advised.
• You can’t sleep in them!  No; not even just for 3 hours before you have to get up and sneak out of your exes place before his/her roommate wakes up.
• You usually cannot change your hairstyle mid-use without re-placing them on different part of your head; as in from low bun to high bun, all down to half up, etc.
• Once you cut them, you need to remember exactly where they go, down to the inch, if you want them to fall into place with the rest of the set that was cut.

Difficulties with Clip-Ins:

So one of the times clip-ins can prove to be a bitch are when your hair has really short layers in it, or is really short all around.  Add to that, or by itself, THICK hair can be pretty hard to use clip ins with because any new layer of hair will look out of place.  For this, you would want to have some clip-in wefts custom made with twice the amount of hair in each piece, or if you can sew, you can double up ones you bought yourself.  I would explain how to do this but I don’t want Girl Scouts of America to go out of business because Samoas.

Tape-Ins

Tape-ins are the best friend of any hairstylist.  Easy to install, move up, and remove, these babies are the epitome of instant gratification.  If your stylist is good at their job, you can have a drastic transformation in as little as one hour.

PROS:

• Fast to put in and move up
• Best extension option for adding thickness without requiring many pieces
• Less expensive to install and move up.
• Can be used over freshly beached hair. God I love that term…”freshly bleached.”

CONS:

• You need to move these up every 5-6 weeks.
• You can only use the same hair 3 times.
• You have to be careful when putting your hair up, pulling these in the wrong direction can be damaging.
• You have to plan your color services around their move-ups.
• You can’t buy single tape-ins from the good suppliers, so if you need long ones and then short one for layers, you have to pay for the long ones then cut off the length which is painful, so painful…

Difficulties with tape-ins:

Tape-ins pose to be a problem if you work out a lot or have excessively oily hair.  I guess moisture is the culprit here.  Also if you’re in the middle of repairing some damaged hair and need weekly or twice weekly treatments, these things can break down the tops of the tape-ins and hair will shed out faster, or only be able to be used 2 times instead of 3.  Another thing with tape-ins is that its hard to have anything but a top knot or low ponytail.  Half-up and half-down is almost always out of the question, boohoo all y’all hipsters!  I guess the other thing that is difficult with tape-ins is that if you’re purple shampooing your hair, the tape-ins grab the purple pigment way quicker than your regular hair.  I dunno- if Brittany would ever balayage my hair maybe my ends would be as porous as my tape-ins and this wouldn’t be an issue. BRITTANY.

Beads 

There are two ways to have bead extensions, individual and weft.  I will break these up in two parts, but remember, weft extensions put in with beads were meant for DAY use only, maximum one week.  If your hair can handle wefts put in with beads longer than this, hell yes I am super happy for you, but if you are a regular human person with regular person hair, don’t risk this!

INDIVIDUAL BEAD PROS:

• If you have strong hair, these can last you up to 12 weeks between move-ups.
• You can buy many different shades and lengths to be installed at the same time.
• If you swim a lot or work out every day, these are fantastic for that lifestyle.
• You can reuse the hair until you don’t want to anymore or until your hair grows past their length!

INDIVIDUAL BEAD CONS:

• Definitely not recommended for using over freshly bleached hair.
• It takes a good 4+ hours to install a full head of these, up to 6 hours, and just as long to do the move-ups
• These cost more for installation and move-up and removal due to the labor involved.
• Did I mention you have to sit for 4+ hours? And thats on top of however long you have to sit for color.

TRACKS IN WITH BEADS PROS:

• These can be put in super fast and add A LOT of hair at the same time.
• Fantastic for a day or two long photo shoot (maximum one week I allow my clients to have these in, and thats put in properly by a professional).
• Great short term alternative to sew-ins.

TRACKS WITH BEADS CONS:

• These put a lot of weight onto a small amount of natural hair, a lot of pulling or tugging will result on breakage in a lot of cases.
• You get the amount of hair you’d get with clip-ins, but you can’t do them yourself.
• You have to take out your gorgeous mane of hair so soon, but if you own the tracks, these can have clips sewn onto them and you can make clip-ins!

Difficulties with Individual Bead Extensions: 

You have to be careful with these because I’ve noticed if you travel a lot for some reason these can start to wear and tear on your hair… I don’t know if its because the beads are metal or what, but excessive flying has affected some of my clients hair when they have bead extensions.  I like to blame EMF’s but in all truthfulness I’m not even sure what electromagnetic fields do or how they would react to copper or aluminum but it seems fishy, right?!  Also if you don’t have the right person “doing” them, they have a tendency to slip out.  Thought it is expected and normal to lose 12-14 in the week or two following an installation, it’s still funny to have a “noodle” slip out of your hair at dinner.  Extra points if you have super light blonde hair because then it looks like a piece of cooked spaghetti :-0 LOL.  (One time I found a noodle on my doormat in the morning so I know I had a really good night the night before, even if I couldn’t remember exactly what happened.)

Fused/Glue

Its not 2003 so I refuse to even speak about this.  Sorry GreatLengths™.

(No shit talking Paris and Nicole, I fucking LOVE them.  Where is this person that gave them a show?  I want to give them a medal.)

Sew-Ins

Ah the old classic sew-in weft extensions!  Also known as “weaves”.  This is for my black or mixed girls out there, or truly anyone with thick-ass hair that will stay in a tight braid in which to sew wefts of hair to.  Haitians and Jamaicans, other islander girls.  You know who you are.  I’ve even had a few white girls that had a good stylist that was able to work magic on her hair and keep wefts in tight for 2-3 months at a time.  I do not have a lot of experience here with this type of extension so I am going to refer to my assistant Brandi for our pros and cons!

SEW-INS PROS: (By Brandi!)

•  With sewn in extensions you can add highlights and experiment with different hair colors without making a permanent decision.

• You can instantly add length and volume without waiting months and years for your hair to grow.

• Sewn extensions are nice and snug so you wont have to worry about your extension slipping out.  

• Some extension styles can hide the majority of your hair protecting it from damage and exposure to the elements. These type of extensions prevent constant manipulation like combing and heat styling and help with hair retention.

SEW-INS CONS: (By Brandi!)

• Sewn in extensions can take time getting used to. They are attached to a braid on your natural hair and can sometimes be uncomfortable and cause headaches but this will go away in a few days.

• If the extensions are not put in correctly or applied too tight they may cause breakage or traction alopecia.

• If they are not properly taken care of or washed regularly they can cause bacteria build-up and tangling.

• They are low maintenance but not no maintenance you must take care of your hair when wearing sewn in extensions.

   –Thanks Brandi!-

Well, there are some other types of extensions I did not cover in this post.  Some ones I can think about off-hand are shrinkies, which is similar to bead extensions, except the bead it self is plastic and shrinks with heat around the extension tip and natural hair root.  Another is the halo, which is multiple tracks of hair layered onto one weft and hung with a fishing line around your head, hidden by your own hair.  If anyone has inquiries about other types let me know and I will research them and do a follow up post!

XOXO 

WITH LOVE AND THICK MANES OF BLONDE EXTENSIONS FOR ALL!

Caitlin ❤

8581 Santa Monica Blvd #305, West Hollywood, CA 90069