how to maintain hair extensions

The moment that you first wear hair extensions can be quite liberating. The way that they offer you an opportunity to experiment with a broader range of hair styles and contribute significantly to your overall image is unmatched. Be it to hide imperfections or to enhance your hair’s own attributes, hair extensions are a true hair styling blessing. Of course, in order for your extensions to perform as intended, proper care is essential. These are six methods that will help you to properly care for your hair extensions:

1. Choosing the appropriate shampoo and conditioner is paramount in caring for your extensions. Ensure that they are sulfate-free. This will protect your extensions from getting damaged, especially at the bonding point. Sulfate-free hair cleaning agents are important for all types of hair extensions, but are especially important if you wear glue-in, tape-in or other varieties of adhesive bonded extensions.

2. Just as proper conditioning is vital for your own hair’s health and shine, so too is it for your extensions. When you keep them well conditioned they will look better, blend in more naturally with your own hair and be far easier to style. It is, however, important to remember to condition your extensions below the bonds. This way you will avoid damaging the critical root/weft. Also, there is no need to exaggerate in your application of the conditioner. A light application will go a long way.

3. You can revitalize your extensions each morning with some simple, yet effective, actions. If you are wearing curly extensions, the simple act of running your fingers through your hair in gentle strokes is more than sufficient to reanimate your hair style. If you wear straight or wavy extensions, brushing with a natural hair brush, preferably one made of boar hair, is best.

4. The technique that you use when you comb or brush your hair is essential in ensuring a long life for your extensions. Remember, each brush stroke exerts force on your hair. If you do not hold your hair at the roots, these brush strokes will begin to loosen your extensions. By getting into the habit of securing your hair at the root with one hand while you brush with the other, you will protect yourself from losing individual or multiple strands of your extensions.

5. While exposing your hair to nominal wind conditions should not pose a threat to your extensions, allowing yourself to get caught up in persistent and strong windy conditions can loosen and weaken them. As such, riding with your hair exposed in a convertible or on a motorcycle should be avoided. In situations that you know that you may be exposed to such strong wind conditions, secure your hair with a light scarf to prevent cases of premature loosening.

6. Swimming can be an excellent way to keep your body fit, but can be hazardous for your hair extensions. If you swim in a chlorinated pool make sure to wear a swimming cap. This will prevent the chlorine from weakening the bonds of your extensions. If you swim in the ocean a swimming cap should also be worn. The high salinity in these waters can provoke dryness which could also weaken the extensions at the bonding points. In both situations, rinsing your hair thoroughly with fresh water immediately after swimming is highly recommended. This is the only way to remove any residual traces of chlorine or salt from your hair.

The preceding tips are applicable for all types of hair extensions, whether you had them professionally applied or if you applied them yourself. For those that chose the professional approach for hair extension application there are some additional points to keep in mind that will help ensure that you have fabulous looking extensions for the longest amount of time possible.

First among these is choosing a hair stylist that is highly experienced in the application of extensions. Do not be afraid to solicit opinions from other clients that frequent the stylist in question. Usually the best way to qualify the experience level of the professional is to actually see another person that had extensions applied by that individual. As they say, seeing is believing, and with hair extensions your own eyes are often the best judge of proficiency.

Sometimes, however, no matter how skilled the hair professional, minor issues can arise soon after your hair extensions were first applied. Under most circumstances, a reputable stylist will gladly rectify issues such as loosening and other adjustments. Therefore, if you experience such imperfections you should notify the stylist as soon as possible. Usually, these types of corrections will be done for you free of charge.