Added Length: Using Extensions To Style Hair

There was a time where if a woman wanted long, beautiful locks they would have to wait a long period of time before their hair grew out. Today, there is a way to extend the length of your hair without the wait – hair extensions. Like many other fashions in hair, extensions have been around since ancient Egyptian times, and both men and women used them. After this, there were many techniques throughout history to make hair look thick, full, and long, which some of these included decorated wigs, extensions, and Apollo knots. In the 1900s, women’s hair took the opposite approach to the women who lived centuries before them, and instead of long locks they wore short hair. Which this was the first time in history short hair on women was fashionable, because, in many cultures throughout history, it was improper to wear your hair down off your head –imagine how they would have reacted to short hair? Hair extensions have advanced over the years, and today there are seven to eight different techniques you can use for hair extensions.

One of the popular forms of hair extensions used today is clip-ons, and these are a non-permanent way to lengthen your hair, which they are clipped into the hair. The usual set of clip-ons has eight pieces in them (a few large pieces for the first sections, and then smaller ones as you go up). Starting from the nape of the neck up the hair is sectioned off neatly, and the clip-on is placed on top of the hair in that section. Clip-ons are very popular because they only take a few minutes to put in, and they will stay on for the entire day (you need to take them off before bed). If you want to style your short hair the next day you can, and this way you can have long hair one day and short hair the next day.

Other techniques for more permanent hair extensions include bonding, feather hair extensions, fusion, netting, lace fronts, and tracking. When the bonding technique is used a special kind of glue is used to keep the extensions from falling out, and the extensions last for 4 to 6 weeks before you need to go back to the salon. The hair is sectioned off, and the extensions are glued into the natural hair; also there are two types of bonding – hard and soft (the soft bond is more comfortable). Some extensions use synthetic hair while other use real human hair, but both look natural and it is hard to tell the difference.