Do clip on hair extensions look real?
Printed From: HairBoutique.com
Category: Hair Extension Topics
Forum Name: Hair Extensions
Forum Description: Hair Extensions can be the quick fix for short hair.
URL: https://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=28977
Printed Date: February 08 2025 at 2:55pm
Topic: Do clip on hair extensions look real?
Posted By: kdprincessjess
Subject: Do clip on hair extensions look real?
Date Posted: March 22 2005 at 4:28pm
| I don't want to glue anything in my hair but want hair extensions that are just down to my boobs (my hair is shoulder length)...do the clip on's work well or is there something better? |
Replies:
Posted By: Jenny_RR
Date Posted: March 22 2005 at 4:48pm
|
I think clip-ins would be a great option. They're great for people who
aren't sure if they want the commitment of extensions, clip-ins tend to
last a lot longer (so they're cost-effective), and they can look
unbelievably good. Most people recommend making them yourself--you get
better quality for a better price that way--and one of our members,
Metalgirl, has provided detailed instructions on the boards. Here are
some of her instructions: "I make all my clip in extensions out of hand tied wefts because the hair is better quality and doesn't shed at all. I sew 3 or sometimes 4 of them together with a zig zag stitch on my sewing machine and then sew the clips on. My clip ons that I am wearing currently are made out of 8 ounces of hand tied hair, 4 tracks that are each 12" wide. To make them 12" wide (hand tied is only usually 10" wide) I stagger the pieces so it ends up measuring 12" wide. That way it comes closer to my hairline in the front and gives me more hair that falls forward for doing face framing layers." Here's another good thread on the subject: http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19808 Good luck! :) |
Posted By: mochachip
Date Posted: March 22 2005 at 5:00pm
|
I made my own clip ins in a somewhat similar manner. I use mine
when I between real installations. my hair is shoulder length and
with my clip ins its either bra strap length or elbow length depending
on which ones a use. I used plastikhaar wefts so mine were machine wefted. I use four 4" pieces, four 1" pieces, a 7", an 8", a 9", and two 6" for doing the elbow length. I use the same 4" and 1" pieces for the bra strap and a 7" and 8". Each of the clips has three layers of weft on it except for the 1" ones which have four. The hardest part in my opinion is getting used to placeing them in the exact same spot each time. Once you are practiced at that then you can trim them to fram your face or what not. I would expect trying to get blunt cut ones even with each wear would be nearly impossible but maybe I'm just not dedicated enough. :)al |
Posted By: SamUK
Date Posted: March 22 2005 at 5:01pm
|
If it's just the issue of gluing things to your hair you have a problem
with, there are also alternative methods such as microrings/ extendtubes (which can be performed on wefts, too, for quickness) and pinchbraiding. You can also attach wefts to your head with toupee tape, if you don't feel confident enough to start making hair- pieces yet, but that would only be a very temporary method of extension, obviously. |
Posted By: metalgirl
Date Posted: March 22 2005 at 9:53pm
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here's picture of me with my clip in extensions from my website. These were 8 ounces of 18" hair. I am now wearing 8 ounces of 22" hair. No one can tell I have extensions, let alone clip in ones. http://www.metamorphosishairdesign.com/about.htm - http://www.metamorphosishairdesign.com/about.htm The wefts I have now are machine wefted and they shed a lot. From now on, I will only buy hand tied wefts because they don't shed at all.
|
Posted By: shel221
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 1:10am
| woah! those are clip-in's you have in in those photos? They look great and you cant even tell. Some clip-in's i have seen are really thin looking and sparce at the ends but yours are supperb and it just looks like your real hair |
Posted By: metalgirl
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 1:21am
| I think the trick to get any extensions to look good is to make sure you add enough hair. On my clients, I add about as much as they can wear and not cause undo stress on their natural hair. |
Posted By: kdprincessjess
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 4:28am
| can i buy the clip on ones and have a salon put them in my hair for me...just to show me I mean? How long can you wear the clip on ones before you have to take them out? |
Posted By: Jenny_RR
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 4:41am
| Well, you can, and a stylist can also make them for you. But you'll need to take them out at least every night. You shouldn't sleep with clip-ins in your hair. From the looks of it, you'll need to have some colors blended to get a natural look. :) |
Posted By: mochachip
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 7:36am
|
Also even if you buy clip ins since you're going to have to take them
out every night they are easy to take out and pput in (interm of the
clip). therefore you can practice putting them in to your hearts
content without having to worry about damaging your hair. Most of the places that sell clip ins online have very good instructions about placement. That's what I based mine on and it wasn't hard at all. |
Posted By: kdprincessjess
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 12:21pm
|
how can i get clip ins that will match my hair color since it has 3 different colors in it? |
Posted By: mochachip
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 12:44pm
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depending on where you order them they can be custom made with different colors. You could also buy them with your primary color and order a little bit of the high/lowlight colors and attach those yourself to the clip ins. This would be very easy because you will have it right in front of you. It is al ittle work but definitely something you could handle and wuld give you muchmore control of your color scheme. You could pinchbriad them in (which takes some coordination and practice, but is free) or get some microrings/extendtubes and a pair of pliers which isn't too expensive and doesn't take as much coordination. I would guess that in an hour you could modify your single color clip ins to tricoor clip ins using rings for the firs time. I'm not sure where to custom order clip ins if you don't want to do any of the work yourself. |
Posted By: kdprincessjess
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 1:23pm
|
you guys don't know how much you've helped me!!! I love the idea of the clipins and customizing them. I don't mind doing them myself. Is there anywhere I can go to look at colors of hair? Like a store i mean that's national. Does Sally Beauty have those? |
Posted By: mtolady
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 1:42pm
|
Sally's has wefts, but frankly when i saw them the other day, they looked like the horse hair on my cello bow...YUKKO. i got my Remi from Doc's...and the clips and the thread too. I found a site which sold the full clip-ins, and just measure them off that. I never wore my clip-ins out .....i can't get them to stay in my hair - my hair is really thick so i was doing it for length....of course, i have trouble getting barettes, etc to stay in. I only get two twists with a normal size elastic. i've been tracking my Doc's shrinkies since Monday....Washington to PA in3 days is awesome! i've been pretipping the hair from the clip-in wefts as it is such nice stuff....i'm just not really liking Gorilla Glue - there's an oily or latexy feeling to it...like trying to clean up oil-based paint. ------------- has someone been swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool again? |
Posted By: Jenny_RR
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 1:47pm
|
Maybe if you send swatches of your hair to Metalgirl or Kristin, they
can make some custom clips with the right 3-color blends for you. I'm
not sure if they even do this, so don't quote me on it, but it's worth
a try. If not, they might be able to point you toward someone who can.
:) |
Posted By: mochachip
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 2:07pm
|
And while the hair at Sally's is typically crudtastic they the colors when numbered are reasonably standardized. I don't even know if its a chain or just a place we have here but 'Beauty Works' has slightly higher quality hair and a better range of colors. You might not wan to get hair there but it would be a good bet for getting afeel for the colors. You might want to check out 'ethnic' beauty supply places in your area as they are more likely to carry hair. Also the difference between #4 HH and #4 Synthetic, for example since I use it, is trivial so you can at least see the coors even if they don't have human and thats what you want? Is human what you said? Must review previous posts... |
Posted By: kdprincessjess
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 2:22pm
| I have thick hair too so that's kinda scary that the clipon's don't stay in for you. What is the other kind that you guys are talking about that you pinch into your hair without glue? Do those stay and for how long? |
Posted By: mochachip
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 2:40pm
| PInch braids or microrings/extendtubes. And when done right oh yeah they stay. ~3 months again. go to the 101 sticky post and look at Rae's site on pinch braiding or Docs for rings. |
Posted By: Jenny_RR
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 2:50pm
|
Yeah, Jess--not to sound like a broken record here, but you really need
to check out those two threads--Extensions 101 and Bridget, Your
Question Is Here. It's not really enough to say, "Hey, I want
extensions, but I don't know anything about them--what do you think?" I don't mean to sound harsh here, but there really are a lot of variables with this stuff, and unless you do the research, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. Do the reading, learn about the basic methods, and then you can make an educated choice. It's not too difficult--all the information is synthesized in those threads. :) |
Posted By: kdprincessjess
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 2:54pm
|
ya, I've been looking at them and trying to figure everything out. I like the ones that don't actually glue in your hair and would last over the summer. I was thinking about maybe buying my own hair and having someone put it in for me...and if I love it then I'll keep it. Was it hard for you to learn to do it yourself? Thanks for the help :) |
Posted By: Jenny_RR
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 2:58pm
|
Well, extendtubes and shrinkies are pretty doable for a beginner, but
pinchbraids (which is what I have)--and really any braiding or weaving
method, imo--takes a lot more practice, so I go to a stylist for that. But yeah, if you wanted to do it yourself, the easiest option would probably be extendtubes, then shrinkies. Bonded wefts are also pretty quick and easy, but if you don't want glue, extendtubes would probably be the best option. It's pretty cost effective, too. :) |
Posted By: mtolady
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 3:08pm
|
when i started i didn't want glue....one of my office mates had fusion
done and after about 3 weeks her hair looked....unkept near the
roots. Her glue wasn't white, but it wasn't translucent nor hair
colored. She looked like she had clumpy gel - y'know the
stuff that collects on the top of the Dippity Do cap. :) so after trying the clips - from Doc's w/ the silicone cushy gripper - and finding i just didn't feel comfortable wear them - like i was anticipating fall out....i decided to try the shrinkies.... ....and that's because, even though i didn't want glue...these gals have been AWESOME in their testing. So now i'm gonna try shrinkies...and instead of using acetone after removal, i'll try the oil method. And know what....if i do the removal on a friday....i have all weekend to oil and wash any residue out of my hair. you're saying about doing this for the summer....i don't know about your summers, but for me, sweating, lawn work, the occasional swim, etc....i don't know how anyone could wear clip-ins while swimming. girls??? what's the limitations for clippies??? ------------- has someone been swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool again? |
Posted By: kdprincessjess
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 3:36pm
| I found someone who will do the glue for 65 dollars. Will glue kill your hair? I was reading a few things and it didn't really answer that. How long do the shrinkies take to put in and do they last? |
Posted By: mochachip
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 5:07pm
| Sweating is uncomfortable. I wore clip in bangs and falls for new years and when we hiked back from going out I thought I might never cool off again (this was in town hiking in New England not the land of the hot). I agree I can't imagine wearng clip in swimming. |
Posted By: Jenny_RR
Date Posted: March 23 2005 at 5:48pm
That's a great price--I assume it's for bonded wefts, though, and not strand fusion. I also assume you need to provide the hair? I would be a bit concerned if that includes the hair because I don't think it's possible to get decent quality for that price, but if it's just for the service, especially if it's bonded wefts, it sounds OK. Keep in mind that bonded wefts will probably last a few weeks to about a month (maybe a month and a half at most). They won't give you the three months (give or take) that most of the other methods would.
Theoretically, they should last three months--in other words, they should last until you need to take them out because of growth from the root. As long as the hair's decent quality and the application is good (and your hair responds to them well), three months would be a good estimate. If you're doing them yourself (and you've never done any extensions stuff before), figure it'll take you a few nights in front of the TV to pretip the hair, and one very long day (or two shorter days to install it). It's possible to do the back yourself, but it's tricky, so you might want to enlist some help. If a professional or experienced DIYer was doing the job, they could probably install a whole head in four hours, I'd say.
Yeah, you could search forever, and you'd never find an answer to that because there really is no definitive answer. It all depends on your hair type, the tools used, the skill of the extensionist, and the care taken during removal. Right off the bat, I will tell you that no kind of glue--and I don't care if they call it keratin or a protein bond or whatever--is good for your hair. Period. In fact, no extensions method is good for your hair--just like bleaching or straightening or using hot tools isn't good for it. The goal is have no damage or minimal damage, but again, fundamentally extensions aren't "nourishing." In my opinion, the biggest problem with glue is that it's riskier than most other methods--there is a greater margin for error with it. Personally, I had two horrible experiences with glue/fusion, but then again, a lot of that has to do with my hair type (thin, bleached, damaged, fine, etc.). So I'm not a good candidate. Plus, my extensionist didn't take enough care during removal (which is when most of the problems occur), so I basically lost half my hair. On the other hand, if your hair is thick, strong, and relatively healthy, and your stylist knows what he/she is doing and is careful with the removal, you could have great results, so it all depends. I believe bonded wefts (which are a more temporary method are a bit gentler than strand fusion, which lasts longer). But there are women on this board who have excellent results using glue methods, like Kristin or Sherrie. But I don't think they'd even tell you that it's the gentlest method--it's just that they know what they're doing and how to handle their hair, so they're able to make the damage minimal or nonexistent. Glue also has some advantages in that it's pretty secure and undetectable. Anyway, that's my ten cents. There are no easy answers unfortunately. This is why it's important to do a lot of research and have a consultation with at least one stylist before you commit to anything. If you're concerned about damage, ask potential stylists about that, and consider what they have to say. If it seems like they're trying too hard to sell or, God knows, if they tell you glue is nourishing for your hair, run!!! :) |
kdprincessjess wrote:Posted By: Alexia81189
Date Posted: July 29 2005 at 4:48pm
|
hey mocha, I know this thread was from a while ago but I have a question about plastikhaar wefts. Do you remember how much one plastikhaar weft weighed? Did you order the 5 meter weft? Thanx in advance for any info on this. ------------- Life moves pretty fast. If you dont stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. |
Posted By: Kimmyh51
Date Posted: July 31 2005 at 6:25am
|
I have had weaves sewn in and also dome extensions.
With the weaves i found that they itched like hell and within 4 weeks were needing redoing. also with long hair extensions (I only had them jaw length in the front with dome) they were knotty as hell even with a ton of conditioning, braiding to sleep in, etc. I imagine this would be a problem with any permanent method. I woudlnt get tracks again as they were just too uncomfortable. i cant afford dome all over as they cost $1500 - $3000 every 3 months and the knotting and tangling would be a nightmare. Also the dome are synthetic and tend to look at bit horrid after a few months.
So now I use clip ins and so far they are great! You have to make sure you clip them in properly and at the moment i am clipping them around hair thats already in extensions (I have very fine hair and dont have the courage to remove the extensions in my fringe and go completely clip in) but all in all good. I first brought hair u wear but they were the wrong color (id also suggest two packs one isnt enough) , but i have since dismantled a synthetic wig i brought and made it into clip ons - which had the added advantage of not needing to be cut into shape! I spent (in new zealand dollars) about $70 for the wig, and $40 for 24 toupee clips delivered. Un like a lot of ppl in the forum i like the synthetics - i like that it has this lovely large curl that you can only get on human hair with heated rollers so if your hair gets wet then or at the end of the day it goes flat - these are still curly at days end. I have had a lot of good comments about my current set with people saying i have 'lovely hair' and that they would never have guessed it wasnt mine - ill post some pictures when i remember to take a photo when they are in.
I also timed myself putting them in this morning 7 minutes to put in 3 5 rows of them, and another single one in the front. As my hair is straight i usually put in heated rollers to that first so that it blends. they are wind proof, dance proof you name it - they stay put! and i like that you can change your look every 5 mins - apparently pam anderson has a suitcase of them and a stylist that follows her and puts them in! I plan to make two more kits - long and straight and long and spiral curls. i think they look the same as permanent extensions (though you cant really put them up in a pony tail (but you can buy clip on ponytails too if thats what you want) but you can clip them back or up. |
Posted By: Kimmyh51
Date Posted: July 31 2005 at 6:27am
| forgot to say that one thing i have found with perm hair extensions (do others find this?) is that the back near the nap of your neck end up really knotty quite fast - i guess from your collar and jerseys and so on around your neck |