New hairstyles with hair extensions sound like a bad idea, but all it takes is a bit of placement of the wefts and you can create most hairstyles on your mane with the perfect volume and length. Salons that do hair extensions have stylists who know this trick. Lucky for you, we will share step by step tips for braiding your hair with hair extensions.
Braiding Hair With Extensions
Before Braiding
Before getting into the braiding details, it’s important that you have everything set and ready to go. This is going to make the result look a lot more better and clean.
Wash Your Hair
Wash your hair and remove any sort of dirt, oil, sebum, and product on the scalp. You must have clean hair to work with, or a day-old hair at most because the braid will be able to hold the style better in place and the texture will be beautiful too.
Prepare The Extensions & Hair
Now that your hair is washed, you’ll need to let it air dry. Make sure that you’re not using any product or emollient masks on the hair after you’ve washed it because that’s going to ruin everything you just did.
While your hair is drying, this is also a good time to get your extensions ready. Ensure that they are brushed evenly and have no knots and tangles in them. You can also prepare the number of wefts you want to apply to your hair.
Sections For The Extensions
Now comes the time-consuming part and that’s making the sections. You must figure out what kind of braid you’re doing before you apply the extensions.
If you’re going for a simple braid that will start at the nape of the neck, then you can make sections and apply the extensions near the crown of the head because that place will conceal the extensions the best and you won’t need to worry about anything.
For a more intricate braid that starts from the top of your head, you can make side sections on the top of your ears and the nape of the neck so that the extensions won’t peek out when you’re trying to braid your hair in a French braid.
Everything Should Be Even
When applying extensions, make sure that they’re neat and that they lay on top of the scalp. You don’t want the extensions to be poking out so you need to take your time in this part. If you mess up then remove the extensions and start over.
Which Extensions Are The Best For Braids?
Lastly and most importantly, if you want a seamless look for your braid, you should select the right type of hair extensions for your hair.
The best extensions to use for braiding hair are halo-type extensions or clip-in hair extensions. This is because the wefts are easily concealed with the thin bands of the extensions and they won’t poke out as much.
As far as halo extensions are concerned, they can be secured on the head with a thin thread or stretchy band that doesn’t leave any room for mistakes and it almost makes the extensions look invisible.
So, if you can, try to get your hands on the right type of hair extensions when you’re going for hairstyles like braids.
Braiding Your Hair
Now that the initial prep and application of the extensions are done, it’s important to master each type of braid.
The 3-Strand Braid
The 3-strand braid is a pretty common hairstyle and it is easy to do with extensions. Since the braid will start at the nape of the neck, the extensions need to be on top, near the crown. With they, they’re out of the way, but you still have great volume in your tresses.
Start by brushing your hair out and making three equal sections with your fingers. These sections are going to be the left, middle, and right pieces. Begin from the left strand, weave it over the middle and under the right strand and secure it on the right side.
Now, start again from the left and weave it over and under. Repeat this motion until you reach the tips of your hair and secure the end with a hair tie.
If you want, you can even use a hair spray to set the style in place and to get rid of frizz, spritz some hair spray on a small brush and go over your scalp with the brush to tame any small pieces of hair sticking out.
The French/Dutch Braid
The French/Dutch braid starts from the top of the head, so your sections need to be on the sides of the head rather than on the crown of the head.
Start by splitting the hair into three sections and weave them once normally like a braid. At the second weave, you’ll add small sections of hair from each side and incorporate them into the braid. This will give your hair a beautiful braided texture.
Once you reach the tips of your hair, tie the braid off with an elastic and set the style in place with hair spray or gel.
Fishtail Braid
Fishtail braids are also pretty intricate and although the weaving might look hard, it’s not. You can start this braid from the nape of your neck or from the top, but just remember the section placement for the hair extensions, as mentioned previously.
You will divide your hair equally into two sections. From the left side, you’ll take thin sections of hair and cross them over the right side and do the same with the right side as well. This is going to create a crisscross pattern that looks amazing for every day as well as special occasions.
Parted Braids
If you want to go for a more innocent and manageable braid, then the pigtail or parted braids are super easy to do. You’ll need to apply the extensions on the topmost part of your head on each side because the crown will be exposed by the part and you don’t want to take any chances of the extensions peeking through.
Once you have parted the hair, braid the hair normally, or you can also do two French braids on either side.
Braided Bangs
Braided bangs are also quite trendy and an easy way to manage your unruly forehead and face-framing tresses.
For the extensions, you’ll need to apply them further back on the head where your bangs are just ending, so that there’s plenty of volume. You can braid your hair normally and pin it to the side of the head or you can also part the bangs and do two braids on each side.
This gives an interesting look to your hair and it’s a bit different from wearing your bangs down all the time.
Conclusion
Hair extensions peeking through your braid is a huge fashion faux pas, so it’s better to master the trick of applying the extensions first before you can experiment with different hair styles. If you don’t want to mess the hair extensions or want to avoid damage to your hair, get this done from a hair extensions salon Potomac. The stylists there ensure that hair extensions are applied without damaging your hair.