 Hey guys, welcome back to my channel or welcome if you're new. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sam. I am a professional hairdresser and today we're gonna talk about hair extensions. So I have had the beaded weft extensions for them called a few different things, beaded weft, beaded row. But I have had these extensions now for around nine months. So almost a full year. And when I first got them, I said after I had, you know, a lot of experience with them, I would let you know my thoughts and share all the information you need to know about them if you are considering getting them as well. So here we are. So what exactly are these extensions? How are they installed? I'll show you a close up too of what the wefts look like. Keep in mind right now, they are very grown out. I'm due to get them moved up. But basically what they do, and everyone's technique is a little bit different from what I have learned. But for the most part is basically like a spin-off of like just the old school sew-in method. But instead of braiding your hair and then sewing the extensions into that braid, it's done a little bit more gently. So this is a great technique for people who have really fine hair, silky soft hair. If your hair is more fragile, if you have damage already, because this isn't creating as much tension on your hair. So what they do is they take your natural hair, they take like a thin section horizontally across the back of your head and then they create little pony tails of your hair and they clamp it closed with a small metal bead. So you have all these little pony tails going across the back of your head and then they take a hair extension weft, which looks like this. If you have ever had experience with clip ins, pretty similar, just a weft of hair, nothing on it, no clips or anything. They take this and then they sew this into those little pony tails. And that's what holds the extension in your hair. What's nice about this technique is to remove the extensions, you don't have to like cut the thread and it's not as difficult of a process. You literally just like they take pliers basically and they just unclamp those beads to open them back up and then everything just slides right out of your hair. As far as how long they last, you do have to get the extensions moved up every so often. And again, every hairstylist does things a little bit different. The girl that I go to, she will do what she calls mini move ups every like five to six weeks or so. So as the hair starts to grow out, she'll just kind of like push it up, reclamp the beads. So that's like a quicker appointment. Some hairstylists will make you fully take the hair out altogether and then do a full reinstall. But either way, you're gonna have to go back to the salon for maintenance, at least I would say like a month and a half to two months. So around like the six week mark, depending on how fast your hair grows. And again, what your specific hairstylist suggests and all of that, but what happens is the extensions are applied right at the root area of your hair. And then as your hair grows out, you need to move the extensions back up to the base because otherwise you're gonna have that hair dangling in between that new hair that's between your scalp and where the extensions are applied. You don't want to apply a lot of weight to that hair because it can cause damage and breakage and that hair in between can start to get tangled and matted, which again will lead to damage. So you really need to make sure that you are taking care of your extensions, that you're getting them moved up when they need to be moved up. And you wanna also have them be reinstalled every so often. So that way they can apply the extension to a different spot on your head. You don't wanna always have that weight on the same exact spot because then that hair over time, it's gonna be too much weight and it could eventually lead to damage. The hair itself, depending on how you take care of it, how often you wash your hair, et cetera, will last you on average at least about a year or so. Like I said, I've had my extensions for about nine months now and the hair still feels absolutely amazing. Like it's still really good quality. I haven't experienced a lot of shedding. Like the wefts themselves still look nice and thick. So I have no intention of needing to repurchase more hair anytime soon. But I also don't wash my hair more than like twice a week and I don't put heat on it very often. So I try to really take care of it as best as I can. But speaking of the hair itself, let me talk about that a little bit more. So the process, and I have shared this, I have a video that I shared when I initially got these extensions installed. I will link that down below if you'd like to see it and kinda see what the whole process was like. But I went in for a consultation. She was able to match up my hair color and my hair texture. Most stylists are not gonna keep all of the hair in stock in their salon because that's really, really expensive. So normally they will just have little swatches, like little pieces of hair that they can use to kind of match up to the color and all of that. And then they will custom order your hair based on the color you need, the texture you need, how much, the length, et cetera. There's also different kinds of the extensions you can get. There's like the machine wefts, there's hand tied wefts. I wouldn't worry about that too much because that's gonna come down to your specific stylist and what they recommend for your hair, specifically based on what your hair is currently like and what your goals are and all of that. So then after the consultation, she ordered the hair for me. It came in like a week or two later. And then I went in to get the hair actually installed. So the hair does come in a bunch of different colors. It really all depends what company your stylist works with, what company they order from. So even if you have like highlights in your hair or balayage, they can get you extensions that match the dimensional color in your hair. There's all different kinds of shades. Your hair stylist otherwise might offer to custom color the extensions to match your natural hair color. There's a lot of different options. So I wouldn't worry about like, are the extensions gonna be able to match my natural hair. Now, as far as the texture, my hair is naturally curly. So I wanted to make sure that I could get extensions that were gonna match my natural texture so that I can let my hair air dry. I didn't wanna have like my natural curly hair and then just these weird straight extensions because it would not blend. And then I would have to always be blow-drying my hair every time. There are some brands that also make the extensions different textures, wavy, curly, depending on what matches your hair best. So keep that in mind. I used to always think like, oh, well as a curly girl, extensions are not really an option for me. That's not necessarily true. Ask about that during your consultation. I have no idea what company my girl orders from. And I get asked all the time, like, where'd you get the curly extensions from? I don't know and I'm sorry. So if you're getting the hair from your stylist, it will be good quality. It will be natural human hair. It will be super, super soft. And like I said, it will last you at least up to a year depending on how well you take care of it. My extensions feel so good and honestly, you cannot even tell what's my real hair and what's the extensions. I can't even tell. Most of the time I have to really like pick at it. So speaking of which, let's talk about pricing now because that's always like the biggest question. It's an investment. I'm just gonna say it like that. It's not a cheap thing. It's not something that you can really cut corners with or that you wanna cut corners with. If this is something that you want, like I wouldn't, unless you got the money to blow, that's fine. But if you're looking to just have like something temporary for your vacation or for a special event or whatever, I wouldn't suggest going with these types of extensions. These are definitely gonna be something that you are investing in, that you're planning on keeping for a while. The hair itself, that right there is an investment. Again, if you're taking good care of it, it will last you a very long time. So to me, I do think that the price of the hair is well worth it. And then to get it installed, the initial install is usually going to be the most expensive because that's when they're really matching it up, finding where it needs to fit on your head best, cutting the extensions if needed, to blend with your natural hair, all of that. As far as giving specific price ranges, I really can't because it really depends on your area, where you live, how much your specific stylist charges, and it depends on the hair you're getting, how much you need of it. Obviously, the more hair you get, the more expensive it's gonna be, the longer the hair is, the more expensive it's gonna be. There's a lot that goes into the price. You're definitely gonna be spending at least $1,000. And again, that's not taking into account like all of the move up appointments and all of that. I'm saying like just for your upfront initial cost. Let's talk about maintenance. You wanna make sure that you're getting good quality shampoo and conditioner. You wanna make sure it's like sulfate free, silicone free, all that good stuff. Because you don't want anything that's gonna be too harsh. You don't want anything that is going to create any like buildup where the wefts are. And you also, I mean, the extensions, even when you're getting really good quality hair, it's still dead hair. You know, like, I mean, technically all hair is dead, I guess, but this is not attached technically to a scalp. So it's not getting any natural oils on it. So you wanna make sure that you're not stripping it and drying it out. So, you know, good quality shampoo and conditioner. Most likely your hairstylist will go over all of this, I would hope, and will recommend specific products to you. But I mean, I wash my hair about the same as I did before. Like I said, I don't wash it more than twice a week. That's how I was before the extensions. That's how I am now. I think with the extensions, because it's not attached to my scalp and I have all this extra hair, I think that I can even get away with going longer between shampoos because my hair doesn't look greasy as fast. And sometimes what I would do is just take the top half of my hair and I'll just shampoo that, believe the rest of it alone. And then when I am in the shower, I just make sure that I am using my fingertips and I'm really like getting in there between the wefts and I'm just kinda gently massaging and just making sure I'm cleaning as best as I can between there. Cause again, you don't want any like gross buildup in there. You can take a clip with you and kinda clip your hair up and go like section by section if that makes it a little easier, but I don't even find that I need to do that usually. Like honestly, washing it isn't that crazy. I just really make sure to get in there. Can you go swimming with them? This is another question I get a lot. Yes, you can. You obviously wanna be careful if you're going in like a chlorinated pool. I mean, same way, I suggest this even with just your natural hair. You know, if you can wet your hair first before you get in the pool. So that way it's not gonna absorb as much of the chlorine or put some like conditioner in your hair beforehand. Just keep in mind that like this is hair you paid for. And so you wanna take the best care of it as you can and you don't want it to get dried out. So you can go swimming with it. I've gone in the ocean, I've gone in the pool, but just be careful and maybe, you know, limit it a little bit more. Like if you're gonna be going in the pool, put your hair up in a bun and if you don't have to dunk your head underwater, then don't. If you have blonde extensions, you wanna be extra careful in chlorinated water because you don't want it to turn your extensions green or like mess with the color. Can you apply heat to them? You definitely can. As long as again, you're getting like really good quality hair from your stylist, you can apply heat, but you just wanna be careful. I would try to limit the heat you apply. Always use a thermal spray, you know, some kind of heat protectant beforehand because you don't want to overdo it because if you end up causing heat damage to the extensions, again, this is hair that you paid for. So you wanna be careful. Maybe turn the flat iron temperature down a little bit and keep in mind, the more you're applying heat to them, you're probably gonna be shortening the lifespan of the extensions. So if you can get away with doing like heatless styles, I would suggest that, but you don't have to avoid heat. I've also had questions because my hair extensions have a curly pattern to them. People have asked like, oh, well, if you straighten them, are they gonna stay straight or will they get curly again? No, it's literally just like my real hair. Like it air dries curly, but I can blow it out. I can flat iron it and all that. And then when I get in the shower and I wash it again, it's gonna get curly again. Can you color them? You can. I do not recommend bleaching them because these extensions, even though they are natural, they're good quality, but they've been through a lot of processing already before I received them. And you might not even end up getting the results you want. Like the extensions are most likely not going to light in the same way your real hair would. So yeah, I wouldn't bleach them. If you're thinking about doing that, I would talk to your stylist and see what your options are. You can color them though, if you're just looking to go darker or refresh the tone. I do that. I use a demi-permanent gloss every so often, like every two months or so. To just refresh my color and make it like nice and dark. So I will just apply that all over my entire head, including on the extensions. It's totally fine. It just adds some shine and it's all good. But if you're looking to do anything more extreme, I wouldn't. How do I sleep with them? I usually will just tie my hair back in a low ponytail. Sometimes I'll braid the hair or wrap it in a bun. That way it's not getting all tangled up throughout the night while I'm sleeping. And it's not creating friction on my pillow that's gonna cause breakage. But you don't have to do anything like super special. Like you don't have to put a bonnet on your head or anything like sleep with a silk scarf or anything. Like you definitely can. But to be honest, I don't. And I mean, nine months later, I have no issues. So do they damage your real hair? Any kind of extension can be damaging. Like I can't sit here and say, no, they 1,000% I promise you will not cause damage to your hair because there's gonna be someone out there that ends up getting damage from them. It all depends on how they are installed, how they are maintained and how you are taking care of them at home. Nothing is gonna ever be foolproof and damage free. But I will say I have personally tried most, not all, but most forms of permanent hair extensions. And out of all the ones that I have tried, these are definitely the least damaging. I think they're the most gentle. And this is definitely the type that I would recommend for people who do have more fragile hair or who have a lot of damage already that want extensions to like fill out their hair and to help it grow. You will see, and this is with any type of extension, when you're getting the extensions removed, you are gonna see some shedding. Like your real hair is gonna come out. That doesn't necessarily mean that your hair was ripped out or that there was damage. It's just natural shedding that we all experience. Every single day our hair sheds 40 to 100 strands on average. But obviously if it is sewn into a hair extension weft, that hair, even though it's naturally shedding from the scalp, it's not able to fall out because it's getting trapped in the extension. Another reason why it's important to make sure you're getting it reinstalled regularly. So then when the extensions are removed, all of that hair that had naturally shed that was just sitting there, now you're gonna see it all come out. So keep that in mind, don't panic. That is totally normal. It's going to happen no matter what. Okay, let's talk about comfort. Can you put your hair up in a ponytail with the extensions? Do they hurt? Are they itchy? Like how do they feel in general? You can still put your hair up. It really just all depends though on where they're placed on your head. If you have like really short hair in the front, they might have to bring the extensions closer to your face. So keep that in mind. It's a conversation you wanna have with your stylist during the consultation. I can pretty much do any kind of style except if I wanna like split my hair down the middle, I can't do like braids because you can see the weft is going across my head. But as far as how they feel, they're super comfortable. I forget that I have them honestly. When you first get them installed, your head will be a little bit sore for the first day or so, but it's not bad. It's not like excruciatingly uncomfortable. Getting them applied is not uncomfortable. Trust me, I have had like the, you know, traditional sew-ins where they do that really tight cornrow and then braid into that. That can be painful and uncomfortable. This is nothing in comparison. It's honestly just a little bit sore as if you had your hair in a tight ponytail. But my stylist told me like, oh, just, you know, take some Advil or something when you go home and you should be fine. It was a little bit uncomfortable from what I remember sleeping the first night just because my head was sore. So you have to kind of just find like a good comfortable spot after the initial install. I think my scalp and my head like just got used to the extensions and got used to like having that little bit of extra weight and tension that then anytime I got them reinstalled or moved up, it never felt like the first time again. So it's really only like that very first time where it's just a little bit sore. They can be a little bit itchy in the beginning. I remember thinking like the first couple of days that, you know, they were a little itchy. And I found that whenever they started to get grown out like a day or two before my move up appointment, I always knew like, okay, they need to be redone because they would start to get kind of itchy. But I think that was really only like the first few months because it's been a while now where they have not felt itchy at all. Like I genuinely forget I have them. So overall, I would definitely recommend these extensions if you're thinking about getting them. Like I said, it's a big decision to make because it's an investment. But if you really want them and you're tired of like having to do clip ins every single day taking them in and out, this is so nice. It's so convenient to have. It really just feels like my real hair. And I do really think if your hair is really damaged and you are trying to grow it out, I do think getting these extensions will help because it kind of covers and protects your natural hair. And then you're not having to apply as much heat directly to your natural hair. Like I said, you don't have to wash your hair as frequently. If you guys have any other questions, if there's anything that I forgot to talk about in this video, leave them down in the comments and I will try my best to get back to you. I will also have my hairstylist who installed my extensions. All of her information will be in the description. She's located in Wilmington, North Carolina. She's amazing. Her name is Rachel. I hope that this video was helpful. If it was, please give it a thumbs up. It helps out a lot with the algorithm. And I'll see you guys really soon in my next video. Bye.