These of us with skinny hair depend on extensions to raise, fill, and construct out dream hair, however as allies of our delicate strands we’ve got to ask, do hair extensions injury your hair?

As somebody with skinny and fairly flat hair, I’ve all the time felt I needed to strategy styling with an any-means-necessary device belt of teasing, clip-in extensions, and a great deal of dry shampoo. It took fairly some time to comprehend (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 daily, I do know I’ve been enjoying a dropping recreation to damaging merchandise and too-tight ponytails for years.

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

After all we nonetheless need healthy-looking quantity and fullness, however when you’re dropping 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 injury and preserving hair well being has turn into *so* necessary to me. Meaning swapping out my extensions for non-damaging options that also get me natural-looking size and quantity. And with out 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 injury your hair together with how every variation could also be damaging to your locks. Plus, the one hair extension sort I swear by now for my skinny hair.

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Do Hair Extensions Injury Your Hair?

Typically, sure, hair extensions injury hair. However, fortuitously, simply most.

There’s tons of various varieties of hair extensions on the market with various attachment strategies, lengths of use, and functions. We’ll break down the severity of harm for each, however total, the largest culprits of harm 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 individual hair’s strands. These *ought to* be professionally put in and eliminated, however could possibly be performed your self when you’ve acquired a knack for tedious extensions and many time in your fingers.

Clip-in Extensions: Clip-ins are momentary extensions that connect onto your pure hair’s root utilizing steel or sturdy plastic clips. They will simply be positioned at dwelling 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 great few to fill out your hair).

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

Fusion/Keratin Extensions: A everlasting extension sort, these are professionally put in and eliminated/moved up in salons. Every bit of hair has a pre-installed glue on the tip in an effort to adhere to your individual hair. They’re positioned strand-by-stand with a heated device 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 basis as attainable in very small bundles of strands.

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

Hair Extensions Trigger Injury, However How So?

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

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

Such a injury known as traction alopecia. Over time, and as a consequence of trauma precipitated to the follicle, you’ll lose hair proper on the root. And in contrast to extra standard breakage brought on by styling and brushing, the sort of injury can gradual hair progress and even cease it from rising fully in that spot.

Burg shares, “as soon as the muscle is broken and indifferent from the basis, the basis could die, leading to hair loss. It is also necessary 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 injury the basis, particularly if the load is pulling on a small or remoted variety of strands.”

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

As we’ve seen, follicle injury is the largest concern when utilizing hair extensions so the easiest way to stop it’s to take away any a part of that equation. Listed here are one of the best and worst offenders.

Learn Subsequent: 5 Halo Hair Extension Earlier than and Afters You Must See to Imagine

Will Clip-In Extensions Injury Your Hair?

Though they’re not as dangerous as others, the reply continues 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 possibility, 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 load 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 simple, nevertheless it places a bulk of the load 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 quite a lot of weight to your follicle. And albeit, the cumbersome clips by no means look that pure both!

Learn Subsequent: The Greatest Hair Extensions For Skinny Hair

Do Tape Hair Extensions Injury Your Hair?

Tape-in hair extensions have come a great distance. We’ll give them that. However, from listening to from so a lot of you hair extension fanatics through the years, these sticky extensions appear to have precipitated among the extra annoying varieties of injury.

Tape extensions injury comes all the way down to their adhesive method. This extraordinarily sturdy, typically polyurethane glue, covers a big floor space close to the basis, 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—appropriately—the glue together with the load of the extensions can yank on follicles. Like different adhesive extensions these could cause traction alopecia, however moreover, trapping hair between chemical compounds for weeks on ends is rarely ultimate for joyful hair.

Learn Subsequent: Find out how to Revive Useless Hair With These 6 Ideas

Do Halo Hair Extensions Injury Hair?

As we’ve seen, different hair extensions trigger injury by pulling your individual hair, however as a result of halos don’t really connect to your strands, there’s no pulling, matting, or injury 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 total wholesome fullness to hair whereas by no means compromising your individual hair’s treasured strand depend.

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 Injury 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 injury your hair.

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

For years, so a lot of you’ve got shared your horror tales with us over most of 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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Find out how to Forestall Injury from Extensions

From every thing we’ve seen above, the reply to your burning query–do hair extensions injury your hair–is a sure, however solely while you use attaching extension sorts.

At all times 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 stop injury from hair extension use (in addition to bleaching, warmth styling, and nearly every thing) it’s uber necessary to strengthen your hair too. These are a few of my best ideas that don’t require a routine overhaul.

1. Use a silk pillowcase: When 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. Make sure you go for actual silk like these 100% charmeuse silk weave ones, and never satin.
2. Assist hair from the within: Take biotin, zinc, and make sure to preserve a balanced food regimen 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 increase 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 might 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 practically as tight.
4. Use a warmth protector: It is a non-negotiable, even for simply blowout contact ups. When you suppose you don’t like a warmth protectant, you simply haven’t discovered the suitable one but! There are shampoos, leave-in conditioners, oils and hundreds extra choices than the normal spray. Discover one you want and use it religiously to avoid wasting hair.

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