QuoteReplyTopic: DIY fusion Posted: June 27 2005 at 9:42pm
Does anyone have success doing fusion on themselves? I've gotten really good at shrinkies on myself, but I truly like fusion better for my hair. I can do fusion on someone else great , but not on myself. Any tips, or success stories?
Early years are learning years, make them count!
broomeboy1023
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I really like fusion. For me it is the best. THere is a little shedding, but the lest dammage , and the most comfortable on me head. I still like the Monkeybarz glue the best.... I wish I could do it myself.
Early years are learning years, make them count!
broomeboy1023
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My hair is pretty fine, and slippery. Microlinks chew it up. Shrink w/ LG work pretty good , but are kind of uncomfortable and big. I've heard that fusion is damaging because of the heat... but with the monkeybarz I can practically touch the glue straight out of the gun, so its not that hot..... I don't know why the bad wrap.
Early years are learning years, make them count!
broomeboy1023
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broome, I keep noticing you mentioning Glamour Hair. There's better
options out there than this company as far as item price, customer
service and definitely shipping. GH wants $18 to ship this product in
3-7 business days which is ridiculous. The post office provides free
packaging and for about $4 that includes priority mailing and delivery
confirmation.
Do a web search for fusion glue and you'll see a lot more options with
a lot better shipping prices.
I think it's wrecked a lot of hair. The archives here have some horror stories. I think a lot of that is lack of care in taking it down and a lot of it is the wearer's own doing.
As an example...
I know someone who wore Great Lengths on her head for 6 months and I used to watch her pick at a bond until it came out. By the time all the bonds came out and her hair was thinned from the nape down and a jagged line across her back, I heard her complain that fusion messed up her hair. EXCUSE ME??!! I kept my mouth shut but I wonder if she m-f'd her stylist because of that.
My own experience is that I wore a number of Cinderella bonds to test. They held like a dream. No slipping, no sliding. I removed them only because they had grown out to the point there was a lot of room between the extension tip and my head. When I can get my fingers between that area, I have a tendency to play with it too much. Personally, I found the removal incredibly problematic.
Fusion has a reputation of being extremely difficult to remove when it's newly installed. With shrinkies or rings, if I've made a bad placement, I can immediately remove it and put it back in right. The same goes for any non-glue method, I suppose.
I think if you're leaning toward fusion, just put in a half dozen strands or so and see how it wears. If you can do a safe removal of those pieces in a few weeks, go for it. But please please please as a DIY, don't fill your head up with an untested method.
And ya know what? When testing, don't just ball up some fusion on a strand of hair and see how you like it. Attach your fusion strand to another different colored strand of hair as if it were actually going on your head. Now try to remove it from each other and see how the two hold up. I test with two different colors because I can easily see which hair is becoming damaged.
i cant find the monkey barz any where else. do u know where else i can find them?
I put in Monkey Barz in a yahoo search and another option came right up. I also put it in an ebay search and someone is selling them there for less than GH and less than half the shipping, too.
I've been following your troubles for a while now and I would personally recommend you drop the full install DIY efforts for now and get someone to do heat seals or pinchbraids. Get that head of hair in that you want and then do strand tests with various methods.
I've heard the horror stories w/fusion too. I think a lot of the damage came from the removal, obviously. When fusion was popular, stylists where also saying you could wear the extensions for like 6 mos. So this could have contributed a lot to the horror stories we've all heard of.
Anyone try the fusion clips from Kristin's site?
broomeboy1023
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yeah, fusion should only be left in for 12 weeks at the most. and thats only if ur hair grows real slow. she will leave hers in for 8 weeks. her hair grows about an inch a month.
and god said let there be hair extensions.
Liviray
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Well, I have something to add~ I have fusion and while my hair IS
damaged (fine /thin) I rotate areas that are done so that none of them
get to long~and I never have to do a full take out. ...I have had some
pull out~ not fun - but since my hair was crap to start with I guess I
just feel comfortable that the risk outweighs the benifits...there is
NO extention method in my book that is completely fail safe...it will
always be a risk but I truly feel like it will be less of one if in the
beginning you go to a professional that has done extentions before ~
rather than trying to save a buck and do it yourself~ at least for the
first application.
BirdOfEden
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I've been wearing fusion for 6 months now, and I do it myself. It can be wonderful or it can be horrendous. It all depends on how you install, care for, and remove it. The wrong sized bonds and bonds not positioned and sectioned correctly will cause your hair to be pulled out at the roots. The wrong amount and distribution of glue will cause the bond to break down in one area and not in the other, resulting in ineven tension on the natural hair, equalling breakage. Not being gentle enough with brushing and styling will cause the same thing (and what most people consider gentle is still too rough for fusion). Impatient or improper removal will rip hair to shreds.
That said, if it's installed correctly, cared for like it was spun gold, and removed right, it really doesn't cause the horror stories that everyone speaks of. Problem is, no one really takes all of this seriously until they've already ruined their hair.
Another thing to note: the type of glue (keratin based or wax based) will also produce different results.
So far, fusion has been the only satisfactory method for me. I am open to other methods, but so far I haven't been able to produce the results I want with the other methods.
mochachip
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I tried sewn in wefts, chrissy v bonded wefts, shrinkies, and pinchbraids. While I like the continuity of wefts (a.k.a. no pieceyness like strand by strand), they're too bulky for my comfort. Shrinkies are a pain in my butt with all the pretipping, plus I find it hard to get the residue out of my natural hair AND the shrinkie itself is slightly more noticeable than my fusion bonds. Pinchbraids, I obviously can not braid. Even if I could, again they are more noticeable than my fusion bonds.
What I would really like to see are some really thick wefts, but without the bulky edge where they're sewn together. I know there's a such thing as "hand tied" wefts, but I'm under the impression that they don't have as much hair in them, which wouldn't work for me. I need lots of extension hair or it just doesn't blend with my natural hair.
Ideally, I'd like to see a weft with tons of hair on it, but instead of having the bulky edge where it's sewn together, have something as thin as a fishing line. I don't know how that could be accomplished though.
delin
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I recently started an install with Kristin's new keratin chips. The back was a nightmare...I had glue on hair that was on the other side of my head. It's really hard to navigate the back with fusion for me. So... I grabbed Amm's shrinkies and her threader and zipped through the back. I tried the fusion on the sides. I'll confess I had some really crappy looking bonds not to mention no finger prints on my thumb and forefinger. Then today it clicked...I cut the chips in 1/2...did smaller sections...and let the glue set for a moment before I stuck my fingers in there. (I know...use finger protectors, but I definitely can't navigate with those things on.) I don't know how they'll wear since I used less glue, time will tell. I did have to remove a few I screwed up with placement on and the glue came out very nicely. I like the look of the bond better than the shrikies, but I don't know how I'd ever be able to do the back.
I've been wearing fusion for 6 months now, and I do it myself. It can be wonderful or it can be horrendous. It all depends on how you install, care for, and remove it. The wrong sized bonds and bonds not positioned and sectioned correctly will cause your hair to be pulled out at the roots. The wrong amount and distribution of glue will cause the bond to break down in one area and not in the other, resulting in ineven tension on the natural hair, equalling breakage. Not being gentle enough with brushing and styling will cause the same thing (and what most people consider gentle is still too rough for fusion). Impatient or improper removal will rip hair to shreds.
That said, if it's installed correctly, cared for like it was spun gold, and removed right, it really doesn't cause the horror stories that everyone speaks of. Problem is, no one really takes all of this seriously until they've already ruined their hair.
Bird- I totally agreed with you!!! BRAVO This is the best post I've read so far. I've seen both amazing and horrible hot fusions and on the same side of the coin, some amazing and horrible cold fusions.
Bottom line- choose a method that's most comfortable for you, Broome. Extensions in general do take a lot of patience.
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