Hey Kristin,

I came across this message board and I must say, it has been a gift to me ha ha.

I have read so many different methods and all the pros and cons to all of them. I came across your webistes and I loved every hair on your gallery, I dont think there was one that I didnt think was awesome. The pics you posted of your latest install look amazing as well. Your natural hair doesnt even look to damaged, but my idea of damage is just thinned out hair. I know that coloring or bleaching can damage the hair which is just a given to anyone that chooses to do that.

I have thick hair already but my problem is I try to grow it out (because it is layred all over right now) to be longer but the moment my hair (mainly in the back bulk of my head) gets to be thick again I cant do anything with it. It wont straighten nice and it wont blowdry nice...and the ends look dead because I straighten my hair almost every day so I have to cut it. I have never had breakage though in my hair so when everyone is saying how they had half their hair just break off, I get really scared. I want to put in extentions just to thicken up my hair and have it a bit longer (my hair is past my shoulders almost to the middle of my chest). I want it to be just layered at the ends rather than layered all over. I'll try to post a pic soon to show you what it looks like now. My main question is what type of method would you suggest that I use (and if anyone else has an opinion on just thickening up some layered already going to be thick hair with extentions would love to hear it)?

I also want to experiment gradually with different colors of hair. I have pretty much had the basic on my natural hair. Bleach blonde, red, brown, dark brown...I currently have dark brown (fading though) with blonde highlights on the top. I really like the type of hair you use Kiristin, it looks more natural. Is that human hair or synthetic? The methods that I have looked at and considered is the Shrinkies (do the shrinkies melt on to the hair or just "shrink" in size to have a firm grip on the hair?), Fusion chips (which I"m not liking anymore since discovering the shrinkies) or the extendtube (but I read that can pull the hair out). I also should say that I would like to do this on my self after practicing a bit of course. I love to do things with hair and try lots of new things so this is my next goal to conquer.

I need some advise though. Im pretty sure I dont need every single piece of my hair done. THe pics you posted on this message board looked relatively spread out which I think thats all I need. How much hair did you use for that? And did you cut it after or just leave it the length it came out as? 

HELP!!!! After reading these experiences I dont want to come out of this bald or thinned out hair. I just want to thicken my own hair up while it grows out, so I dont keep cutting it. Thanks!

- Jamie

Hi there,

So it sounds like you have some layers that you'd like to make longer around the top of your head, right? If you can post a picture or email me one I may be able to offer you even more advice but I'll try my best now. I use 100% Human hair made by Bohyme for all of my client installs(I sell it on YourHairShop.com if you need any).

For a beginner I would recommend shrinkies or extendtubes because they are easier for a beginner to install. Shrinkies actually shrink down rather than melt to hold on the extension. I just added a new picture on the main page of my site that will give you more of a visual. At the bottom of the page, you'll see an example of a Shrinkie install.

How you need to place them really depends on how much hair you wish to add and what type of hair it's being attached to (your hair). If you have thin hair you will probably need to put them all side by side because you'll need larger sections of your hair to attach them to. I have pretty thick hair so I can attach my extensions to smaller sections of hair ann I can leave a little space between the rows.

I'm not sure if you saw my post to Fabulous yesterday but here's some advice I gave her:

Growing hair out and maintaing it's health can be done with extensions... you just have to know how. The first misconception is how long can you wear extensions. You can extensions for 6 months as some brands advertise... this being said, just because you can does NOT mean you should (You shouldn't!). Most people try to get the biggest bang for their buck by streaching out their wears but this is horrible. Is the extra couple bucks worth you loosing your hair?!? I never wear my extensions longer than 3 months.

I think all methods if properly done can work to grow out your hair. Fusion seems to have the worst reputation but I've done it many times on myself with no damage. The problem is that because the bond is so strong they have the ability to stay in people's hair longer, even when they shouldn't. With other methods such as shrinkies and extendtubes they won't usually last too much longer than 3 months so people change them more often which keeps their hair healthy.

Another problem that causes damage is the take down process. It is very important to take your time and take them out properly (or go to a pro the have them taken out). When you hear stories about an average girl having a horrible experience with extensions one may wonder how long they left them in and who took them out. If she left them in for 6 months and picked them out herself- well duh! Of course she has damage.

Another thing to remember is not to install them too tight on your scalp. It may seem like they will last longer this way but in reality extensions put on too tight will start pulling out your hair almost instantly.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that any method will work for you if done correctly. For someone looking to do it themselves I highly recommend starting out with shrinkies or extendtubes. With thinner hair I would use less extensions connected to larger sections of your own hair.

I hope this answers your question.  Let me know if you have anymore.

See if you can post a picture of your hair  

Hey Kristin,

I'll post some pics of my hair tonight or tomorrow at the latest. One other question that I had was once you put your extentions in (based on your last install) did you have it cut or trimmed at all? If so, did you do that yourself or have it professionally done? I guess I need to know if I have to cut my hair after I install it.

Thanks Kristin!

Sorry, I keep thinking of new questions, I guess I'm really new at this ha ha.

I read that for your last install you have shrinkies as well as extendtubes. You suggested this for me as well. My question is, why would you use the combination of the both? Do the extendtubes hold less hair than the shrinkies or are they less noticeable? I'm wondering if I should have a combination of both as well but I"m not really sure the reasoning behind it.

Also, what type of hair would you suggest for me. I like to wear my hair straight but also big loose curls. I read that the bohyme is good as well as the Lush hair, but not sure which is better for both straight and curly.. My hair doesnt do one or the other, it either has to be straightened or curled, if it air dries it just is flat and wavy, but not nice wavy. I need something that can take the straightening iron as well as a big barrel curling iron, and this would be every day.

Thanks again

I did a mix of everything because I think it is important as a seller to know what you are selling. I test and retest products often to make sure they are still of the same quality and durability. If I wasn't a seller I would have just done one method. Bottom line is: I will never sell something I have not tried out on myself. Some people are quick to get new items in and put them up for sale with out ever finding out the quality of the items they are selling by trying them on themself. It's like the hair I'm wearing, I got in about 25 strands 2 1/2 months ago and liked them. i could have easliy made my order for them then but I decided to rather install a full head of the hair on myself to give it a fair 'full head' trial. This way when I do place my order I will be well informed of it's quality first hand.

As for which method to try, both Shrinkies and Micro links would work well for you. You can choose one or the other or try a mixture of both. If you want to put them up fairly high on your head I would go with Shrinkies because they hide better in visible areas.

As for the hair, I've heard Lush is good but I've never had the chance to try it. I've used authentic Bohyme hair for about 4 years now and I've always been very impressed with it. I wear my hair straight about half of the time and also use a curling iron on it for the other half(just a 1" barrel Connair one). Bohyme always holds a curl well and maintains it's great quality.

Hey Kristin,

Im emailing some pics of my hair to you. Notice the back and how thin it is...I want that to be all the same thickness...sorry, I couldnt figure out how to put the pics on here.

Hey Kristin,

Yah, feel free to post them here, I would have done it myself but I couldnt figure it out. Thanks!

Ok, here are your pictures:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v619/kbreul/?"> http://photobucket.com/albums/v619/kbreul/?">

For what I can tell in the pictures you are about a #2 hair color with maybe some M27/30 highlights. I see what you mean about your layers. As you said, your hair is really thick but deeply layered. You have a couple options... you'd be surprised how much longer your hair will appear if you were to just fill it in. Putting the extensions in at the same length as your longest natural length will make your hair seem longer and it will bring down those layers of yours. You could probably even get away with 14" hair for this option and you wouldn't need to put as much in as you would for a full head. Here, see if this picture can help you visualize what I'm talking about:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v619/kbreul/?">

If you choose to add a little length go with the 18" hair. You'll probably use the full 4oz that usually comes in a average pack. You have thick hair so you shouldn't have a problem with damage. As I said before Shrinkies or Extendtubes (Micro Links) would work well for you. Are you going to have a helper to put them in or will you be doing it yourself? Do you think you would be comfortable using a hot extension wand to do the back of your head? If so you may want to try Shrinkies, if not go with Extendtubes... that may be your deciding factor.

If anyone else has some advice for her feel free to chime in

Kristin - I was thinking the same thing, just filling it in so I dont have a mop for hair, I think it would be way to thick. I might put a couple of rows about mid ear level just to give it a bit of thickness, but I definetly dont need a full head. Do you think I can space my extentions out, rather than putting extentions right next to the other?

I will be doing it myself...maybe a bit of help though with the back. One question, I saw a different method (cant remember her name) but they pintch braided and then did the extendtubes. Do you think that would be an option for me or should I just stick to shrinkies? I'm totally comfortable with using the fusion wand on myself, of course after practicing a few first.

If you were to do my hair, what would you do? I want to go a shad darker than the pic (i'll probably dye my hair before I do this too), almost black but not quite, but no red in it at all. I'll have blonde streaks put in (dying of course) on the top so I'll just have to do the underneath the whole dark color.

Hey again,

Ok I was a bit off in my last post. When I was talking about the pinch braiding and then the extendtubes, I meant to say the pintch braiding and then the shrinkies. Now, if I were to try that out, with the shrinkies, would I have to buy the longest lenght in hair because I would be doubling it??? Or how would that work? Wouldnt it be to short even with 22" in length with folding it inhalf? That would only give me 11".........

Hi there, sorry I didn't get a chance to check the board since my last post.

If I was to do your hair I'd probably do fusion on you because I've really mastered the technique and I wouldn't have to pre-tip any hair for you    If I were you, I'd do the Shrinkies and space them out to evenly distribute them all over your head. I saw the post about the pinch braiding with shrinkies and I thought it looked awesome! I haven't tried it yet but it looks like it would work great. This would probably be pretty hard for a first install, I'd hate to see you get discouraged. Your first install, if you do a full head, will take you probably 8+ hours. My last install took me about 6 and I do extensions 6 days a week  

Are you going to do a solid color on your hair? Here's a picture of some #2 Bohyme hair:

Do you like this color?

Yah that color looks awesome. Would you mind posting the next shade darker from that? Also, what would a good blonde color be to go with that, not a copper color but like a honey blonde color...or to go with the next shade darker. Wow...8+ hrs...I'll have to keep a whole weekend open lol.