I've always dreamed of having long, thick hair but that was never in the genetic cards for me. And since the hair-loss crisis of earlier this year, obviously the next best thing is to use extensions to give the length, volume and amount of hair I wish I really had...
I was inspired a long time back by Kim from KimberDoll and her DIY post about how to dye your hair extensions at home. I bought some really great extensions (or as I affectionately refer to it as, "my weave") a few years ago but they were a caramel honey brown colour and since I've gone back to my natural choco brown, they needed to be dyed.
Seems simple enough eh?
This is a weft of the pre-coloured (100% human) European hair...totally better than synthetic hair.
They are crazy long, 18" extensions ...but are fine once curled and styled.
$10.99 L'Oreal Sublime Mousse hair dye in # 40 Pure Dark Brown. This colour ended up being too dark but it seemed like a perfect match in the store. Of course.
More on that later...
The foam colour was super easy to apply, just mix the activator with the main solution in the foam dispensing bottle. I set down a white plastic garbage bag to work on and protect the counter top.
I had to make sure the dye was thoroughly applied to the extensions for total coverage...
The colour needed 20 minutes to set...I used tin foil for easy clean-up.
After rinsing, washing and conditioning the extensions with the provided conditioner, I gently combed them through with a wide-tooth comb and laid them flat to dry over night on a towel.
Once the extensions were dry I curled them by anchoring the weft of hair with a heavy weight (in this case books, rocks and a pillar candle?!?) over the side of a half wall in our hallway. According to most recommendations for curling extensions (on YouTube), curling them before you apply them is easier and offers more control. I sprayed a thermal heat protector on each section and curled each weft of hair 3 times with a big barrel curling iron then set the curls with a firm hold fine mist hairspray (I like John Frieda's Full of Volume spray.)
YES, obviously the colour was TOO DARK but now since I've gone darker with my current colour from the salon, they're a perfect match...
*There are a ton of YouTube videos on how to correctly put on extensions, the snapping teeth-like clips are super simple to attach to your own hair and can be clipped on in a matter of minutes.
*I'll admit the entire process was a lot more time consuming then I had expected (colouring/curling) but the final product is worth it. The extensions look natural, are easy to wash and I'd recommend re-washing and re-curling after each use in order to keep them from looking over-styled.
*I've never dyed my own hair at home (only in the salon) and overall its pretty simple enough.
BUT I think I'll continue to leave it up to the professionals to handle my own "real" hair because it's so piss poor fine.
Obviously selecting the correct colour is a kind of a big deal...duh. Live and learn!
Now it's your turn to try this on your own extensions. I'll admit I was a bit intimidated by them at first, I'm no hair-stylist...but at the end of the day they're just hair so have fun with them!
