I love having long hair but I do find that it can be a lot of work (and time consuming!) to style it. So instead of trying to grow my hair incredibly long I decided to pick up some extensions to get the long curly hair of my dreams.
Finding the colour
These weren’t the first extensions that I bought; I was colour matched on a different site who ended up sending me extensions that were completely the wrong colour. I know that lighting can be different and change the way that hair looks but the ones I was sent were brown, quite different from light blonde. After this I decided to look elsewhere and found that there was a store near me that sold Stranded hair extensions so decided to pop in.
The sales assistant that I spoke to was super helpful and matched me to the shade Polar Star which is the perfect colour for my hair! I couldn’t believe how similar it was. Having looked online it seems that Stranded are really good at offering colour matches online so if you don’t have a store near you then I’d definitely give it ago.
The extensions
Stranded offer a range of different extension types as well as lengths and colours. I decided to go for their curly 20-inch one-piece synthetic extensions as I wanted to add some length to my hair. I chose the one piece set as I hadn’t really used extensions before and felt that having just one section to clip in would make them easy to apply. It did take me a couple of goes to get them to sit right at first, but now I can pop them in super quick. I tend to curl my hair first, add the extensions and then gently brush my hair and the extensions so they blend together.
The one-piece extensions have five silicone coated clips which helps to give them extra grip so that they stay perfectly in place and don’t slide. There’s also plenty of hair on the one-piece clip in, with 160g of hair, on the 20-inch set, which I find blends easily with my own hair. The hair on the extensions also looks really natural, and not overly shiny like some synthetic hair can.
All of Stranded’s synthetic extensions can be heated up to 180°C but I’ve found that the hair keeps its style really well and haven’t actually used any heat on them so far. It’s recommended that you only use heat to adjust the hair rather than completely restyling it.
I chose the synthetic extensions as they were cheaper than the human hair extensions and since I hadn’t really worn extensions before I was worried that I might not use them as much as I thought. I love them though and wear them quite often at the weekend and when taking blog pictures. Synthetic extensions are also easier to maintain, they come pre-styled so you don’t have to worry about trying to get the perfect curls and they keep their shape, even when it’s windy. I might invest in some human hair extension now I know that I like wearing them, as I would love to dip dye some so I could add a little bit of colour to my hair when I wanted.
General care
I found the hair extensions are really easy to care for, and the come with aftercare instructions too. After wearing the extensions, I always brush them through gently and pop them back into the box to prevent them from becoming tangled and it helps them to keep their shape as well. To wash them, use warm water and gently massage some shampoo through them being careful not to rub them too hard. Rinse and add your conditioner, then rinse again. Gently pat dry with a towel before brushing them and then leave them to dry naturally. When looked after properly (and depending on use) the extensions should last at least a few months.
Visit the Stranded website to see all of the colour options available.