While practicing recently on a willing guinea pig with quite short hair I noticed that however fabulous the extensions look, you're stuck with that short sodding layer on top!

The layer was about half-way down her head so there was no way of blending. All I could do was straighten the hair to smooth it down and it looked nice but not perfect. I don't see how theres any getting away from it. If she's to straighten it constantly it'll look gorgeous but if not she'll be stuck with that short layer apparent.

As she wasn't a paying client and indeed a friend of the family it's not a problem at all and it has enabled me to foresee future problems.

What's your opinion on doing very short hair? I notice a few people don't do it. I'd still be happy to go ahead but it'll be crucial to advise the client that miracles can't be performed!

Thanks again!

Yup, you hit on it sister,  how not to make it look like a power-mullet.  I personally like to cut the extensions to blend from short layers at the top in back to just at the chin in front, then I let the hair take a large step down....  sort of a la lindsey lohan in Herbie Fully Loaded (sorry for the cheap reference).  I think you pretty much have to work on the diagonal or there's no hope of hiding the dreaded natural hair line.

    Hope that made sense.

Makes perfect sense but as a novice I don't think I'll attempt it on anyone just yet. But thats the trick then. Aha! I noticed a few of you have before and after pics of short hair and I wondered how the hell you'd managed it!

Cheers.

What do you mean work on the diagonal chick.  I cut layers down from the top layer like this x

hi sammy -

i go to some one typically to do pinchbraids for me as when i do DIY it looks crap lol. my hair is short and the stylist goes really high up, just to either side of my partline with a smidge of my own hair left out to cover those braids. that would likely work with any strand by strand method - of course it can be difficult to hide the extension connections as your hair grows out so it requires maintenance and a little work to keep the extensions covered.

i've known some people who do strand by strand everywhere and then do a single row of a sewed on or glued on track to cover the shorter crown stuff. one of my favorite examples is this woman essence on the black hair media board who does all of her hair in a sew in, but shows how high you can go with a track if you are talented: http://public.fotki.com/carmend3/weaves/ - http://public.fotki.com/carmend3/weaves/  if you need a password it's africa. i think she's so amazing and is a DIY'er.

i think as everyone has said - often the secret's in the cut. my stylist uses a straight razor and lightly razors down the length of hair starting where my own hair stops.

its all about placement and the cut and also the style.

TanglesRC wrote: its all about placement and the cut and also the style.

Please can you expand on placement? Personally, I don't think I could have positioned them better. How does placement affect the very top natural layer of hair?

The placement all depends on what the client's hair is like to start with, if the client's hair is thick then you can go further up to the hairline without it being detectable, therefore the extension hair will lay over more of the client's natural hair so there won't be such a mushroom if you get what I mean and then the layers won't need to be as defined.  Like my afro lady, we went nearly right up to her part and you couldn't see them so she didn't need any cutting at all, just a little shaping at the bottom but then say you have a client with very very fine hair you would only be able to work up until you can be sure you'll not see the bonds then some really chunky layers would be required.  You do get a lot of clients that want the one length look so you just have to make them totally aware that they will have to hairspray down their top layer otherwise when the wind blows their hair it will show they have obvious extensions. 

Another way that works really well if the client insists they don't want any cutting (but in my opinion the extension hair has to be a total match to the client's hair) you can just put say three (one at the back and one at each side) bonded wefts, this works really well to flatten down the top layer and if you sandwiche the weft then this is really undetectable too and all they have to spend time on then is just hairspraying a tiny tiny layer at the top, hope this helps x

i ditto what amanda said and also- what i do is this

sometimes the clients hair need to be texurized on the ends so it will blend in better, i do this at the end after i have layerd or trimed it.

hope this helps