Hair Extentions: A Year Update

Ahh! It's been a whole year since my hot springs fiasco (here) and putting in hand tied hair extensions (details here!)! I can't believe it. I'm excited to give you guys an update and let ya know my thoughts thus far! Let's get to it:

WHAT BRAND DID I GET/DO I CURRENTLY HAVE?

JZ Styles is the brand I first got put in a year ago(February 2022), and what I currently have in as well. Same ones actually! Just cut now. I have 100% loved them and how they worked to style and wash. Seriously no complaints here.

WOULD I DO THEM AGAIN?

In a heartbeat. Having these extensions in my hair has been SO fun, but mainly has just helped me love my hair again! They hold curl amazing, and they make my very fine and thin hair look more filled out. That is a win 100x in my book.

DOWNFALL?

If you try them, you'll probably become addicted. They are pricey....but that's relative I guess. Hah. Priorities right?

IMORTANT TO REMEMBER!

Having a stylist who knows what they are doing and is experienced is a MUST. Look at their feed. Are they actively updating their socials with their work? I loved that I could see what my stylist was doing and the process: before, middle, and end result. Super important. I wouldn't have gone to her and trusted her if I hadn't seen that she was doing great work! And I'll add this too - even though I personally didn't do this because I was so frazzled and looking for a solution to my missing hair at the time - but I would also get recommendations. Good recs from trusted friends and people are gold. There was one time last year, when my stylist had just had her baby and was on maternity leave, when I had to go to someone else, and I could definitely tell a difference in how the extensions felt and were put in. Huge. I was actually shocked. Just another testament to how much skill and craft it takes to do. It is a talent and honed skill just like anything else!

WHAT HAIR PRODUCTS AM I USING CURRENTLY?

I switch back and forth between these and truly love them all! Tried more, but these are my current top picks. AND sidenote: something I have started doing is washing my hair all in one go. Meaning: I put shampoo in my roots and scrub my scalp all over good, bring some down just a tiny bit. Then I put my conditioner in at the same time, but only on my ends to a little above! It cuts down my time in the shower and the time my hair is under water since I wash it out in one go. (I have never done this in my life, but I feel it's been good for my hair the past year. I haven't told my hairdresser or my sis who does hair as well...so hopefully it's not some crazy bad thing! haha. and maybe i'm just behind the times and everyone does this already?!)

HEAT PROTECTANT:

Olaplex no.6 - love this stuff. It's like a heat protectant and bonder for my fragile ends. I definitely have seen a difference with my hair and using this stuff.

Kenra, platinum, blow-dry spray, advance-dry thermal protectant

SHAMPOO:

Amika, The Kure, bond repair shampoo

Moroccainoil, hydrating shampoo (love this smell)

CONDITIONERS:

Joico, moisture recovery

Redkin, all soft heavy cream

DRY SHAMPOO:

Amika, perk up dry shampoo (always a fave of this one and the smell)

*would like to try a new one! Any recs??

TEXTURE SPRAY:

Amika, un.done volume and matte texture spray (i literally will use this over hairspray. love it lots and don't even use hairspray anymore unless i'm out of my texture spray)

HAIRSPRAY:

i really don't use hairspray anymore, but my sis recommended this one (when i asked for a new hairspray option that smelled good and held well, but didn't leave my hair crispy or hard)

Tecni ART, x Loreal professional, extreme lacquer/extreme hold hairspray

HONORABLE MENTIONS (especially if you're in the market and you have some money to burn): My sis loves the brand SEVEN, and my hairdresser carrys the Kevin Murphy line. They all smell amazing and want to incorporate those products into my life! haha

Totally want to hear any other recommendations that you guys love! Drop them in the comments for everyone to see! I love trying new hair products.

The salon pics that Katie took! Went from 2 rows down to 1 here, gave it a chop, and added in highlights.

Cringing as I post these side by side pics ONLY because they are dirty bathroom mirror selfies! But I do want you to have a visual! So up until last month (January) I had 2 rows in, and had just been moving them up + toning the very top of the extensions to better match my natural hair root color. I have been thinking about cutting my hair up for the past few months, and finally did it! I had my hairdresser take out a row, so now I just have 1 row of extensions in (for added thickness-not length), and she did a full head of highlights, bayalage style...if I even said that right! haha all my hairdresser friends and sis are probs dying at my lingo. I love it SO MUCH. It feels fresh and I'm interested to see how my natural hair grows out. I know you can't really tell in this pic that it looks different-but there's definitely more blond all over which is so fun. I haven't put any color in it for a year!