A guide to hair extensions for your wedding day (everything you need to know)!

Every bride wants to perfect their hair on their wedding day so that they look and feel beautiful. While short hair looks fabulous, longer hair gives you a lot more options in terms of styling.

Contrary to popular belief, hair extensions are not just for adding length. They can also add thickness, giving you that voluminous ‘oomph’ you need!

Here is a guide to hair extensions for your wedding day, including a breakdown of care and treatment, benefits of various methods and the procedure.

The most popular types of hair extensions include:

Clip-In Extensions

If you’re opting for an easy, ‘non-committal’ hair extension method, these are the ones for you. Clip-in extensions provide ultimate flexibility as you simply clip them in to add length and volume, and you can add as little to as many as you want.

We highly recommend having your hairdresser colour match your clip-in extensions to your existing or planned wedding colour so that you have the ultimate blend for your beautiful wedding day.

For super thick, long hair types, we recommend a minimum of 7-piece clip-in extensions.

For finer hair types, we recommend a minimum of 5-piece clip-in extensions.

Time commitment: You can transform your hair in 30 minutes plus a 30min cut and blend of the extensions may be required for any hairstyles where you plan on having your hair down.

With proper care, your clip-in extensions can last up to four years.

To remove these, simply brush out the extensions, adding a little argan oil to sustain its shine. Keep them stored in their box to avoid natural damage.

Tape Extensions

These are a great compromise for a bride who doesn’t want to worry about the stress of applying for extensions on the day of her wedding. Tape-in extensions can be added around two weeks before the wedding day and can last for around 6-8 weeks with the proper care. The strands are reusable so if you want to add more length and thickness, you’ll just need to apply more adhesive.

Tape-in extensions are applied close to your root to prevent them from being visible, and to encourage the longevity of the hair extension application.

Throughout the 4-6 weeks of the extensions having been applied, it is important to remember that that means there are 6-8 weeks of hair loss that will not have fallen due to being glued [and sandwiched] between the 2 tape extensions, so please be mindful of this when caring for your extensions as it can cause matting close to your root area.

Time commitment: These take around an hour to put in and around 2 hours to have re-applied due to the process of removing, cleansing and re-application. Another major setback is for those who have very oily or fine hair as the strips might fall out within the first week of application due to the natural oils which break down the glue within the tape. Speak to your hairstylist to consider all your options before committing!

Weft Extensions

For those of you ladies wanting something a bit permanent, but are incredibly conscious of time.

These beauties will last 4 - 8 weeks with proper maintenance and can be personalised to your hair type and texture by adding only 1 or as many as 3 rows of hair extension weaves.

Because an entire row can be applied at once, it reduces the application time by an insane amount as they are less “fiddly” in comparison to tape extension or a bonded extension.

However, for finer hair types, it is super important to be mindful of the thickness of the actual weave itself. It can be a little dominating for finer hair types and it can also be a little too heavy causing damage if applied incorrectly, and unfortunately, it can be a little more visible in comparison to a client with a thicker hair type who is using the weave, it can be ultra seamless and rarely visible.

The wefts are reusable and with proper care, the wefts can continue to stay soft and luxe for 1+ years.

Time commitment: Around 1-2 hours for the initial application [depending on how many rows are being applied] and we recommend a six-week follow-up appointment to ensure proper maintenance and care.

Bonded Extensions

For those of you ladies wanting something a bit permanent, the strand by strand bonded hair extensions is the way to go!

These bad boys will last four to six months with proper maintenance and can be customised by adding in individual pieces (around 120 to 150) to your hair, depending on your thickness.

Because such small pieces are bonded together, these hair extensions allow for the ultimate flexibility for your wedding day hairstyle as it’s easier to hide the clips.

Time commitment: Around 4 hours for the initial application and we recommend a six week follow up appointment to ensure proper maintenance and care.

Now that you know what extensions are available for you, you can look forward to beautiful, luscious locks on your wedding day!

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Big Love

Kailah x

Where all our #hairinspo is at