Do Hair Extensions Harm Your Hair?

These of us with skinny hair depend on extensions to carry, fill, and construct out dream hair, however as allies of our delicate strands we have now to ask, do hair extensions harm your hair?

As somebody with skinny and fairly flat hair, I’ve at all times felt I needed to method styling with an any-means-necessary instrument belt of teasing, clip-in extensions, and a great deal of dry shampoo. It took fairly some time to appreciate (ahem, settle for) that any quantity I did obtain was on the expense of my delicate strands’ well being.

Now, as I’ve began caring for my hair past simply the way it seems to be from day after day, I do know I’ve been enjoying a shedding recreation to damaging merchandise and too-tight ponytails for years.

Skinny hair means much less hair. And fewer hair means extra duty.

After all we nonetheless need healthy-looking quantity and fullness, however should you’re shedding half your strands within the course of, you’ll require much more damaging hacks to get quantity the following time and so forth.

That is why stopping harm and preserving hair well being has turn into *so* vital to me. Which means swapping out my extensions for non-damaging alternate options that also get me natural-looking size and quantity. And and not using a ton of labor both.

Combining my years of hair extensions expertise together with my very own private skinny hair journey, I’ll share whether or not hair extensions do harm your hair together with how every variation could also be damaging to your locks. Plus, the one hair extension kind I swear by now for my skinny hair.

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Do Hair Extensions Harm Your Hair?

Usually, sure, hair extensions harm hair. However, luckily, simply most.

There’s tons of various kinds of hair extensions on the market with various attachment strategies, lengths of use, and functions. We’ll break down the severity of injury for every one, however general, the most important culprits of injury are going to be everlasting extensions and people with snagging attachments.

Hair Extensions Varieties:

Tape-in extensions: Utilizing a skinny layer of medical-grade glue, these adhere instantly onto hair like a sandwich above and beneath your personal hair’s strands. These *ought to* be professionally put in and eliminated, however could possibly be finished your self should you’ve obtained a knack for tedious extensions and plenty of time in your fingers.

Clip-in Extensions: Clip-ins are momentary extensions that connect onto your pure hair’s root utilizing metallic or robust plastic clips. They will simply be positioned at house and don’t require skilled assist in any respect. They’re positioned in small sections of hair wherever you require extension (you’ll want a very good few to fill out your hair).

Halo Extensions: Halo hair extensions are momentary hair extensions that you just place and take away once you select. They don’t connect to your hair, however moderately sit round your head with a comfortable, invisible headband. No want for skilled help, these will be positioned at house in seconds.

Fusion/Keratin Extensions: A everlasting extension kind, these are professionally put in and eliminated/moved up in salons. Every bit of hair has a pre-installed glue on the tip with a purpose to adhere to your personal hair. They’re positioned strand-by-stand with a heated instrument that fuses the extension to your pure hair.

Bead/Weft Extensions: Crafted from human hair, bead/weft extensions are secured by threading small sections of pure hair by beads after which attaching the hair weft to the bead with a specialised clamp. The beads are connected as near the foundation as doable in very small bundles of strands.

Particularly for these with skinny or weak hair, go for non-attaching hair extensions to minimise harm to your hair. When extensions connect near the foundation, the harm they trigger is at hair’s most important spot, the follicle.

Hair Extensions Trigger Harm, However How So?

Extensions that connect on to weakened hair, like fusions, tapes, and weaves will trigger probably the most harm, particularly when worn for lengthy intervals of time. However, what does this appear like?

Trichologist Dominic Burg explains, “every follicle has a small muscle connected to it known as the arrector pili muscle which will be broken with repeated or extended stress from tight weaves or incorrectly utilized extensions.”

The sort of harm known as traction alopecia. Over time, and as a consequence of trauma induced to the follicle, you’ll lose hair proper on the root. And in contrast to extra standard breakage attributable to styling and brushing, such a harm can gradual hair progress and even cease it from rising utterly in that spot.

Burg shares, “as soon as the muscle is broken and indifferent from the foundation, the foundation could die, leading to hair loss. It is also vital to notice that very lengthy and heavy extensions also can have the identical influence on the follicles… because the sheer weight of the added hair can harm the foundation, particularly if the burden is pulling on a small or remoted variety of strands.”

Actually the worst factor that would occur to skinny hair: having even much less.

As we’ve seen, follicle harm is the most important concern when utilizing hair extensions so the easiest way to forestall it’s to take away any a part of that equation. Listed below are the perfect and worst offenders.

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Will Clip-In Extensions Harm Your Hair?

Though they’re not as unhealthy as others, the reply remains to be sure.

Clip-in extensions are gentler than weaves and fusions, however harsh in comparison with non-adhesive extensions like halos. As a result of they’re a brief choice, they don’t add months of weight to your follicles, however as most clip-in ladies will attest, you put on them A LOT.

Extensionist China Duke explains, “the burden of the set of hair is distributed between one and 5 clips on a piece of wefts that may solely match a small quantity of pure hair that attaches to the clip. That is what makes them fast and straightforward, nevertheless it places a bulk of the burden on a disproportionate quantity of your hair.”

A clip right here and there may be okay for certain, however counting on clip-in extensions so as to add fullness to your hair locations plenty of weight to your follicle. And albeit, the cumbersome clips by no means look that pure both!

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Do Tape Hair Extensions Harm Your Hair?

Tape-in hair extensions have come a great distance. We’ll give them that. However, from listening to from so lots of you hair extension fanatics over time, these sticky extensions appear to have induced a few of the extra annoying kinds of harm.

Tape extensions harm comes all the way down to their adhesive method. This extraordinarily robust, usually polyurethane glue, covers a big floor space close to the foundation, sandwiching a weft on both facet of your hair.

And this glue sandwich is supposed to be there for weeks to months.

Even when utilized by an expert—accurately—the glue together with the burden of the extensions can yank on follicles. Like different adhesive extensions these may cause traction alopecia, however moreover, trapping hair between chemical compounds for weeks on ends isn’t excellent for joyful hair.

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Do Halo Hair Extensions Harm Hair?

As we’ve seen, different hair extensions trigger harm by pulling your personal hair, however as a result of halos don’t really connect to your strands, there’s no pulling, matting, or harm from harsh adhesives.

And that is precisely what halo hair extensions had been designed for skinny hair sorts. They’re made so as to add quantity, size, and an general wholesome fullness to hair whereas by no means compromising your personal hair’s treasured strand rely.

Made to be positioned over your head in seconds (and eliminated simply as shortly), they don’t require any skilled help or lengthy waits in a salon chair.

New to halo hair extensions? Right here’s how they work:

Do Strand Extensions Harm Your Hair?

Fusion, keratin, microbead, and nano bead extensions, all generally pooled as “strand extensions”, function in the identical method: they connect very small bunches of hair proper to your root.

For that reason, you guessed it: they harm your hair.

Not like wefts which might be woven or sewn in longer teams, these hair extensions are painstakingly put in in small bunches to your root with head or metallic clamps induced direct pulling to follicles.

For years, so lots of you will have shared your horror tales with us over all these extensions: matting, ripping, and damaging hair worse than different sorts by far. Particularly when left too lengthy or eliminated improperly by professionals.

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Learn how to Forestall Harm from Extensions

From the whole lot we’ve seen above, the reply to your burning query–do hair extensions harm your hair–is a sure, however solely once you use attaching extension sorts.

All the time use extensions like halos that don’t adhere or connect to your hair’s treasured roots. They offer you full hole protection in a single go versus painstaking salon appointments and piece-by-piece morning routines.

To forestall harm from hair extension use (in addition to bleaching, warmth styling, and nearly the whole lot) it’s uber vital to strengthen your hair too. These are a few of my best suggestions that don’t require a routine overhaul.

1. Use a silk pillowcase: In case you already aren’t, respectfully, what are you doing? Swap your cotton case with a smoother, silk pillowcase stops +8 hours of breakage-causing friction and splitting to your hair. You’ll want to go for actual silk like these 100% charmeuse silk weave ones, and never satin.
2. Assist hair from the within: Take biotin, zinc, and be sure you keep a balanced weight loss program for extra than simply hair and pores and skin well being tbh! I’ve been utilizing biotin for 3 years and I discover it’s actually helped enhance my hair, nail, and pores and skin well being on the subject of power.
3. Cease utilizing conventional elastics: Substitute all these snagging, stretchy elastics. As a ponytail fanatic since pre-school, I understand how good a excessive and tight pony will be… for traction alopecia and hair fall. Use a smoother elastic and it’ll considerably assist alleviate hair loss as a result of they pull out smoother and didn’t pull almost as tight.
4. Use a warmth protector: It is a non-negotiable, even for simply blowout contact ups. In case you suppose you don’t like a warmth protectant, you simply haven’t discovered the best one but! There are shampoos, leave-in conditioners, oils and masses extra choices than the standard spray. Discover one you want and use it religiously to avoid wasting hair.

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