In May of this year I was looking into the idea of having hair extensions. As you can see in the picture above on the left, I had short, BLONDE hair just last year. My hair is naturally pretty dark and before I decided to start going blonde (which I knew would be a long process) my hair was a very dark eggplant color.

Needless to say, it was a long, hard process to take my hair from that to blonde. It took from December to August and my hair looked and felt like straw when I finally got it blonde. I had to cut it and cut it and cut it even shorter just to try to get the breakage off. The part that really stinks though is that all through the process, my hair really didn’t feel too unhealthy until the last time i got it bleached and achieved the level of blonde you see in the pic at the top. That’s when my hair went to crap.

I had wanted a long, past the shoulders bob and wasn’t able to even grow it to my shoulders in the time span of 9 months due to getting more and more breakage. I had let my blonde grow out during those 9 months and the only color that touched my head was dark brown to cover my grays. I felt like growing my hair out was going to be impossible and had quite the longing for Sleeping Beauty-esque hair. It was at that time that I decided to go down the path to extension-ville. I have a pal who does a fantastic job with extensions so I called her and set up an appointment!

I purchased the extensions on my own. One of the perks of being a certified hairstylist is the access to awesome products at wholesale prices. I bought Bohyme- Luxe Remi hand tied extensions. I got 2 packs of the 14 inch, silky straight extensions. These extensions are made from human hair which is equal parts creepy and convenient. I decided to name my hair Sheila. It just felt like that would have been her name. I know, I’m weird.

The perks of having human hair extensions is that you treat them just like you do your own hair but with a little more care. You wash them, dry them, brush them, curl them, straighten them, but you need to add more moisture to them than you do your own hair. I put hair oil (prefer Kenra revive oil) on them twice a day, morning and night to keep them healthy and shiny. I sleep on a satin pillowcase and only only use satin scrunchies or the invisibobble.

PROS AND CONS OF HAVING EXTENSIONS

PROS

The obvious. You get instant long hair without taking the 1 to 2 years to grow long, beautiful hair.
Doubles or triples your hair’s thickness. Rock those super thick pony’s or ballet buns with ease.
Get a boost of confidence with the hair of your dreams.

CONS

1. They are pricey. They are so fun to have but they sure are an investment. As we are entering into the holiday season, which means extra expenses, I need to take a break from the cost of my weave. ;)

2. The hair has a shelf-life. Hair is already dead but when it is still a part of your scalp, your hair receives your skin’s natural oils and nutrients that it needs to be healthy. The extension hair doesn’t get those nutrients so you have to really take good care of it. My extension hair is starting to look a bit shabby and feeling dry. Since I got them put in in May, they went through the summer getting sun exposure, salt water, chlorinated pool water, sweat, etc. I tried to take care of them the best I could but I truly think they’d have lasted longer if I didn’t get them in the summer.

3. For some reason, the hand tied extensions made my scalp really itchy, especially when I wore my hair up or when wearing a hat.

4. It’s hard to clean your scalp with extensions meaning you have to get used to a little build up living on your scalp.

5. Expect a mild headache for the first couple of days after getting hand tied extensions.

Would I try extensions again? Absolutely! I’m actually considering invested in some human hair clip ins to wear any time I’m feeling like mixing things up.

Hope this was helpful to anyone considering extensions!

love,

Melinda

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How to grow out Blake Lively-esque hair. (1).png

Deciding to grow out long, strong, healthy hair requires some prep and planning.

Here are some tips to help you achieve long, luxurious hair.

1.Cut your hair

That may seem totally strange to cut your hair when you want your hair to grow but before deciding to grow out that mane of yours, you need to make sure your hair is in it’s healthiest state. No split ends or dry, fried hair. If you have split ends or damaged ends, your hair will continue to break off or split giving itself an unwanted trim. If you have a shoulder length cut with unhealthy ends but you want to grow your hair down to your booty, start by either getting a blunt chop (if you’re really brave) to give yourself a blank slate or continue to get a little trim every 4-6 weeks until all of those yucky ends are gone.

2.No bleach for you

The mane goal (see what I did there…) while growing out your hair is to keep your hair as healthy as possible. That will keep you from having to get trims very often and therefore getting longer hair. I would recommend that clients do not try to lighten their hair during the process of growing out their hair, UNLESS they have virgin hair (uncolored) or very healthy hair and they just want minimal lightening. While adding color (the same level of lightness/darkness to you hair) or darkening is not damaging, lightening is damaging. That doesn’t mean that you should never lighten your hair, rather just wait until your hair is at your desired length and/or super healthy and then you won’t have to worry about frying your ends, which in turn requires a trim and therefore leaves you having to go shorter rather than growing longer. Get it?

3.vitamins

There are certain vitamins and supplements that can really help speed up your hair growth and also make your hair healthier.

I would recommend taking biotin. Biotin helps promote healthy hair, skin, and nails. Also, even if you’re not pregnant, you can take prenatal vitamins to aid hair growth. My regular primary care doctor wrote me a prescription for prenatal vitamins to take as a daily vitamin and said it was perfectly fine to take as a daily vitamin even if you’re not pregnant or planning to become pregnant. Obviously, as with anything, everybody is different and we all take different supplements and medications so do your research before taking anything new to make sure it’s good for you.

Here are some gluten free, inexpensive prenatal gummies I found on Amazon and Here is a great option for Biotin capsules.

4.Use good products

Like most things in life, with hair products you get what you pay for. I think that investing in good hair and skin care products is well worth the money. Having a good hair care regimen is part of good self care. That new hair growth that’s currently at your roots will someday be your ends. It could be with you for the next 10 years depending on how long you decide to grow your hair out. We need to be treating our hair like gold because if we are harsh to our hair, it’s not going to last us very long. It will split, break, fall out, frizz up, fade, etc. It’s always good to use gentle products that are nice to our hair and skin. I like to use sulfate free shampoos and very moisturizing conditioners on my ends. Currently, I am using AG’s Refuel and Restore shampoo and conditioner. My hair is pretty dry and somewhat damaged from going blonde but after just one wash I could feel a difference in the softness of my hair. It’s good stuff! If your hair is fine or thin, you may want to try something lighter or thickening like AG’s Thikk Wash and Thikk Rinse. I really like AG shampoo and conditioners.

I also feel like it’s important to try to keep alcohol out of your hair when trying to keep it healthy. I use Kenra’s #21 alcohol free shaping spray as my main hairspray. Works great, smell’s even better. It’s the only alcohol free aerosol hairspray I have been able to find and I really just love Kenra products as well.

I would also recommend using a smoothing serum before blow drying and after using heat to smooth out ends as well as add moisture back in. I love Kenra’s Revive Oil.

5. Air dry, air dry, air dry. It’s always good to skip the heat when you can. Think of a t-shirt. If you washed it in hot water every day, dried it, and ironed it, that t-shirt wouldn’t last long. Some of the hair you currently have on your head has been with you for YEARS! Treat it like your favorite t-shirt that you let hang dry and wash on cold to keep it from shrinking or thinning out.

6. Satin pillow case and scrunchie for sleeping

If you prefer to sleep with your hair down, it’s good to have a silk or satin pillowcase to prevent tangling or hair knotting up. I prefer satin because CHEAP. Here is a 2 pack satin pillowcase set I like.

If you sleep with your hair up, try using a satin scrunchie which won’t attribute to hair breakage and will gently hold your hair out of your face.

There you have it, friends. My 6 tips to growing hair like Rapunzel herself!

love,

Disclaimer: Purchasing one of the products I have linked above results in me earning a small income for doing the work of researching these products for you.

My experience with extensions

6 Tips for growing out Blake Lively-esque hair