How to… make hair extensions look good (not scraggly and shit)

We all see them. Those girls walking around town, with scraggly, rat tail, Britney-esque hair extensions (sorry Brit, I still love you, but your hair is rank). They personally offend me and give my kind a bad name.

See, I’ve been wearing hair extensions for five years nearly, and they’ve only ever been noticed by a handful of people (for example; hair professionals, other extension wearers, or housemates who’ve realized when my hair is shoulder-length one morning than magically grows a few inches just hours later).  In fact, the compliments I receive about my hair far outweigh the enquiries I receive as to whether it’s real.

I’d like to think that all this means I wear them well, so if you’d like to lengthen your locks but don’t want to end up looking like one of those girls (Bianca Gascoigne, anyone?) make sure you follow these golden rules:

ALWAYS use clip-ins

A weave will wreck your hair. I had a friend at Uni whose beautiful, fine blonde hair was completely savaged by having a lengthening weave put in, and she still regrets it to this day. Likewise, avoid glued-in extensions; they will make you look tacky. The glue makes it incredibly hard to look after your own hair as you’re not supposed to get it wet (so washing your hair properly goes out the window), and you’ll end up ‘shedding’ bits of dried-up glue and a strand of hair or 10.  Professionally applied hair extensions may work for Cheryl Cole, but that’s because she has a personal hair stylist on hand at all times, and enough moolah to keep them in tip top condition.

Trust that clip-ins are your only friend when it comes to hair extension options; you can easily change your mind, they won’t damage your natural hair and are a hell of a lot cheaper than any other option.

Pick the right colour

Picking the right colour extensions is pretty overwhelming, granted. However, it’s actually incredibly easy. All hair extensions are coloured universally according to a chart, so the best idea is to grab a copy of the chart from google, and ask a professional or friend with a good eye to match up your own hair colour to the closest on the chart. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t perfect; you can always dye it.  Be sure to check the colours match up in all lights, particularly daylight.

Make your own clip-ins

Really, this was the best advice I was ever given. It’s actually surprisingly easy, and is the best option for three reasons. Firstly, you can cut the hair into pieces for your own skull, meaning they’ll be the best fit they can be. Secondly, you can create different thickness for each piece; I have particularly thick hair, so I double up all my pieces to make them thicker. Doing this if you have thick hair will ensure you’ll avoid that mullet-y look, where the hair gets progressively thinner from the top of the head to the ends. Thirdly; this is by far the cheapest option. Depending on the lengths and quality of the hair you buy, you can expect to pay anything from £25 to £50. If you look after your extensions, they could last you up to 6 months. Really quite cheap when you think about it that way.  For a detailed tutorial on how to make your own clip-in extensions, watch this.

Don’t be afraid to cut your extensions

Just cutting up into the ends yourself with a pair of blunt scissors can help take away that fake look. However, if you can it’s probably best to take them along to a professional hair stylist (you can always wait until your next visit and offer them an extra tenner to cut the extensions for you).

Know your own hair and work with it

Another big mistake girls with rubbish hair extensions make is that they try to style their hair in a completely different way from their natural look. If your hair is naturally straight, you can get away with straight extensions (however, I’d still wash them a couple of times and blow dry them straight so they look more realistic). However, if your hair has any kind of natural wave or curl you really MUST curl your extensions. Any slight hint of a natural element and your natural hair is going curl up, leaving you with dead straight extensions hanging underneath. Not a great look, let’s be honest.

The best way to style your hair extensions is by putting them in, then curling your natural hair and extensions together as much as possible, particularly around where your natural hair stops and the extensions begin, so as to create a blending effect. I’ve used the Babyliss Waving Wand for nearly two years now and it’s not let me down yet.

Look after your hair extensions

Brush them out carefully after everytime you wear them. Avoid using products on them, and do remember to wash them occasionally, lest you want to smell of smoke and eau-de-kebab. Remember they won’t last forever, and don’t be stingy in replacing them if they start to look ratty. You’ll kick yourself if you don’t once you start seeing last weekend’s pictures go up on Facebook (trust me; I’ve been there).

And voila! You now should have hair extensions good enough to fool even the most intelligent of friends, and avoid ending up on Snog, Marry, Avoid. Just be wary of the following; losing a clip-in on the dance floor after whipping your hair back and forth too vigorously, likewise losing a clip-in by doing something else altogether too vigorously (ahem) and getting your hair extensions trapped in the tube doors.  Ouch.

– Fiona Goby

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