3 questions about extensions

Hey Sarah,

Do you know what kind of synth it is? Is it monofiber, like ProStyles, Dome, Trimco, or PlastikHaar?

1. It's hard to say without seeing your hair, but sometimes the shorter styles blend better with shorter hair and are easier to maintain. I do think, however, if you wanted a layered style, that would certainly be possible. Again, it's hard to say without seeing your hair.
2. I don't think the colors fade in the sun (although I could be wrong), but the shine does fade after a few washes.
3. It all depends. Some techniques, such as extendtubes, shrinkies, or pretipped fusion, are pretty easy for a beginner to learn. It also helps if you have someone to assist you with the back of your head, although you could do it yourself. Other techniques, such as heat sealing or pinchbraids, are a lot trickier to learn, imo. Hand fusion would fall somewhere in between. As far as expense, it all depends on what you want, but high-quality synth hair is very inexpensive (from $40 to $60 for your whole head, including shipping); start-up supplies for shrinkies (including the pretipping glue) would probably run you about $150; for extendtubes, around $100. There are ways to cut corners and do this even cheaper, but that's a general guide anyway.

For a list of tutorials and sellers, check out the Extensions 101 and Bridget threads at the top of the page.

Good luck! :)

Yeah, you can always post photos of the back of your head or white out your face or something. Or, you can just point us toward some Internet photos that look like your hair.

Do you know what method the salon used? How much did they charge?

:)

Yeah, I think shrinkies or extendtubes are both good choices for DIY, and there's plenty of info. here, including tutorials, for each technique. Shinkies have the advantage of being a bit more undectable, plus you have a little more flexibility with the pretipping because the shrinks are large enough and flexible enough to shrink to size. You should make sure to do test strands first, though, for best results. Good luck! :)

It seems strange to me, too. In fact, I didn't think fusion was used very often with synth; you think it's possible they were heat-seals instead? :)

You may be right Jenny it may not be fusion, but I have heard of it being done with synthetic, just not the norm.

Hey redhairedgirl, your not being vague, you were just not very well informed of the process they did on you. Thats not your fault! Its hard to know what all to ask when you dont know much about it. The stylist should have explained everything to you and gave you some type of written information or care sheets or something that may have explained the process a bit.

Youve come to a great place to find information, Im sure you will find lots of useful info and what you dont find just ask, youll get help here!

Thanks for the replies, you are all so nice on here!
Right, I 'phoned the salon and spoke to the girl who did my hair (the one who doesn't like to talk). She said that she used profibre extensions and that they were put in using the fusion method because this type of synth can take high temperatures (?). I am quoting what she said here but that doesn't mean I understand it!
I am a bit worried now because does that mean it wasn't done properly or that my hair will start to break off? I have only washed it once since it was done using the shampoo and conditioner that they gave me at the salon and it seems ok.
They said that the extensions should last about 2 months by which time all my hair should be long enough for them if I want (I only had about 2 thirds done this time) and if I go to them it will cost £400, which I suppose is about $650-700, does that sound expensive. There's no way I can afford that (I am a student) so I wll definitely have to DIY next time. How do I find a colour match to my hair for DIY?

I am thinking perhaps I should go to another salon for a 2nd opinion. I am getting quite worried now that maybe they didn't know what they were doing. My hair feels ok (great in fact!), but if it has damaged my natural hair then I want to know!

The profiber is most likely prohair by prostyles. It is a good quality synthetic fiber, and yes it can be done with fusion, you just dont hear of it that much, usually fusion is done with human hair. No it does not melt into your hair. The glue is heated and when applied to the extension strand and natural hair it sets/cools very quickly. I dont know if that is expensive or not, Id say probably not that high being done professionally. Ive heard of people spending alot more than that. Its expensive to me considering that Im a DIYer and all I pay for is materials, labor is what costs so much!

I hear ya on that. And my biggest peeve is when they try to make something sound so scientific....such as:
'non surgical method of hair grafting', grrrr just say it dammit, its glued to your head LOL!

Or.... natural organic protein bond translation=keratin glue!

lol...yeah I think this is why I had a hard time getting a grasp on a lot of the methods in the beginning. Would get confused after hearing you girls talking, then reading the companies ads. Oh well :)

What I find most funny, is that these people straight up say "no glue" What is the adhesive they are using?