I've been lurking on this board for months and I finally ordered Lush Hair and shrinkies from shrinkies.net!  I couldn't even sleep last night cause I can't wait to put in my extensions.   I'm an experienced DIY'er with color and hair cuts (my friends tell me I must have been a hairdresser in a former life), but I've never done my own extensions. 

I've had extensions twice before. Once in England (back in my goth days) I had pinch braided synth hair that was so hot and itchy I couldn't stand it.  I ended up taking them out after a couple weeks. 

I tried again about 10 years ago and had sewn in wefts done.  The hair was awful.  I don't even know what kind it was, but it was rough and course and didn't blend at all with my hair, and the braids were so tight that they pulled my hair out by the root.  I had two quarter sized bald spots at my temples, and I took the hair out within a week. 

I have thin, fine, straight hair that I can do nothing with, and all I want is to have pretty hair like everyone else! 

I'm going for hair kind of like Jennifer Love Hewitt's from "Ghost Whisperer" (see http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ghost_whisperer/bios/ - http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ghost_whisperer/bios/ #)

Anyway, I do have a couple questions:

I've got an oily scalp, and I can't stand going more than a day without washing my hair.  I was thinking of just washing my bangs every day and then maybe washing my whole head every other day.  Will that work?

Do ya'll recommend washing hair in the evening then letting it dry overnight or blow drying right after washing?

What is the best way to get the loose curls - a curling iron or hot rollers?

About how much time do you spend working on your hair every day?  I've been a wash and wear girl, and I know I'm probably not gonna be able to do that with extensions.  I gotta know how much earlier I have to get up to make it to work on time. 

Hi and welcome to our slice of hair extension heaven!

You could just wash your bangs each day and the whole head every other day.  If your scalp is very oily, than it may be beneficial to wash your whole head every day.  You see, oil is the enemy to shrinkies, and if your hair gets oily enough, you may get slipage.

With any kind of extensions, to avoid matting, please don't go to bed with with hair.  So if you wash your hair at night, completely dry it before bedtime.

I like to use either a curling iron or hot rollers.  I think that using hot rollers is much faster then curling little bits at a time.  I often use the jumbo hot rollers.

How much time you spend on your hair depends on what style you are going for.  In general, you at least want to make sure the hair is detangled, and you combed or at least finger combed the roots to ensure you are not getting matting at the root.  Matting at the root is a big culprit of damage in hair extensions, but it can be avoided with proper care, but only if very clean, neat sections were taken when the extensions were installed.  Anyway, combing at the roots should only take a few minutes per day.

If I am feeling lazy, I'll put some gel in my hair and scruntch it, but if I want it to look very styled, then I'll put the hot rollers in it for a 'glamour' look.  Again, it doesn't take too long.

When you are first getting used to your extensions, give yourself extra time to learn how to style them.  I am able to style my extensions and do my make up in about 40 minutes or so.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your advice.  I need to go out and buy some hot rollers. 

My hair takes about 2 minutes to blow dry now.  It's gonna be a big change!  I'm sure it can't be any worse caring for extensions than it was trying to get my hair to feather in the 80s.