I haven’t been able to grow my hair past my boobs since Junior year of high school. When I met my amazing stylist over half a year ago, I found out she did hair extensions. Over the past 6 months, we’ve been doing a color correction to lift me to my dream blonde. This is my experience getting tape-in extensions. 

 

Buying the Extensions

Finding a good quality, reasonably priced, and well-reviewed brand is a hard task. Several brands have their pros and cons. I decided to take the word of my stylist, who obviously knows way more than I do. I chose the brand Glamseamless Hair Extensions. This brand offers hair in several forms (tape-in, clip-in, halo bands, weft bundles, and curly tape-in). They also offer tape-in remover, color rings, sample wefts, brushes, styling tools, among other things. I personally chose the Platinum Ash Blonde Remy tape-in bundle, which consists of 55 grams of hair per pack. I bought 3 bundles to be safe, but we only used a little over 2 packs. A single pack differs in length, but the 18-inch packs are $144.00 USD per pack. I wanted to ensure they arrived on time, so I ordered them with 2-day express shipping. Since I ordered on a weekend, they arrived that following Tuesday. From my experience, shipping was a breeze.

Getting them put in 

Getting the hair put in is a pretty painless process. When I went in for my color appointment I brought my hair packs. My stylist custom colored them over the weekend. When I went back on the following Tuesday, we put them in. She had to replace all my adhesive tapes due to a faulty new coloring technique (via the website). Had the adhesive been okay, it would have taken about 45 minutes. After placing a “sandwich” of hair, I told her if the extension was pulling on my natural hair at all. After we placed them all, she cut and styled like normal.

Before:

 

After the salon 

In all honesty, they take awhile to get used to. Hair extensions are heavy, especially for a fine haired girl like me. It took me 3-4 days of pulling feeling on my head before I was used to it. The brand claims that the hair is good for at least a few “adjustments” which is when the tape-ins need to be removed and replaced. So far, I’ve only had them for a little over a week so I can’t speak on how long they hold up. I’ve also only washed my extensions once, so far. It’s a little more tedious than normal hair, understandably. However, I think it saves a lot of time only being able to wash once a week. Dry shampoo and hair oil for my ends have saved my life.

Would I recommend tape-ins? Yes. I’ve wanted more permanent hair extensions since I was in high school. I have no patience for clip-ins anymore. If you have the money, and the right stylist, hair dreams can be achieved. I now have the hair I always dreamed of because I waited for the right time, and the right person to help me achieve it. If anyone lives in the central Indiana area and would be interested in getting their hair done in Broad Ripple, Joanne McIntyre ( @jmcintyrehair on Instagram ) is the woman for you.

After:

 

XOXO, 

Paige