In the last year, I have become a hair extension lover. I honestly can’t live without them now! I just love having thick, long, bouncy hair and being able to style it in different ways. My natural hair is quite short and thin, I just got so sick of it having no volume and it always looking flat. As I work in a hair salon, my boss suggested that I try getting extensions and see if I like them and if I didn’t she could easily take them out. I went for it and I am SO pleased I did.
Before, lockdown I had the additional lengths Euro Premium Nail Tip Pre Bonded hair extensions. They are real human, European hair and they last around 3-4 months with good care and using the right products. The weekend before lockdown I got my extensions removed and was due to get a fresh set of hair the following week. But, then the world stopped and the salon was closed. I am pleased how it worked out because it has been a good chance to give my hair a break and also I would have hated to waste a set of new extensions when I’m not leaving the house!
Anyway, I started to miss my long hair so I was going to order myself some clip-in extensions. However, they are so expensive for a good set and I was anxious about spending all that money and them not matching my hair properly. Then I remembered that I had some old clip-ins stored away somewhere. I can’t even remember where I got them from, it was somewhere in Newcastle, but I definitely didn’t pay a lot of money for them so they aren’t the best quality. I only got them to test if I suited long hair before I got extensions glued in! The only issue is they no longer matched my hair colour, they were more of a creamy blonde and now I am a very ashy blonde. I had nothing to lose and decided to try and tone them myself with silver shampoo! What could go wrong? My boss is probably reading this thinking “Georgia, what are you doing?!”
I used the L’Oreal Serie Expert Silver Shampoo, which is the one we use in the salon. I could not recommend this enough! I use it once a week on my natural hair and it prevents it from going brassy. It is perfect for during lockdown when we can’t get to the hairdressers to keep our blondes ashy!
I never used this when I had hair extensions as the hair extensions would absorb the tone more than my real hair and it would turn the extensions purple! With that in mind, I wasn’t expecting miracles but it would be something to do! Anyway, here’s how I did it…
I filled up the sink with cool water and added about a tablespoon of silver shampoo and gave it a mix until the water turned purple and there were no lumps of shampoo. I then put my clip-ins into the water and bathed them for around 10 minutes. After bathing them I used the tiniest drop of silver shampoo, lathered it up in my hands and started to coat each extension in the shampoo. I lay them out of the water for around 5-10 minutes. Then I put them back in the shampoo bath for another 10 minutes. Next, I drained the water and rinsed each extension with cool water, making sure to remove all of the shampoo. I laid them out on a towel and sprayed them with the L’Oreal Professional 10 in 1 spray, and left them to air dry.
L’Oreal’s 10 in 1 spray has leave-in conditioner, heat protection and detangling properties. I swear by this products and it is suitable for all hair types! It is great for preparing your hair before styling and adding shine.
After a few hours, the hair was dry and I couldn’t believe it had worked! The extensions are still slightly darker than my real hair but because they have a range of tones in them already and my real hair is highlighted, it matches pretty well. So, these will definitely make do until I can get my extensions put back in when all this madness is over!
Thanks for reading my little hair experiment!
Georgia May x
