| Hair Extension Tips: What I Have Learned |
| Alice Ridley (as told to Karen Shelton) |
| Date: 2/1/2002, Revised 12/1/2005 |
Introduction by Karen Shelton
 Alice
Ridley has been a tremendous help to HairBoutique.com since I first
met her in early 2000. Alice emailed me that she had decided to
fly from her home to Dallas, Texas in order to have a set of hair extensions
applied to her hair by a HairBoutique.com hair extension expert.
Alice made her decision to have the hair extension
expert add her weaves
as a direct result of hair extension information that she gathered
from articles and message board comments located at the
HairBoutique.com
website.
I was very impressed when Alice offered to share her
entire hair extension experience with us so that HairBoutique.com
could help more consumers make informed hair extension
decisions. Alice emailed me that she "admires The
HairBoutique.com's willingness to share hair care information and hair
extension information with our visitors".
Follow-up With Alice
Alice had her extensions successfully applied in May
of 2000. She sent me some follow-up emails reported that
she very happy with the work that was done. She also really
liked her new hair extensions.
In September of 2000 Alice and I corresponded again
about the status of her hair extensions. They had
been removed, as planned. Everything had gone well with the extensions. However, extensions have a
limited life cycle and once the extensions had met
their life span, Alice had them successfully removed.
I asked Alice is she would be willing to answer some
common hair extension questions that I receive on a regular
basis. Alice agreed to include a summary of the things she had
learned as a direct result of her
experiences. Listed below are the questions that I asked Alice
about her hair extension experience with her complete answers.
Hair
Extension Tangles
HairBoutique.com Question:
Did you first set of hair extensions tangle or were they hard to comb,
style, deal with in general. (This is a biggie).
Answer From Alice:
The biggest problem I had to deal with was getting used to having such
long hair all of a sudden. I was not used to the daily tasks
associated with long hair; gentle combing, shampooing properly,
conditioning, conditioning, conditioning!
The hair itself is not really difficult to comb and
just about any available detangler/conditioner will prevent snarls and ease combing out your
long hair.
Any tips and tricks you find pertaining to long hair
also work on extensions, such as combing out hair before you wash it.
If you get extensions made of human hair, you can do everything you
can do with your own hair as well; hot rollers, hair dryers, curling irons,
all can be used on your extensions (although you should use moderation -
because they are human hair they will also receive damage like human hair :)
The main thing is you MUST USE GOOD HAIR! If you use cheap hair, you
will have problems with tangles, matting, loss of shine and general
nastiness
with the hair. This is because cheaper hair is usually submitted to a chemical process to remove the cuticle and then dipped in silicone to
replace the shine lost after a cuticle stripping.
The silicone will eventually wash off in the shampoo
and you will get stuck with gnarly, dull hair that is hard to control.
If you are unsure of what kind of hair quality you are getting, do
some web research, ask what type of hair it is (i.e. European, Indian fallen, etc), ask them who their supplier is, take notes
and look up any info you don't understand on the internet.
Hair
Extension Removal
HairBoutique.com Question:
Who removed your hair extensions? Did you or did
you come back to Dallas.
Answer From Alice:
I went back to Dallas to have them removed by the same
hair extension expert that put them in. His removal took approx 4 hours for my very thick hair.
Removal times vary depending on amount of hair you had added.
Hair
Extension Damage To Natural Hair
HairBoutique.com Question:
Did the original extensions damage your hair either while in place or when you had them taken out?
Answer From Alice:
Not at all! Extensions, when done properly, should never damage hair. Through three sets over the past year, my hair has not become damaged.
Theoretically, over the course of 10 years or so, the extra weight of
hair extensions might cause thinning hair for some women, but I've never
heard of it happening.
I've personally found the braid and weft type
extensions are easier on my hair because all it involves is a braid and some thread -
there is no attachment chemical needed. They also seem to be faster to
apply. But again, this is only my opinion and to my knowledge neither braid and
weft nor other types of extensions cause any hair damage, provided they
are done properly.
What
Happened To The Original Extensions?
HairBoutique.com Question:
What did you do with the hair from the extensions? Throw it
away, reuse it, save it?
Answer From Alice:
The hair extensions that were used could not be reused so it was thrown away when it
was removed from my hair. The braid and sewn weft hair can be used over
and over provided you bought good hair to begin with and took care of
it. Most people just get fresh hair every time however, since at most
places the hair is included in what you pay for service anyway (unless otherwise
specified).
Hair
Extension Pain/Itching Or Other Problems
HairBoutique.com Question:
Was there any pain, itching, uncomfortable feeling, headaches or other
physical difficulties.
Answer From Alice:
They were weird to sleep on at first, and you might think they are
annoying for the first night too. Your head might feel lumpy as you roll around
on the pillow, and when you wake up your hair might all be on your face.
You will get used to the feeling of extensions within a couple of days;
braiding hair into one plait down your back will keep the extensions from
getting tangled, snagged, or flopping in your face as you sleep.
My first set of braided and sewn was itchy; I went to another person
to have them done and she said the other person must have braided the
wefts too tightly. This second set has given me no discomfort
whatsoever. That is another key; extensions should not cause
discomfort when done correctly. If you have any headaches, itching, or
pulling sensation, then they were done improperly and you should find someone else to do them.
Next
Hair Extension Steps For Alice
I was very excited to hear from Alice that after
having her extensions removed that she was on a new
quest to have more hair extensions added to her hair.
For her repeat trip to the hair extension bar, Alice
wanted to try a different method of extensions. While Alice
liked the extensions and the work that the hair extension expert did
for her, she wanted to experiment and just try other
methods.
After some intensive research Alice decided to fly to
an extension expert in Ohio and have a completely different method of
extensions added. The report of her experiences with the new method
will be published in a future article by Alice here at
HairBoutique.com. Alice is also doing research on buying her own
extensions and has promised to include that information as well.
Thanks to Alice for being the HairBoutique.com's hair
extension experimenter. Stay tuned for her next
adventure.
For a list of
hair
extension experts that we have heard good things about refer to
our list by clicking on the hotspot. If you know of a great hair
extension expert please email us with the details and we will add them
to our lists.
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