Extensions are an amazing accessory that can enhance your beauty! They can be added for length, fullness, pops of fun colors or all of the above! There are several types of extensions, each with their own pros and cons. As a client, you should do thorough research on the things you are purchasing in addition to your stylist reviewing them with you. I am making this for my clients as well as anyone who wants to learn about extensions. We will review the definition of traditional and modern extensions, and types of hair extensions, how they’re attached, what they look like, appointment durations, and maintenance schedules. The pros, cons, and home care will be discussed in another post.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND MODERN EXTENSIONS

Extensions can fall in one of two categories; traditional or modern.

1. Traditional extensions typically involve braiding and usually meant for curly hair. Many times your head can be braided down and the extensions are sewn or weaved into the braids.
2. Modern extensions usually involve beads, tape, and keratin bonds. They can be used on all textures of hair; straight, wavy and curly. For all types of extensions colors, length, and texture can vary. In order to get the most seamless blend of your hair with the extensions; several different methods can be used on the same client.

TYPES OF MODERN HAIR EXTENSIONS

There are 5 types of extensions we will be reviewing today.

1. Tape ins,
2. Handtied Wefts,
3. Machine Wefts,
4. I-tips,
5. K-Tips

 

Tape Ins

What is a weft? A weft is hair that is tied together at the top with either string or glue.

Tape ins are small wefts of hair held together by glue and with adhesive on the interior. Tape ins are attached to your hair by taking a small thin section of your natural hair and applying it to the adhesive side of the tape in extension. Then grab another tape in extension to layer on the other side of the section. There are different widths of tape in extensions that can be bought and used for one client.

Maintenance appointments are every 4-8 weeks.

Average appointment time is 0.5-1.5 hours. Tape ins are great for medium to coarse hair texture and medium to high density.

 

Machine and Hand-Tied Wefts

Wefts can be even longer, like Hand Tied and Machine wefts. The only difference in these 2 is the way they’re made.

1. Handtied wefts are made by hand, as you can probably tell from the photo above are on the thinner side. Hand tied wefts are great for people with thin-coarse hair texture, for people with thin-high density, and for people who want the invisible bead method.
2. Machine wefts are made by a machine and are thicker than hand tied wefts. These are great for people who want shorter appointment times, medium-thick texture,  medium to high density, and don’t put their hair up often.

Maintenance appointments for both of these are every 4-6 weeks.

Average appointment time is 1.5-3 hours.  

 

I-tips

I-tips are tiny bundles of hair, that can vary in size, length, and color, that are held together by a piece of plastic. This piece of plastic looks like the end of a shoelace. They are attached to your head by inserting a tiny amount of your hair through a bead. The bead is slided up to near your scalp. Then, the shoelace looking part of the I-tip is inserted into the bead as well. The bead along with your hair and I-tip end are then clamped down with pliers that are specifically made for extensions. I-tips are great for thin-all hair types. These are great for people who require 360 degree movement for their hair. This means that you put your hair in a ponytail, bun, and other styles often.

Maintenance appointments are every 4-6 weeks.

Average appointment time is 1.5-3 hours.

 

K-Tips

K-tips are extremely similar to I-tips, except in the way the hair is held together on your head. The square end of them in the photo shown above are made out of keratin. A special machine is used to heat them up to melt the square end. It is then wrapped around a tiny bundle of your own hair. K-tips are also great for people who require 360 degree movement from their hair but also for special occasions. K-tips are great for thin-medium hair types.

 The keratin that holds the extensions piece to your hair slowly dissolves over the course of the 6 weeks. A good portion of the extensions fall out by themselves and you come back to the salon to get the rest removed OR you keep buying more K-tips to get them reinstalled. This can be great or horrible depending on the client’s perspective.

Maintenance appointments are every 6-8 weeks.

Average appointment time is 3-6 hours.

 

All of these timing estimates do not include color. It is extremely normal to be in the salon for 4-8 hours when getting hair extensions and color. If you’re looking to get hair extensions done for your wedding any of these methods would work depending on your hair type, density and end goal. Hopefully, this article is helpful in deciding what type of hair extensions you prefer for your lifestyle and hair texture. Just to recap we went over the types of modern extensions which are Tape ins, Wefts, I-Tips, K-tips, appointment times, maintenance frequency, and hair textures these are best for. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask Kerry during your appointment or leave a comment. If you want to book a consultation, please use my booking link.

 

*DISCLAIMER* 

please do not try to do your own extensions at home. It is extremely easy to give yourself bald spots.