How you take care of your hair extensions will help ensure that they last much longer. At our salons, we only use the highest quality, full-cuticle human hair for our extensions – which means with the proper application and care, they should last for years.
By attending regular maintenance appointments and following our aftercare routine, you can keep your new hair looking amazing for longer than any other style of hair extensions! Of course, to talk about hair extension aftercare, we also want to talk to you about installation.
Proper Hair Extension Installation
We can’t stress enough how important proper installation is. That’s one of the reasons why we have clients who travel from all across the US for maintenance appointments. Hair extensions that are fitted and maintained properly will last years longer.
Hair extensions should be treated like an investment. Something you’re going to use daily for the next 1-2 years.
When coming to your first appointment, it’s important to make sure your hair is clean but free of products. You don’t want any residue in your hair during application.
Don’t worry though! When you come in for your consultation appointment we go over all of this information with you – and we’ll answer any questions that you may have.
Today, we mainly want to focus on what you can expect after getting your hair extensions for the first time!
What to Expect After Getting Hair Extensions
Weight & Tenderness
You might have heard stories from friends or coworkers about scalp tenderness and an overall ‘heavy’ feeling after your first appointment. And that usually comes down to what kind of hair extensions they’re getting.
We’ve talked before about the various types of extensions, but at our salons, we specialize in microbead i-tip extensions.
If you’ve never had extensions before, after your first appointment you will notice that your hair feels a bit heavier – you will have a lot more hair after all! However, because we take small bundles of hair and attach them to your natural hair, the weight is distributed evenly across your scalp.
Our clients who have come to us after having a weft have said that the first thing they’ve noticed is that their head suddenly feels so much lighter. Wefts tend to feel heavy and it can take you a while to get used to that. They can also cause your scalp to feel tender, because of the way the bulk of the hair is sitting in one row of your natural hair.
Aftercare
We send each of our clients home with special aftercare instructions and product recommendations to help prolong the life of their extensions. One of the first things that we ask is that you wait 2-3 days after an appointment, before washing your hair.
It’s also important to avoid using hair conditioners, oils, or masks around the bonds. This can cause your hair extensions to slip.
You want to keep your hair clean with high-quality products. We always recommend Oribe (this shampoo and conditioner are especially good). Along with high-quality hair care products, having the right brush makes a difference.
This brush is specifically designed to keep your hair extension bonds completely tangle-free! And this is the ultimate detangling brush that you need whether or not you have hair extensions.
Because you’ve invested in hair extensions, you’re also going to want to invest in high-quality products to care for them. While we only use the highest quality hair extensions, they’re still not going to get the nutrients that your scalp is giving to your natural hair.
So while you can style and treat them like your natural hair, they’re more susceptible to damage – which is why aftercare is so important!
The Best Products for Hair Extensions
- The Loop Brush from Olivia Christensen Salon
- The Untangle Me Brush from Olivia Christensen Salon
- Featherweight Professional Hair Dryer
- SinglePass Smooth X Professional Flat Iron
- Slipsilk™ Skinny Scrunchies
- Shampoo for Beautiful Color from Oribe
- Conditioner for Beautiful Color from Oribe
- Genesis Heat Protecting Leave-In Treatment
Maintenance appointments
You can also expect to book in for regular maintenance appointments. Our clients come in every 6-8 weeks and during the appointment, we remove the extensions, come out the hair fall, and then reapply the extensions. While that might sound like a lot – regular maintenance appointments should only take around an hour.
You shouldn’t wear your extensions for longer than 2 months continuously, simply because of hair fall, tangling, and slippage. During this time, your hair will have grown over an inch! That extra space can cause your hair extensions to pull on your natural hair and it leaves room for your roots to get tangled.
Regular maintenance appointments avoid all of this.
With proper installation, you should leave your first hair extension appointment with luscious new locks and relatively no pain or scalp tenderness. And with regular maintenance and proper aftercare, your new extensions should last for years to come!
If you’d like to learn more and see if our specialized style of hair extensions is right for you, make sure to book a consultation with our founder Christina today.
If you have more questions you’d like us to answer here or on Instagram, make sure to follow our account @oliviachristensensalon and our founder Christina @hairgoddessofny.