Washing your Hair Extensions

Your hair extensions can be washed less then your natural hair.  I wash mine every two weeks or if i have styled them heavily for a special event.  If you have oily hair make sure to spray the roots of the extensions with hair powder lightly every couple of days to make sure the glue stays intact.  Maintaining your hair extensions properly will allow them to last years and years!
So general rule of thumb: no oil, no oil, no oil!

Remove all your hairies and tie them with a rubber band at the top:

Chose a generic shampoo for washing your hairies.  Like i said nothing with added oils.  And you don't need a shampoo made for extensions, just a plain, cheap-o one will do:

I use the same shampoo for my curly hair for this, Victoria Secrets So Sexy curl shampoo.  You can use one for straight or fine hair as well.  I just like the Victoria Secret hair products because they smell good and you can get a shampoo, conditioner and product for like 23 bux! And i have used so many damn shampoos so this brand i actually like.

Using cool water, not hot not freezing, fill your bathroom sink with enough water to fully submerged the hair:

And add about a quarter amount of shampoo into the water and mix it around to dilute it. Don't apply shampoo directly to the extensions!  this will make the extensions dry and with no natural oils being absorbed into the extensions they need to be gently shampooed.

place the extensions roots in the water first and swish the water around them. Do not rub them or scrunch the soapy water into the clips.  Like i said this will dry out the extensions so be gentle!  you just want to clean them so they don't smell like an oily head...you know the smell.

lifting the extensions roots up out of the water wash the middle and ends of the hair, again just gently swishing the water around them, gently cleansing them.  These ones have been partially died black so they bleed purple into the water ( yes you can dye hair extensions! like real hair...beacuse it is!)

dirty murky water! gross!
Let all the shampoo water drain out and rinse the sink out well and turn it on to wash the hair making sure the water is again cool in temperature

 Focusing on the roots of the extensions just let the water run over them, no rubbing or scrunching again until the water at the bottom is clear

lift hair up from the top and squeeze out access water.  (You do not condition extensions, conditioners have oil in them.  You can if you want find a silicon based anti tangle spray but i don't use it.  I once overly conditioned some extensions and from then on they constantly became tangled and knotted, it was terrible so don't do it!)

squeezed out hair.
now using a towel place the extensions in the towel and gently pat them dry

And now remove the rubber band and comb each piece with a wide toothed comb.  they can get pretty tangled so be patient combing them.  Combing the extensions prior to washing can help this if they're really tangled from styling.

tangled to not tangled!

Now when drying them i use like a clothes-line technique to let them naturally dry which i leave them overnight and in the morning they're dry. but if your in a rush you can blow them over with a hair dryer set on low

shower rods make great extension drying equipment! yes it will freak out you man or any other family member when they use the room and all this hair is hanging there, but the water from the hair drips into the tub so no clean up! really its amazing.

dry hairies! they will have a little wave from drying on the curtain rod but you can just flatiron it out.

How To Put In Clip-in Extensions!

After you have made your set of clip-in's you don't have to wash them right away, I wash mine after heavy styling or when I wash my hair which is every 2 weeks.

Style your hair to match the clip-in's (I will post about other styling techniques) these are straight so straighten your hair: (i will also post how to straighten very curly hair)

I dyed my "bangs" to match the tips of my new faded extensions.
So my hair is straight with no oil-based products in it, oil-based products break up the glue that binds extensions together! So read your hair product labels!

After washing the extensions, even if their straight, they will have some pouf to them so lightly straiten each piece to match the straitness of your hair:

Puffy hair!

CHI iron guard 44, no oil and no added hold and smells so good! my fav!

On a light setting, mine is at about 350 degrees, straighten away!

This type of teasing comb is great for extensions! Got it at Sally's. You will need a comb to tease and something to part your hair.

make a U shape right above your ear, you can't place extensions below this point

up and twist! (the part wont be perfect cuz you're using your fingers so no worries!)

select a hair spray or hair powder to "anchor" the extensions so they really wont budge! I like Victoria Secrets So Sexy natural hold hair spray (smells so good).  And spray only the roots of your hair.

Take one of the thicker back-hair pieces (this is only two strips sown together) and feel along your roots to clip them in starting with the middle clip to make sure it's centered and the the outer two clips.

can't even tell!

make another part in the back of the head, working your way up, about this thick to clip the next section of hair on (only working on the back the sides of the hair are last)

spray your roots again to anchor the extensions

the second 2 layered clip-in is in

section off another layer of hair for the last back clip-in to go on (if you are doing the shorter/thicker clip-ins just add another layer so don't make the layer too thick or they will show)

spray and clip the last back one in!

let the top-not of hair down to work on the sides! you will need an additional clip for this because i tease the roots for the side of the head clip in because the hair is finer then in the back.

You will be clipping 2 hair sections on each side so pick the longest part on the side of your head, mine is here.  (note: the closer your extensions are to your part the more camouflaged your natural hair will be and less-obvious)

make a clean part with the teasing comb, a clean part matters more on the sides then the back or it will pull on your hair and be annoying.

tease your roots to help the clip-ins stay in more

spray the teased roots with hair spray 

clip it in! yikes i need to dye my roots!

on the other side do the same thing, find the longest part of your hair and that's where you'll start. 

and your going to tease and hair spray like you did the other side

clip it in! 

find the second longest part of your hair to place the second clip-in

part the hair and tease and spray

clip in the last one on this side! (if you are doing the shorter/thicker clip-ins you will just need to make one more part above this close to your part, making sure it doesn't show)

again find the second longest place on the side of your head and part, tease and spray

yay last clip-in!

touch where the clip-in's are to make sure they're even or the length will be off at the bottom, you don't want one side longer than the other!

my natural hair length vs. the extension length! (these are 19" yaky in brown that i dyed the tops to match my hair color leaving the tips brown!)

yay for fun long hair with-out the expense!

ok, it can itch! but just bat the sides of your head with your palms! The extensions will "settle" down your hair shaft which will be more comfortable.  And you can sleep with them in but it does take some getting used too! But sleeping with clip-ins in is allot better than having the whole weft put in professionally because if it is uncomfy, just take them out! wallah!

Creating your own clip-ins!

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Why create your own clip-ins?
-more hair, better hair, more natural looking and you have extra hair left over just in case!
-don't buy them from Sally's or any another place, the hair is so cheap and you don't get that much, the more hair you have means more blending and more natural looking!!

So, you have gone to the salon and got your package, ream, of hair.  When you take it out it will be in one long strip:

(don't buy from chinahair.com haha! i just used their image)

Now depending on your hair length naturally you will either have to buy 2 reams or 1. Or if you just want really thick hair :)
If your hair barely touches your shoulders, buy 2.

If your hair is shorter or want thicker hair this is how many clip-in strands you will need:

(black Yaky with gold highlights!)
You will need 4 for the back of your head and 3 for each side!  Hence why you need 2 packages.

If your hair is longer and you mainly want length 1 package will do:

(my faded ones in Yaky)
These are 3 in the back and 2 on each side.

When measuring out the hair you will need a ruler and i use a crayon in a light color to mark the hair at the desired length and then you will cut!
(this is why buying from a salon IS SO IMPORTANT! Before you cut the hair it has to be exactly what you want cuz no returns after you cut it!!)

For the back of your head the standard length is 6 inches, i made mine a few centimeters longer because i have a big head:

Cut the hair and then cut ANOTHER strand the same length, you will be sowing 2 STRANDS TOGETHER to create 1 clip-in strip.  This is especially important for shorter hair it will blend allot better.  I even did 3 6-inch strips sown together for major sexy thickness!

ok, so you will need 3 6-inch strands for shorter/thick hair and 2 6-inch strands for longer so lets do come math...that's 6-9 6-inch strands for shorter/thick hair and 4 6-inch strands for longer.
Sounds like allot but trust me it will look amazing!!!

The final clip-in strip for the back of your head is going to be shorter, 4-inch is average:

Ok, so for this last strip...
For shorter/thicker hair cute 2 4-inch strands to sow together and for longer hair you only need 1 4-inch strand.

now for the sides!!
All 6 or 4 clip-in strip can be either 2-2 1/2 inches in length

(dumb thing wont post the last clip-in) but this is what a 2-2 1/2 inch one will look like except longer this is a 1-inch clip in so you will have 2 clips on the strip not one.
If you have shorter/thicker hair you will need to make 6 2-2 1/2 inch strips all 2 pieces thick so cut 12 2-2 1/2 inch strips.
If you have longer hair you will need to make 4 2-2 1/2 inch strips all 2 pieces thick so cut 8 2-2 1/2 inch strips.

Whew! So now get you hair thread from Sally's and a thick needle and sow, sow, sow 'till your fingers hurt!

You can buy this thread in all main hair colors.  Why sow the hair strips together? Thicker hair means more camouflage! It's allot of work and allot of hair but you want to look good right? and not have people go wow! you obviously have extensions..

After you have sown all the designated strips together... now add the snap-clips!

You can also buy these in various hair colors, you can buy them at Sallys or go on E-bay and buy allot more for allot less :) because all of the back of the head strips will have 3 clips in each strip. Two on each end and one in the middle!

For the side strips you will need 2 clips sown on each strip:

One on each end!
Yes it's allot of clips and metal on your head but it will look good!! I have been doing this for years and have no problems:) I sleep with them on and go through airport metal detectors and they don't go off!

So that's it! I will post how i wash them and put them into my hair next!