Hi everyone. It’s Gemy with Studio 39 and I want to give three tips on how to care for your hair extensions.
We always get tons of questions after clients have their installs about maintenance at home even after we think we cover every single aspect of styling brushing at home product use, We still get a lot of questions throughout the first usual time period between the install and their first adjustment. Which is totally fine. We always tell our clients, “If you have a question call us. Don’t second guess, just call us. We would rather give you the right answer then you make the wrong decision about your hair extensions at home.” Here is a video explaining. It’s kind of old and I love how I say ” Number third..?” 🤔😅 but you get the idea!
Tip One: Use the products your Stylist recommends
They’re expensive. They are an investment. They’re definitely worth taking the time in the care at home to maintain them. So the first thing that you always need remember is number one: use the product your stylist recommends.
This is so important. If you cannot afford to get the recommended products; the main thing is shampoo and conditioner and some type of leave in conditioning spray; you shouldn’t be getting the extensions. There is no way around this. You have to get the right products for at home use. I know a lot of “area extension salons”, just say to use a sulfate-free shampoo. Wrong. There’s more to it than that. It has to be very hydrated and very smooth so that the cuticle the hair extension stays flat.
Tip Two: Don’t overheat your hair with a flat iron or wand
The second thing you have to remember is when styling don’t ever use, if you’re using a wand or a flat iron don’t ever turn it up above 350 degrees. If you want to be cautious and I kind of recommend people who have blonde hair to do this because it’s always prone to more damage, whether you have extensions or not, keep it around 300.
That is the most important thing to remember about styling. When you’re using a flat iron like this- You’re compressing hair which is basically just dead skin cells between two titanium plates that get up to 450 degrees. I mean, it’s only hair. It can’t take that much more than, really in my opinion, about 300 degrees. I think that if you want to get the best results out of your hair extensions for long use, long-term and for your own hair as well you need to really keep the heat low.
When you’re flat ironing your hair, it should be like a white house tour: just move it along. Don’t pause. When you start pausing you’re going to create some burn spots on your hair whether or not you smell it or whether or not you see it, it is there. You want to keep the iron moving at all times. And when you’re doing it you also always want to use a thermal protector spray. Alfa Parf Milano and Nano 9 makes a great one. You want something that is specifically designed to protect the hair against today‘s professional irons. I say ‘today’ because even from back when, I think it was around 1998-99 , perhaps when the first ceramic Chi iron came out. These pro irons today are usually tourmaline and titanium plated. And let me tell you, get really hot! So you want to use a product that is specifically designed to protect the hair against today’s irons.
Tip Three: Brush your hair the proper way
The third and probably most important tip is how to properly brush your hair not just your hair extensions but this applies to people in the salon who don’t actually even have hair extensions. Sometimes I do this little test with clients. I’ll hand them the brush and I’ll say “OK. I’m going to go back and mix up your color ,or grab your client card and why don’t you go ahead and get started for time sake and start brushing your hair.”
I go around the corner and I look back at my station and I see them ripping their hair! Starting way up here (at the top of their hair) and just dragging the brush through the hair. The way that you always want to brush your hair is hold it like this (holding the hair toward the end) and start at the bottom and work your way up. And you want to use a brush like this. It’s a wet brush. It’s the only brush that is actually approved for brushing your hair wet. You should never brush your hair wet.
You should always use a wide tooth comb or this brush. But we have this brush in many different sizes. This is the mini brush that I just carry in my purse. And we actually have another large paddle brush size which I use for styling. And smaller brush than the paddle brush size that is the same shape as this it’s just a little bit bigger. So that’s another thing that we always recommend to clients when they get hair extensions. Is that they need to make that investment in the brush which this brush is ten dollars. I mean you won’t find anything at the drugstore better than this brush. It is literally called “The Wet Brush” and it has these flexible little bristles on it and you can use either wet or dry.
So those are the three most important things about caring for, not only your hair extensions, but your hair. And those are three tips to use for your hair every day from Studio 39. As always, have a great day!