Extensions 101: How To Make Your Clip In Extensions Last Longer! Ft. Zala Hair Extensions

Hey guys, so I just wanted to make a quick video kind of talking about how I get my extensions to last as long as possible. When I get one new set, how I can make those laughs up to a year and have them still looking nice and not ratty or totally messed up. So if you want to hear some of my tips and what I do to have my extensions last as long as possible, then just keep watching. So first I'll tell you guys the type of extensions that I've been wearing lately and that I love and they are the Zala 20 inch. Extensions in the shade of sunkissed highlights they're. Basically like a darker blonde and bleached blonde highlighted. I guess I could show you one highlight at left, so this is what they look like and they match the way that I get my highlights done and my natural hair, or not really natural, my dyed hair perfectly. So those are what I use and I wear the 20 inch all the way I don't trim them or anything for when I'm wearing a braid or a ponytail, and things like that and when I am wearing my hair down, I kind of thin out the bottom And trim them and stuff like that, but basically they're about 20 inches. So I get the quad web version of that 20 inch sunkissed highlights set, and I absolutely love them with the quad weft they're super thick and really really nice and thick at the bottom. So I find that I don't have to wear as many wefts at a time and I also have finer hair. So I can get away with just throwing like two or three weft in my hair and have it look a lot thicker and longer. If you have thicker hair, it gets tough because you actually have to wear more hair to balance it out. So that is one advantage of wearing clip-in extensions with fine hair. So basically, going into my first tip, which is separate: the weft of hair according to the hairstyle that you're gon na wear them. For so because I have the finer hair and I don't need to wear the entire pack of extensions at one time to get the desired length and thickness, I'm able to separate different pieces of hair for different hairstyles and that way I'm kind of not overusing them Or over styling them, so what I mean by that is, I have all these Ziploc baggies of hair and yeah it's kind of weird, but you got ta, do what you got to do right, so I labeled them, I'm kind of organized and I label them just Like this one says ponytail and those are my expenses for my ponytail - this one says bun, and these are my expenses for my buns and then my one says down. These are the extensions I wear when my hair is down and pretty in curl than all that. So when I get the set of extensions, it has a lot of different pieces to it. I can't remember how many pieces it has I'll link where I get them down below, but I don't need to wear all of that one time so I have separated in my down baggy just the three wets that I need to wear my hair down. So I have this three clip one I wear on the very bottom. Then I wear this big five clip one and then I wear this longer three clip one on top and that's that that's as much hair as I desired to wear my hair down just for kind of a normal day. So then, that way, I that's only three of the like eight or ten wefts that they give you and then in the pony. One I've got some smaller, like two clip ones uses two together actually and that way this works a lot easier for ponytails because it's more narrow on your head. So that's another tip that I have, but so I separate the hair according to the hairstyle and obviously I have I kind of phase out the older hair. So that's kind of my second tip is to basically start fading out the older hair in two styles that they still work with and reintroducing the new hair in when you wear your hair down and style that matter more so, for example, in my and a bag, I'Ve got like a lot of my older hair. If my hair is gon na, be you know all messed up in a messy bun or even in like a twisted bun, it doesn't need to be shiny and perfect and not have split ends or not kind of get gunky. Almost it's almost better. If it's kind of ready - because it holds better so I have like some of my older pieces in here that have gotten a little bit ratty or they're, just not as smooth anymore. They still look totally fine, but I've got some of those pieces in the fun bag, because it's totally fine, you can't tell that they're messed up. It almost works better for the style and then I'm not using my new, really nice hair when it's wrapped up in a bun getting kind of more damaged anyways. So I hope that makes some sense, but I think that has been one of the best kind of techniques that I've been using so that your new hair stays new and fresh as long as possible and then you're not throwing away the old hair you're still using It for those styles that you can totally use it for so buns and even braids too. It'S kind of nice if the hair isn't super silky smooth when you're doing braids and things because it grips better and having it somewhat. Ratty is not going to show when it's all tucked up in a braid in a bun in an updo and a messy bun, all those types of things so another tip I have with the extensions to kind of make the one pack go as long as possible. Is to trim them so, for instance, when you are wearing your hair in a braid like a French braid down the back or a ponytail or even a bun. A really good tip that I've learned kind of through process of elimination is that you're going to want. The weft, as short as possible, I mean you want to have as much hair as possible, but you want it short. So what you can do is trim up the extensions and just sew the edge of even hot glue it. So what I do is there's only so many that the really long sets they give you they actually fit on. My head, like only one of them, is actually fits on my head. Otherwise, it's like to to ear to ear for me, or it's just too long. So what I do is snip that thing in half and I'll have like a three clip set and a two clip set and I'll sew up the edge, so the edge isn't loose and there's hair kind of falling out I'll, just sew it up. You can hot glue that if that's easier for you, it's a little less foolproof, but it works trust me and then I just make sure the clips are in the right place. Sometimes I'll cut them and refill the clips on you don't need to be an expert. So, where to do that, mine doesn't look that great, but no one knows and then that way, you're getting way more use out of that wet that you could never really wear. And now it's these two shorter wefts that you could wear in a ponytail or wear for other styles. So that's something! That'S a little bit DIY that I do with my extensions, but I think it's really brilliant! So I'll just show you guys! This is a set! A like a short one that I would wear for a ponytail. I think this is my pony bag. So you can see my so job. It'S really not that great, but I sew up the free edge here so that the hair isn't falling falling off and then I just make sure sometimes the clip you know won't be all the way at the edge and then you'll have like this tab of extra Extension and that's really not great, because it'll get caught and kind of flip up, and so you really want the clip on each edge. So I'll just cut the clip off and then resew it right at the edge. So it's right there and you can see like my thread - doesn't even match the other thread, but it never shows it's the color of the hair, like you, don't need to be super precise with it. It'S like, obviously, not the best sewing job you've ever seen, but I think that has been one of the smartest things that I have done and kind of learned over the process. So when you aren't able to wear those really wide pieces and they would would kind of sit there, it's really smart to just cut that up and it's three pieces that you can now use in all these hairstyles that you wouldn't have been able to before. And you couldn't wear those long wide ones. You can't really wear those four buns, maybe a braid and definitely out of ponytail, because they'll be showing when you put your hair up. So that's why you want the trim ones, because they're really easy to hide and they're. Just way easier to work with, so that's an expert tip for you guys and one more thing I forgot to mention that you can also do. Is you can clip them together? Now I've seen luxy, hair extensions Paige do this and I thought it was really brilliant. So I thought I would share it with you guys as well, so you could do this with any any width that you have like a 3 clip. One would work I'll, just show you on this clip 1, but basically you would just clip this to each other. So now it's half as wide and you can still clip it in and use it just like you would have so it makes things really easy for a braid or again a ponytail and you're just making it shorter without having to cut and sew and do everything That I mentioned before so I think that is necessary in some circumstances, but this is a really quick, easy fix for other circumstances. So my next tip is to wash your extensions as little as possible, so I honestly hardly ever wash mine to be completely in love with you guys. I just got a new pack and then my old pack, I kind of phased out into certain things and kept them in bags with my buns or I keep like random pieces under my bed for if, for some reason, I'm gon na need them someday, and I Have had that old set for almost a year, and I only wash them like - I don't know every couple months and that might be kind of gross to some people, especially because we're wearing them everyday. But honestly, it's not gross to me 1 & 2. It just really helps them last into me. It'S totally worth it the fact that I can clip them out and then wash my own scalp and wash my own hair. I love and that's what I love about wearing clip-ins versus another it, and so when I do watch them, I am really gentle with them and I only use certain products on them. So my tips about that would be don't use, and I made this mistake: do not use a clarifying shampoo on your extensions or anything, really harsh. You don't really want to use anything volumizing. Anything like that, I would say, stick a little more towards like a normal hair, shampoo or even somewhat moisturizing, but I use a clarifying because I could feel the build up a product on there and I could tell that they needed to be stripped. And so when I use that shampoo, it actually over stripped the extensions because they have like a special kind of luster. They have like a special sealant almost on them, and you can tell when you first get them and so by using that clarifying shampoo. I think I made it a lot worse than if I would have just kept rinsing them with water and using a really gentle, shampoo or conditioner. So I often times will just rinse them and I rinse the clips really well, because that's where really most of the oil and the sweat gets on the hair, it doesn't really get towards the ends and you don't really need to be shampooing the ends at all. I would highly recommend avoiding that if you're gon na shampoo only shampoo towards the top, where it's touching your scalp, it's getting that sweat and those oils on them. And that's the part that you need to clean and then don't shampoo the end, because it will just strip them and it's a little bit unnecessary. So if you're gon na shampoo just do that but often times I will just rinse them with water lukewarm to cool water is better and then condition them so a lot of times I'll. Do that also on the side of the bath I'll? Do that and I'll put a deep conditioner on or any conditioner, but I will let it sit on there, for I don't know ten fifteen minutes I'll forget about it. An hour later they'll be sitting there in their conditioner, then I'll go rinse them out and then for them to dry. I recommend never blow drying them. It'S kind of an unnecessary heat step that you don't need to take, especially if you heat style them with a straightener or curling iron. Often so I would recommend to brush them out apply like a. I apply an oil on to them and then I clip them up on pant hangers and hang them in my closet. If you don't have pant hangers or you can't do that, and it's like awkward to have hair in your closet depending what your living situation is. You could also just lay them out on a towel like along the bathtub or somewhere, that's a little more private. Whatever you need to do, I find that hanging them. They dry a little bit faster because they're not laying down on something, and it works really quick for me - they'll dry overnight, and I could use them the next day. So my next tip is to avoid putting any extra product on your extension. So I did mention that I'll use, conditioner what-have-you and maybe like a moisturizing oil on the ends right now, I'm using an alternate bamboo oil and it's just like a light mist spray. You can use like Moroccan oil. I'Ve used before something like that. Don'T overdo it but it does add, moisture back into the ends kind of like your normal hair in a sense. But besides that, I try and apply zero product on to my extensions. So what I would do is so what I do is when I need to hairspray my hair or something like that. I try and focus it only on my natural hair and try and avoid getting it on the extensions now, if you're doing long braids in this and you kind of want to spray them. I understand that you can do that, but you will start to see some buildup on the extensions and for me, I'd rather disappointed where the extensions are mostly not exposed and like to spray. My whispies or something like that and then, if I am wearing my hair down, I usually curl my own hair and throw in my extension so I'll curl, my hair at hairspray. It do whatever I need to do and then throw in my extensions and not hairspray. At the very end, so I'm not getting any on to the extensions, so hairspray is something I really avoid getting on there and I barely use any heat protectant on there, because I try not to heat style them too often, so you can use a little bit Of heat protectant I mean you can treat it as your normal hair, but I just wouldn't go over the top with hairspray on it all the time. Texturizing sprays on all the time mousse. All of that stuff I would try and avoid, and but keeping them looking good with an oil and a little bit of heat. Protectant is totally fine and I do kind of suggest that so just use your own judgement there, but all the products that were throwing on our scalps all the time you kind of want to avoid getting those on the extensions basically like I said, because the build Up of the product will start happening and you'll feel that on the extensions and it doesn't come out of the hair like it would our natural hair, going along with product and kind of the heat styling thing is that I try not to heat style mine. Very often so one of the perks of having them separated into these bags is that I'm not changing the I'm, not changing the style of those certain West's very often so. Basically, my let's say IDs ones that I wear down. I curl them whenever I wash them, which I think that is hardly ever and I throw some curls and then and they'll slowly start kind of dropping out and maybe I'll recur them every once in a while. But I don't heat style of my extensions, like I do my hair every time I wash it, the curl just kind of starts to get loose and that's totally fine with me. It still looks good and when it's blended with my natural already curled hair, I think it looks totally fine. So basically, my tip is you don't need to be curling, then every single time you curl your hair or straightening them every time you straighten your hair. They, if you're, storing them in the bags and doing all of these tips, you don't need to even do anything to them. So you're not he's telling them as much and you're just not putting them through all of that stuff and they're gon na last longer and look better for longer. My last tip is going to be just to keep them brushed and stored properly. I only use like a tangle teezer brush on my extension, so says the tangle teezer here, it's very similar to a wet brush, if you've heard of that, but basically the plastic bristles aren't going to rip through and damage the hair like a brush with the bristle. With a little ball at the end will so I definitely recommend using a brush. That'S what made for things like that, and the other thing is storing them properly. So, like I mentioned before, I store them in these bags. I think it works really great for me because I can hide them in my bathroom and they're not really like exposed. If I have friends over people over or I don't want Josh like seeing my extensions all the time - he obviously knows about them, but I don't need them like hanging all over the bathroom I like to keep them kind of tidy and put away. So if you don't have to worry about that, I honestly think hanging them for storage would be even better, but that just doesn't work for me. I don't want hair hanging in my closet. I like to kind of keep it tucked away, so the bags work better for me, but if hanging would work for you and you don't need to worry about any of those things, that would be a really great way to store it. It would just stay untangled and kind of hanging properly and out of the way so storing it. I just think, is really important. You don't want to have them kind of hanging out loosely in drawers or under your sink, because they're, just gon na get more ratty and then you're gon na have to brush through them. It'S just gon na cause more damage, just keep them tucked away and organized, and I think that's kind of straight to the point. It should make sense to you guys, so I just wanted to show you when I so when I take out all three of these. Would be like what my hair is now and I take them out. I brush them from the ends up to the top and just make sure everything's smooth, there's tangulls before i'm gon na like store them in the bag and just brush through them nicely, and then what I'll do is just gather them all up kind of wrap them Around my hand, like that and place them in the bag, so they're ready to go for the next time, and then I can take them out and also this is a really nice way to travel with your extensions, easy you can stuff it in your suitcase. Okay, guys, so I think that's pretty much it on kind of my main tips for keeping the extensions looking good as long as possible and to help that one pack that you invested in to last as long as possible and get all your money's worth out of Them, like I said I had this last pack of Sallah hair extensions for about a year before I was able to repurchase a new one and they still were looking really good. No one can tell that they were getting kind of on the last leg, but I could kind of feel the build up and feel the split, and I wanted some longer ones because I had trim those ones. So basically, this will just help you to get them lasting as long as possible, and I understand that extensions can be really expensive. But I have found that this system - and these extensions specifically, are totally worth the money, and I think that you're not going to be throwing away or wasting any money on extensions that are all thin at the bottom or that aren't going to last. The quality is really there with these extensions, the clips are there, everything is really amazing and getting them installed in your head or getting even the halo extension thing. All of that is a lot more expensive than what this is. All a pack has to offer and I think you have so much more flexibility with it. So if you guys have any questions about extensions, I am really passionate about them and I have a lot of facts and experience to share with you guys. So if you have specific questions, please put them down below, I can always do like a question and answer on extensions or just create another video kind of answering some of the questions you guys had. So please give this a thumbs up if you liked it and subscribe to my channel. That really helps me, and I will see you guys in my next video bye