Quick updo on a friend of mine at a wedding we recently attended.

Basically a side-ponytail and then pinned into little roll curls.

This took two lightening sessions to get it lifted enough to really showcase this pink color, but to color her hair pink we actually went straight to this colored shampoo after lightening, which means it’ll be easy to maintain it the same pink color at home with minimized repeat salon visits.

We all know I’m a hair junkie, it even says so on my invoices I send out, so it’s no surprise that I spend a LOT of time checking all sorts of cool new hair extension information as it comes out.

The above image is a photo of two major hair extension brands being compared to the hair from It’s More Than Hair, where I am the Director of Education. I will not list the names of the other two, but I will describe exactly what is being seen in this photo.

On the far left is a brand of hair extensions currently sold as 17 inches long, and it does clock in at just over 17 inches, but you can see a strong taper and minimized solidity on the ends of the extension pieces. This could be argued that it’s easier to blend, but it also means more pieces will be required to create blunt lines and that hair must be ordered in a longer length and cut to create density.

On the far right is a brand of hair extension sold as 18 inches long, and again it is definitely as long as it says it is, and despite having a blunter end than the far left brand it still has dramatic thinning throughout the ends. The same arguments about total hair quantity ordered would apply here as well.

In the center we have the IMTH tape-in hair extensions in our 17 inch length, and this photo showcases the difference in how consistent our density is all the way to the ends, there’s almost no tapering! This means that they stylist has total control over blending texture and bulk however they choose to for each client. We also have a single sided tape option for clients with fine hair, giving even more flexibility for customization on each client.

Will I continue to use the other brands? Sure, sometimes. Every client is different and has different needs.

Will I use other brands often? Unlikely, this brand gives me a lot of versatility and overall puts ME in control more than other brands. Ultimately it’s about what I can do to create the absolute best hair extension experience for each of my clients, and this is how I’m doing that.

This is a particularly fascinating case: only the dark band is from hair color regrowth!

This client had an experience of dramatic inability to process nutrients properly. This light band is actually the result of the resulting malnutrition, and the deeper line at the scalp is the result of getting that back under control.

I did filter this photo slightly to increase the color difference to make it more visible on a phone or computer screen, but that difference showed up noticeably in person. I’m posting this photo along with this information because I feel it is important for stylists to know that this is something that can happen. It has no effect on how the color processes typically if going darker, but sometimes the client may not notice a difference like this and it’s important to bring it to their attention because it may relate to underlying undiagnosed health issues.

In this case the client knew she had been having issues and she went through medical care to correct before I saw her, which is why there is a light band and then her natural color started to grow back in again. I’m happy she’s safe and healthy again, she’s always a delight to be around.

Finding a company with silver GREY extensions is complicated, but it’s doubly so when the client is allergic to para-phenylenediamine (also called PPD for short). PPD is the chemical that gives almost all oxidative dyes their color. We found a match and now we’ve got a happy client.

At first glance it may not look like we changed a lot at this appointment, but we actually did fresh balayage highlights/demi-permanent root shadow/fusion extension fill-in application/three inch cut.

This overall appointment really just accentuated everything great about the hair she came in with and just bumped up the “oomph” a little bit.