Why have hair extensions developed a poor reputation?
Hair extensions should always look natural and should NEVER damage your hair if they have been applied correctly and professionally by an experienced, qualified technician. Hair extensions have been subjected to a great deal of negative media attention and have developed a poor reputation due to the growing wealth of technicians who offer a hair extensions service without having had any formal, quality training or experience, or by adopting a poor method of application, as well as those people who choose to apply hair extensions themselves to their own hair.
Why do so many people wear bad hair extensions?
The hairdressing industry including hair extensions is highly unregulated, meaning that virtually anybody can set up and call themselves a hair extensions technician. As a result there has been a growing number of people offering hair extensions services having had little or no training, and worryingly many are not even qualified hairdressers.
Consequently, this is one of the reasons why so many people have such poorly fitted hair extensions that look unnatural and unsightly. For example:
- a ‘lid’ ‘line’ or ‘ring’ appears around the top of the head where the extensions have not been blended with the natural hair
- not enough hair extensions have been applied, so the extensions look straggly
- poor quality hair has been used
- the bonds or wefts are visible
- the colour match is inaccurate, or the colours haven't been blended together properly
- the placement of the hair extensions is incorrect
- ultimately the worst of these is the damage and breakage that is caused to the natural hair by not having had hair extensions applied correctly.
Examples of Poorly Applied Hair Extensions
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Safe Hair Extensions
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Severe damage cause by poor application of micro ring hair extensions by an unqualified technician
Poor application of strand-by-strand hair extensions: Large bonds, thick strands and incorrect application have put too much weight and tension on natural hair and have caused excessive shedding from the scalp
Bald patches caused through regular wearing of clip-in hair extensions
Example of skin weft hair extensions: bulky and unsightly.
Roll over image: unable to wear hair up
Picture shows natural hair after wearing glue-in wefts for 2 years applied by client at home. Client was unable to remove the glue as it had hardened and formed a helmet around her head.
Poor application of individual hair extensions: not enough extensions have been applied, and the extensions have not been cut and blended into the client's natural hair. The end result looks straggly and unsightly.
Choosing a Hair Extension Salon
Seeing so many women wearing poor quality hair extensions, as well as hearing horror stories and being exposed to the wealth of negative press, has deterred some people from having hair extensions completely. It certainly does not fill you with confidence or encourage people into having hair extensions applied, and many people have come to believe that this is what ALL hair extensions are like.
You should not confuse yourself between hair extensions that have been applied by a skilled, experienced professional with those applied by an inexperienced or unqualified technician, or for that matter with applying them yourself. It takes time, precision, dedication and a great deal of skill to become an expert, with advanced knowledge and understanding of weights, balance, placement of the hair extensions, colours, blending, hair types and hair growth, and an exceptional eye for detail as well as a flair for creativity.
Applying professional hair extensions correctly takes several hours and some technicians simply become lazy and find ways to make the process quicker and easier, either by adopting alternative, less effective methods or finding shortcuts. For example, some technicians who apply strand-by-strand hair extensions apply thick strands of hair for each individual hair extension, and mould a large bond to hold it in place.
This short cut will complete the application much quicker because fewer hair extension strands will be needed to bulk out the hairstyle. However, when hair extensions are applied too densely, the strands tend to fall in thick, solid chunks, preventing them from blending in together. Primarily this will of course produce far less natural looking results, but more importantly so, the bulky, heavy strands will cause excessive tension and discomfort, they will put strain on the roots of the hair, causing it to weaken, and subsequently this will result in breakage and damage to the natural hair.
Incorrect Bonds
Correct Bonds
Before & After Photos
You should always choose a hair extensions artist that takes pride in their work, which evidently can be hard to find. If you would like to browse our hair extensions before and after gallery, we're confident you would agree that our photographs speak for themselves.
Research
Doing plenty of research is always highly recommended before choosing to have hair extensions fitted. Do not be afraid to ask to see photographs of previous work and certificates of training and qualifications.
Training & Experience
You should beware of hair extensions technicians who do not cut and blend the extensions after applying them, as it is highly unlikely that they will be a trained hairdresser, and in many cases may not be qualified to apply hair extensions either.
There are three main reasons for damage caused from hair extensions:
- Incorrect or poor application by an inexperienced technician.
- Poor quality or unsafe hair extensions application method.
- Failure to follow the home care guidelines and not looking after the extensions correctly.
The whole purpose of hair extensions is to ENHANCE your hair, not to damage it.
There are several techniques to applying hair extensions, but we choose only our custom-tailored micro bond hair extensions because we have absolute confidence that they are ultimately the safest hair extensions for the natural hair. In fact, we guarantee that our hair extensions are the safest hair extensions available.
