 Good morning, welcome back to another vlog. Today, I am getting my hair extensions. I'm so excited. I have been talking for a while now about wanting to potentially get extensions because this is all my real hair right now and it's pretty long and I'm really happy with it. But I've never had long hair, naturally, like ever. This is the longest my hair's ever been. I've always had like a bob or like a medium length cut, but the longer your hair is, obviously the thinner it is going to start to appear. Whereas, you know, if you have it cut short and blunt, it's gonna look nice and thick and full. And I feel like now it keeps growing and I'm liking it, but I just want a little more hair. Like when I pull it all forward, like, okay, that looks pretty good, but then I have nothing back here. I just want a little more, you know? And I just feel like as a hairstylist myself and someone who has experimented so much with my own hair in the past and has tried so many different kinds of hair extensions in the past, I really wanted to try, oh, I didn't even say. I'm gonna be getting the beaded extensions. You will see when we do it and I'll explain more later on in the video, but yeah, I'm getting the beaded extensions. I've never had this particular kind before, but I just thought it was something worth trying and as a beauty professional, as a YouTube content creator, influencer, whatever, I always like trying new things. That way I can share with the internet my experience, tell you everything you need to know if you're also thinking about getting extensions and I'll be brutally honest and I will tell you if I think they're annoying, if I think they're worth it, how I feel they compare to other types of extensions, the hair that I'm getting is the same length as my natural hair. I'm just getting it to out of fullness, but my hair is naturally curly. The extensions that I got are also curly and I think, hopefully, fingers crossed, they should match my natural texture pretty well or at least well enough that you can't tell and they'll just blend in, but she asked for me to come in with my hair naturally curly. So we gotta hop in the shower and wash this hair. I'm gonna just use it a little bit just to get all the moisture out because I need to leave in the next 20 minutes or so and she needs my hair to be dry, so I'm just gonna try to dry it as much as I can really quick. Okay, hair is like 90% dry and I didn't put any product or anything in it. Maybe I'll put a little bit of hair oil before I go just to tame it a little bit, but I didn't wanna put a bunch of product because obviously she has to go in there to do the extensions and if you have curly hair, you know, once you put like mousse or gel or something in it, it's hard to get in there and like separate the hair. Everything kind of gets like a little hard and stuck together and then it hurts. She said that usually with an initial install, she tells clients to come in with clean, dry hair. It doesn't have to be washed like that same day, but you just don't want it to have like a lot of product build up, a lot of oil. I did go for a consultation, like before I even 100% made the decision to order the hair, had her look at my hair, had her color match and texture match me and I asked her a whole bunch of questions. So I'll link that video in the description, but if you're thinking of going to get extensions, 100% you have to go for a consultation obviously and I would write down a whole list of questions. Maybe as you're watching this video too, if there's things that you wanna like clarify or ask during your consultation, write down a list, bring that with you. Popping in some earrings, just like some medium size, simple gold hoops from Ana Luisa. I can't remember the name of them, but I'll look and see if they're still available. I'll link them down below. I do have a discount code with them too. That's where all my earrings are from. And we're gonna do some perfume, Ambry Saffron dossier as always. This portion of the vlog is sponsored by dossier. I just really quick wanted to remind you guys how much I love their products and very exciting. Their perfumes are now available in Walmart. So you don't have to order from the website, which is so exciting. I know it can be kind of like daunting ordering perfumes especially if it's a scent you've never smelled before online. They do have a great return policy and free returns and all that, but now you can actually go and get dossier perfumes in store. And I mean, I've told you guys a million times now, Ambry Saffron. This is the dupe for the Baccarat Rouge 540 perfume. Dossier sells it for $49, but the original like brand name of it retails for like over $200. And that's what dossier is all about. They make dupes or fragrances inspired by popular well-known designer name brand perfumes. Exact same scent, exact same high quality, just in simpler packaging. So you can get the exact same perfume for a fraction of the cost. So I'll have a link in the description and a discount code that you guys can use if you wanna check out dossier. Thank you so much to them for working with me. I've been working with them for a few years now and I'm in, look at my collection. Literally all dossier, there's one perfume I have that isn't from them and it's only because they don't have a dupe of it yet on their website. The outfit I'm wearing, I'm wearing gym clothes because I'm planning on going and working out after my appointment, which I know is stupid, like getting this nice hair and I'm just gonna go get all sweaty. So this sports bra came in a set from Amazon and then these workout lightings are also from Amazon. I'm gonna put this plain black zip up over it because it's a little bit chilly out and this is just from Forever 21. I'm gonna put on my sneakers and head out. I will see you at the salon. And she took so many after pictures and videos and stuff and it's so crazy. Like you really cannot tell what's the extensions and what's my real hair. It just matches so perfectly. The color, the texture, everything. Originally I was thinking that I was gonna just do one row because I was like, I just wanna add like a little bit of fullness but she just pinned one row first so I can just see what it would look like and I was like, you know what? I'm kind of thinking maybe we should just do two because one row just wasn't adding enough for me. I'm so happy with it. It just looks so pretty and I'm really loving the natural curl. I'm excited to also see how it's gonna look and feel when I blow it out and just do like my soft waves and stuff and I just can't wait to like get to play with it more and wear it in different styles. What's nice is because my hair is already naturally long and I was just looking to add fullness. She didn't have to actually bring the extensions all the way to the front of my head so it only goes from here to here so I'm able to pull my hair all the way back in a high pony tail and I don't have like those pieces sticking out on the sides here and I tested it out in the car putting sunglasses on. I'll get a pair and show you. I can put them on no problem. There's nothing there like doesn't bump into anything. I can pull them up and down. If you have shorter hair and especially if you have like a lot of damage or breakage in the front and you need to fill in the front more then they will have to bring the extensions closer to the front but if you wear glasses or you wear sunglasses a lot I would just bring your glasses to your appointment and put them on and tell the stylist that. So that way they can like make sure where they're putting the extensions will go around where your glasses will be and in that case you won't really be able to pull your hair back in a tight pony tail because then those pieces will be sticking out like the corners but you can still obviously like pull it back in a low pony tail. But as far as how they feel they feel good like the bottom one I honestly barely can feel it or tell that it's there at all. The top one feels like a little tight kind of but it's not uncomfortable or painful by any means it just, I don't know it feels like as tight as like a ponytail would feel. She said that the first few nights with them can be a little bit annoying or uncomfortable so she said take some Advil before bed and it just takes a couple of days to like adjust to the feeling of them especially when you're sleeping and laying down but I think because I've had like other types of extensions in the past I'm used to that so I don't know I'll update you later tonight and let you know how they're feeling. Like if my head is feeling tender or anything and I feel like it's the perfect amount of hair like it's enough that it's definitely noticeably fuller but it's not so much that it's like overwhelming that I think it'll be too much for me to deal with. No regrets so far. Oh, my legs are so sore. So it's a few hours later It's almost 6.30 so it's been about five hours since I left the salon and I will say I feel like over the last few hours or so I know the last clip I was like, yeah I mean they feel kind of tight but like there's no discomfort or anything. At this point now it is starting to feel like a little bit, sorry my dog is having his dinner. Oh, you're done? Okay, what do you think of my hair extensions? Do I look pretty? Is my hair pretty? Do you like? Do you like my hair? At this point it is starting to feel a little bit tight. I wouldn't even really say, I mean, I don't know maybe I guess it's like technically a little bit uncomfortable but it's not painful. It's not bothering me enough like I haven't taken any Advil or anything like that. And by the way, I am very tender headed. I cannot wear my hair in a high tight pony tail for more than a couple hours without getting a really bad headache. It feels similar to like having your hair pulled back in like a really tight pony tail or like a tight braid or something. It feels a little bit sore like right where the extensions are. I wouldn't really want to mess with it too much or like pull it up in a pony tail. Like I just kind of want to leave it down, let it be maybe if anything just put it in like a nice loose pony tail. So we'll see how it is tonight when I go to sleep because I am a back sleeper. I'll update you guys in the morning and let you know how that goes. But yeah, let me answer some questions that I got in the last video and maybe just some questions that I think you might have. So what exactly did I get anyway? Like what does it really look like in here? How were the extensions put in? Because even though I was getting footage of the appointment, obviously you were only seeing like the front angle. You couldn't really see what she was doing. And that was also on purpose because she wasn't really comfortable with me showing like too close up of like the specifics of what she was doing because the technique she uses is like her own unique technique. Like she's taken many different extension classes from different companies and she's picked like little things from each one and just from experience and trial and error she has found a way that she likes doing them the best but I will show you what the extensions look like. So they're the beaded, I don't even know the technical term, beaded row extensions, I think. Basically what they do is they section apart like a horizontal part across your head and then they take little probably, I would guess like half an inch, quarter inch wide pieces of hair and then she has a metal bead that she like strings your hair through and then she clamps the bead down around your hair and she does that all the way across your head and then they take a weft of hair. You know, if you've ever had clip-ins or seen clip-in extensions before literally looks like that just without the clips on it. And then she takes a hair needle and thread and she just sews that extension into those beaded pieces of hair and I couldn't see what she was doing but I believe they're sewing like between your scalp and where the bead goes. Hopefully you can see that. So it just goes all the way across and then this right here is like one row of extensions and she did do two rows. So I have this one and then another one right underneath it. And like I said, they just go from here to here. The reason that I chose to get this method of extension or just get extensions in general is because like I had mentioned earlier I feel like the longer my hair is growing it was just starting to not feel as full as I would like it to. So I just wanted to add some more fullness and this particular method I like because I feel like it's not as rough on your hair. So there's less opportunity for damage. Obviously of course anything that you're doing to your hair can be damaging if you're not doing it correctly. And if you're not like taking care of it properly even brushing your hair can be damaging to it. Let's be real. And it's also something that I've never tried before. So I was just curious to try it. I know some people were like, oh well why don't you just get clip ins or get a halo extension or you should try this type instead or this method. I took a few years off from extensions in recent times but I have been an extension girl majority of my life. I first started with clip in extensions when I was 13 and I literally wore clip ins every single day of my life. And then I got sew-ins for the first time. Like the old school traditional where they do a little corn row it's similar to this method. I feel like this method was inspired by that but they kind of like tweaked it to make it a little bit more appropriate for like girls with finer hair. They would do these teeny teeny tiny tight corn rows across my head and then they would sew the hair extension into that braid and that became my go-to until then I discovered tape in extensions. I did tape ins many times. It's really messy every time you need to move the extensions up or remove them. And I had a halo for a while that I really liked but I wanted something a little bit more permanent. I think if you just want like thicker longer hair once in a while for special occasions then those are great options. Like love a halo but it's just not what I wanted. Okay, now the sunset. Let me turn you this way. Okay, that lighting is a little bit better. So how long do they last in your hair? How often do you have to move them up, et cetera. So I think it depends on who's doing your extensions as far as like what they'll recommend for maintenance but the way Rachel does it is she said she does the initial install and then she will do two mini move-ups in between. And then every third move-up appointment she will do a reinstall where she'll take the extensions out completely and then reinstall them. I think during the mini move-ups they just like open the bead up, push it up a little bit higher, pinch it back down. Like I think that's literally all it is. She said that it's a very quick appointment. You come in with clean dry hair, just moves them up real quick. You're in and out in like 30 minutes. And she said every mini move-up she does typically every five to six weeks depends on how fast your hair grows of course but it's really important with any kind of permanent extension it's really important to make sure you're keeping up with the maintenance and getting them moved up when you need to because if you let it grow out too long the hair between like your scalp and where the extension was installed that like loose hair can get really matted up and then that's when you can have damage. And trust me, I know cause it's happened to me in the past. And then like I said, the hair itself can last six months to a year. It depends how often you wash your hair if you're like going to the beach or going swimming a lot how often you're putting heat on it how well you're taking care of it if you're using the right products at home can I color the extensions? Like what happens if I decide I wanna change my hair color? These can be darkened and they can be toned but you really shouldn't bleach them. It's already been like chemically processed so bleaching it is just going to destroy it and it's really unpredictable like it's not gonna light in the same way your hair would. I don't have any plans on changing my hair color as of right now but like a few months down the line come summertime I might get the itch to like add some highlights or something to it but I was thinking I could just highlight my real hair I would clip the extension hair out of the way just highlight my real hair and then the extensions could just kind of work as a low light because they're the same length as my real hair I feel like that would work but obviously if the extensions were longer than my real hair I wouldn't be able to do that. If you are someone that changes your hair color quite often that's something to consider it might end up costing you a lot of money because you're gonna have to keep purchasing new hair in different colors. As far as the brand of this hair, I do not know. As far as maintenance goes it's not really any different than other types of permanent extensions I've had I feel like it's all pretty standard but you have to be very careful when you're brushing through the hair you can't just like take a regular brush and like go from root to end you have to hold the extensions and you have to start from the bottom and work your way up and be very careful to not like brush over the beaded area. You have to use sulfate free shampoo and conditioner very gentle products, hydrating products, leave in conditioners, hair oils, things like that. This is not actually attached to your scalp so it's not getting the natural oils like your real hair is so you have to make sure you're using extra nourishing products to put the moisture back into it to prevent it from drying out. She said that I can go swimming but she did suggest avoiding it if possible because chlorine is really not good for your hair put your hair on top of your head and just like try to avoid getting it wet if you can which I already do anyway so like for me that's fine and obviously if the hair was blonde it would be even a bigger issue because then like the tone can get messed up. Oh and I had asked her if I needed to wait a certain amount of time before washing it and she said that she recommends waiting at least 48 hours but I don't think it like limits me from doing anything. The only thing that I can't do is French braids. You know what I mean? Because obviously like the weft is there and you would see that like I can't obviously part my hair all the way straight back but that's kind of it. Like anything else I feel like I can do. I can put heat on it obviously. Again that's like the difference between having like good expensive high quality hair but keep in mind you know the more heat you put on it you can shorten the lifespan so you wanna make sure you're using heat protection. I always find that when I have extensions they tend to hold a style very well so if I'm gonna put heat on it I usually will just do it like day one after I wash it and blow it out and then it's good until the next time I wash it. And I'm able to like go longer between shampoos because I have all this extra hair on my head and like the extensions again are not getting the natural oils they're not attached to my scalp so it stays clean way longer and usually what I will do what I've done in the past is like I would just take the top section if my hair is like really looking greasy and gross I'll just take the top section of my hair and I'll wash that in the sink to like refresh it but then I'll just leave everything else so that way I'm not having to wash the extensions as often and because the extensions are like kind of covering and protecting your natural hair in the past any time I've had them they've always helped my hair grow. I just highly recommend doing your research again don't look for the cheapest option book your consultation like I said bring a bunch of questions with you anyway like I said I will update you guys in the morning I'll let you know how it goes sleeping tonight I'll see you in the morning good morning so update they were feeling pretty sore like after the last clip that I recorded as the night was going on I was like but I never ended up having to take Advil they were never at the point where I was like oh my God this is unbearable it's so painful and uncomfortable I just want these out of my hair nothing like that and then I felt like when I was laying on my pillow and I had the hair like pushed against my head it was feeling a little bit itchy and again compared to other permanent extensions that I've had they are comparable or in some cases way way better like when I would have those braided so-ins I literally would get like welts on my scalp from those because the hair would be that tight so this is nothing compared to that I would say overall it was fine like was it the most comfortable sleep I've ever had in my life? No of course not but was it the worst? Was I unable to sleep? No as they sort of settle and like loosen up slightly over the next few days I'm probably not even gonna really feel them at all Oh I did want to mention when I was sleeping I used, where is it? This silk scrunchie that I have from Lily silk but just something that's gonna be like soft and gentle and like big and loose like this so I just did it in a loose low pony like this and then I just like kind of pulled it over to the side just so that way the hair wasn't like all over the place you do want to make sure especially if you are the type of person that you toss and turn a lot when you sleep you want to secure your hair so that way it's not getting all tangled throughout the night and my hair like especially when I leave it curly like this it usually gets tangled very easily but surprisingly it's not tangled at all like and I honestly can't even tell what's my real hair and what's the extensions but there's no knots, no matting, so far so good. So I'm gonna wrap up this video here if you want updates on the hair and you want to see my new routine and how it looks when I straighten it make sure you're subscribed to my channel because I will definitely be sharing tons of information and more of my experience with the hair if you live in the Wilmington, North Carolina area I will have Rachel's information in the description I highly, highly recommend going to her for thinking about getting extensions she's so knowledgeable and just so sweet that's it for me I hope that you have an amazing week thank you so much for watching I will see you in my next video very soon. Bye.