Styling tips for your extensions
You already have a pretty good handle on styling your hair. You know what your hair needs, what dries it out and what gives it shine. We all learn from experience, and you've surely gathered plenty of it already.
With extensions, however, everything is new again. The care routine you had before no longer works. Hair extensions need something very special. They need nutrients and much more moisture than your own hair. They mustn't be washed or blow-dried upside down, you shouldn't use too much heat, and so on.
So there really are a lot of special considerations – but styling extensions sometimes overlaps with styling your own hair. After all, it's just hair too.
In this new blog post, we'd like to share 5 tips to help you master the special extensions care and styling of your hair extensions. We'd also like to give you a few special ideas for showing off Clip-in Extensions as well as permanent hair extensions at their best.
1. Brush before styling – and only when dry
Never brush your hair extensions or hair thickening while wet. Wet hair is much more elastic than dry hair and breaks easily, so split ends are practically guaranteed. There are special terry towels that are gentle on the hair structure, but an old T-shirt works perfectly too. Wrap your hair in it and let it dry a little. Blow-dry it lightly and only start brushing once it's really almost dry. Always work with a leave-in conditioner or a styling and care spray.
2. Turn down the temperature
Heat protection is essential when styling with heat. But even with heat protection, make sure your tools aren't set too hot. A flat iron at 200 °C (392 °F) isn't necessary – 180 °C (356 °F) will do; it achieves the same result and is gentler on your own hair and your extensions. If you don't have to be anywhere, let your hair air-dry every now and then. It's like a treatment for stressed hair.
3. Use dedicated extensions care products and styling tools
When it comes to your hair brush in particular, choose a special extensions brush that separates your hair while its boar bristles also add shine. The pins massage your scalp at the same time and stimulate circulation, so your hair is ideally supplied with nutrients and grows back even faster.
An important point with Tape-in Extensions is how they behave after washing. If some of the strands fall out, you've used the wrong product at home or water that was too hot. Watch this closely and change your shampoo and conditioner if necessary. Oils, silicones, alcohol and sulfates are particularly bad.
When you want to remove your tape-ins, always use a tape remover and avoid simply pulling them out.
4. Coloring your hair
Some of our types of extensions can be colored, but not all of them. Be careful and only make certain color changes. Bleaching isn't really possible, as it puts too much stress on the hair. Going darker, of course, always works. So it's better to buy lighter extensions that you can adjust to your exact hair color with toner and a darker color.
5. Braid your hair at night
The title says it all. Friction from your bedding and any kind of movement during the night can not only make your hair static but also damage the cuticle layer of your extensions. You'll wake up the next day looking like Albert Einstein, and your hair will become brittle faster. If you tie it into a braid or a bun, however, you can protect it better and keep it looking healthy and vibrant for longer.
Here are a few more tips for unusual hairstyles with extensions:
Clip-in Extensions
You can style your clips before you put them in. Simply clamp them somewhere – there are special clamps for this, too – and you'll have both hands free to curl or straighten your clip-ins.
Now lightly tease your own hair at the roots and insert the clips at a slight angle. The closer to your face, the higher the edge; the closer to the back of your head, the lower. This way your hair falls more naturally and you avoid noticeable unevenness. Set everything with hair spray, and your clips will hold all day – and all night, too.
Roots
When you have problems with greasy roots, often the only fix is reaching for dry shampoo. But the ingredients in these products are usually not good for extensions at all. We have two alternatives for you: first, using baby powder, and second, washing only part of your hair.
Partial washing is the safest method. Simply wash your roots and leave out the rest of your mane.
Baby powder has the advantage of being less harmful than dry shampoo. Just dust it on and comb it out, and your hair looks fresh again.
Curls
For most people with naturally curly hair, the curls don't start right at the roots. So when you create curls, start around the mid-lengths. That way they'll also last longer.
You can create heat-free curls with braids. Use a little texturizing spray or hair spray and braid one, two or even more braids, depending on how small you want your curls to be. Overnight, you'll get dreamy ringlets.
The braid trick also works when you need a hairstyle right away. Simply run your flat iron over the braids, and your dream curls are ready!
