Goodbye Lace Fronts! Microlinks, Tape In Extensions & Weaves Are In!

The day has finally come lace, fronts, frontals, wigs out the door, the weaves micro links and tape ins are in weaves are back from where they were before the wigs. So is this a good thing? Is this a bad thing in this video i'm going to be getting into all the pros and cons of everything, and is this exciting or is it a terrible thing for us? Let'S get into it? Let'S start by explaining the difference in case you are not sure or you don't know what the difference is. I know it's a very small percentage of you who might not know the difference, but let's get into it. Okay, i'm gon na show some pictures on the screen, so a frontal wig looks like this. Okay, a lot of us wear them and in most movies you know the witcher okay henry cavill. That is a full frontal. That is what has been popular for the longest time, mostly because if you do it well, it looks the most natural. It looks like it's growing out of your scalp. I think there's even a one to two inch closure now, which is literally just like there, but basically that's the only little part of the lace that you need to glue down and blend with your skin. To make it look that look natural, and then we have the weave, which was very popular way before the wigs and the frontals, but people started experiencing breakage and whatever and they were like. You know what. Let'S look for something else. That seems more like it's growing out of the scalp without having to blend our own hair with it, and we discovered cheaper, frontals, okay, so the weave is basically, i consider a weave something where you have to actually weave sew it in. But anyway, then you leave out here in specific portions. You could leave it around your entire hairline. You can leave it only in the middle or whatever. Wherever your part is on the side, you can leave it only in that section with just a tiny section. Out of where that line is so that it can blend seamlessly or the more popular one which is leaving your entire hairline, not all the way around the back, but at least in the front and then wherever the part is whether it's here or here you leave A substantial amount of hair that you can use to blend so that it looks like it's growing out of your scalp. There was also the very popular vixen sew-in, which honestly, i think it's gon na come back and the vixen sewing is basically where you put the weave in, but you divide your hair in four sections, so you make a line down the middle. This way a line across your head and then the weave is put in those sections, so the braids will only be in the four sections and then your hair is going to be left out in all the fall in all the four sections for a more seamless Blend so that if you want to do a high pony, you know up half up half down it's just going to look like it's growing out of your hair. You can do pigtails, you can do a bunch of hairstyles basically, but you will leave more of your natural hair out to blend it, and this also looks very natural. Then we have microlinks now there's kind of different types of microlinks, some microlinks kind of have a track. They will attach that track to certain portions of your hair. They will like clip your hair and then the track is basically attached to that. So you don't have to braid. Most of them are braidless, you don't have to put a braid in and then those little clips, usually they're kind of bound down. You know you can't just take them out or unclip them. Those are kind of bound down to your hair chapped and some of those are on a track. More popular micro links are where it is an indie. It'S like individual strands of hair kind of like what a sample of a weave looks like or if you want to go and color your hair, they usually bring little samples of hair. It'S about this much in whatever length or texture or whatever that you want, and then it will have some sort of like a keratin bond which will be kind of bonded to your own hair. And then the other ones use some kind of glue. And it's basically attached to a piece of your hair, that is maybe half the amount of the hair that you're adding on top and it kind of just blends seamlessly, and you have a bunch of those all over your hair. This one is very popular for all races because it looks the most natural when you blend it in and everything and yes, those are the individual microlinks. Then we have the tape ins, which basically look exactly like the tracks of a weave, except they have some kind of glue on them and then those tape ins are just kind of taped to your hair shaft and it's also going to just blend very seamlessly. The tape in part is very thin, so it won't be like bumpy all over your hair or anything like that. It will be a pretty seamless blend, so those are the differences between them. I just wanted to make sure i make that clear before i get into all the explanations of. Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Am i excited? Am i gon na? Do it? What are the pros? What are the cons? So, let's first talk about why? Why have we all of a sudden, just collectively decided to abandon the frontals, the weaves and decided to go back to the wigs and go back to and start even using micro legs, which we didn't really use before? If you have natural hair, like me having micro links or like tape, ins wasn't really like a popular thing until recently. So i personally think from my research the reason why a lot of us have gravitated to tape, ins and micro links is because i think eventually, a lot of us noticed that it is actually not that easy to blend a wig and make it look natural, because I'M sure you've seen a lot of people on tv in the streets everywhere you go with the lace. That is just so prominent like you look at them and you see the lace before you see the wig. It is just there and they can't blend it, and it is not an easy thing. It'S usually that's why it was popular for professional, stylists and stuff like that in the past, because it is definitely not easy and then for those who can actually make it a complete seamless blend where it looks like they're growing out of their scalp. It does take a lot of effort. First, you have to use the bonding glue and then you have to use the god to be, and you have to do the wig cap if you want to do the bald cap method. So it does take a lot more effort and i think a lot of people are just like. I don't want to use that much effort just to put on a wig, or i can't get this wig to look natural, which was the main point in the first place. A lot of people, aside from possibly dealing with damage a lot of people, couldn't really match their leave out to the weave that they had so so they decided the best option to make something. Look like it's growing out of the scalp, while still possibly protecting their own. Their own hair was to go for wigs, but then now the lace looks terrible or it doesn't look natural either. So then they're like maybe i should just go back to the weave and i can figure out a way to make it look better and also with micro links and tape ins. It is easier now to find textures that match our own hair, whereas before a lot of those textures would mostly just be straight hair, so we wouldn't even think of going for it anyway, unless you were relaxed or a straight natural. Let'S get into the pros and cons, and let us start with the pros in case you are thinking of testing out micro links, tape, ins or going back to a weave for the first one for all of them. These will definitely look the most natural compared to wigs. If you do them right, of course, specifically because you actually have some of your real hair out, and it is just blending with the rest of the hair. So it would definitely look more natural than a lace that is glued down, especially if you can't do it properly. So i think weaves have been around for the longest time, so i'm not going to focus on them as much. It is simple. You weave the tracks in and you leave your hair out in the front and on the sides, these pros i'm going to focus more on micro links and tape. Ins, because this is what's the most popular right now and what i'm focusing on. Also because we haven't been doing it to our hair for a very long time, so one thing that i love personally about micro links and tape ins is that they flow beautifully most tape ins when done well, i'm going to just say in general, whenever i'm talking About the pros, i'm assuming you have done it well and you've gone to a professional. It flows like real hair. When you move your hair around the tracks, the bonds are almost undetectable and it just looks like you have long, healthy, luscious hair, just like when you watch people on the red carpet, or we would watch movies back in the day when we didn't know that they Were adding in extra extensions - and you just be like wow, this person has such amazing hair, because you just don't know, and it's just so undetectable. I think this is the biggest draw to this compared to any other hairstyle. The next pro is because it looks like it's growing out of your scalp. You have unlimited choices when it comes to what hairstyles you want to do, you're not limited to oh. I can't put my hair in a high ponytail because my tracks are going to be showing. I can't do a half up half down, there's certain things that you just can't do with your hair, if you're in a weave or if your hair is in a wig, because you don't want the lace or the tracks to show, but with tape, ins or clip-ins. It is so much more flexible and you can basically do whatever you want just like if it was all growing out of your scalp. The next big draw for tape, ins and micro links is that usually you do not tape in anything on your hairline or put any micro links directly on your hairline, which means there is a much lower chance of you getting traction alopecia and a lot of people. Who'Ve been wearing wigs and sometimes even weaves have caused a lot of traction alopecia, because some people would put their hair in braids all the time and they would braid them too tight at the front, braid all their edges or even if they leave their edges out. When they put the wig when they put the wigs on especially full frontals the glue and the moisture, would sort of eat away at the hair on the hairline and it would cause damage. So when you do micro links or tape ins, you don't really tape anything. So you can really have a nice full hairline and your hair can easily grow back without you messing it up or tampering with it. The next pro is that it is very low tension. There is no need for braiding with most of these hairstyles, so it's just clipped directly on your hair, so there's no like excess pulling or anything like that. The tension is very low and you can keep it for a much longer time. Now, let's get into the cons, because, despite so many pros that i sound excited about, they are plenty cons. Okay, let's get into them before you think. Oh angelica endorse this. Let'S get straight into it! Let'S test this out, i'm ready to dive into microlinks just hold on a little bit and let's get through the cons before you make that decision. The first con is, it is extremely high maintenance and it is even more high maintenance if your hair is not a perfect match for the clip-ins or the tape-ins that you're adding. So let's say my hair is in a braid out like this, and the clip-ins or tape-ins match the exact texture of my braid out. That would be easier to maintain because i would just need to braid everything together and then get it out. But if it's let's say a tighter curl or a looser curl than yours or the tape ins are straight or the micro links are straight. That would mean you'd constantly have to flat iron, your hair more often to make it match, because if your hair just frizzes a little you're going to see the difference in the texture, if you have to do flexi rods or anything like that, whatever you have to Do to kind of blend the textures to make them match that will increase the maintenance and also manipulation, which means it could potentially lead to breakage. Speaking of breakage, microlinks and tape, ins can both cause breakage and the bad part is the breakage can happen very close to your scalp, at least with other things. Sometimes the breakage might be towards the end, so you just need to cut above the split ends, but with these ones they can cause a lot of damage right at the roots, and the reason is one tape. Ins are literally taped to your hair, so if the person is rough when peeling off the tape, obviously they have some sort of solution that should soften the glue to make it easier to peel off if they are a little crunched for time or they're. A little lazy or just extremely rough, when taking those extensions apart, there could be a lot of damage caused. Also when it comes to the micro links, some of them are done with the keratin tip. Some of them are done with some kind of bonding glue. It'S the same thing. Think of it like you know when you have box braids, and you have that hard piece of build up there. If you are very violent with that part, even if it's just build up it can cause a lot of breakage so think of actually using some kind of glue in that area. Again, if you take it out very well, you can ex you can experience minimal breakage, but if it is not done properly, there is a very high risk for breakage in that area. Also, if your hair is just naturally prone to breakage, you can experience more breakage than the average person, even if it's taken out well. The next thing is, depending on the texture again of what you're, using during the washing process, if you wash your own hair with the micro links or the tape pins in, if your hair is a completely different texture, you might experience a little bit more tangling because Of the two different textures you're working with - and you may also experience a little bit more breakage because of those tangles and your hair, mixing up with those other things. So this goes a little bit back to it being high maintenance. If you're going to do something like this you'd, probably want a professional like someone who deals with micro links or tape, ins very frequently to be doing the washing process for you as well. Now you might be thinking okay. This seems like a little bit too much money. I don't think i can afford that. That'S kind of something you have to think about before you put the micro links or the tape ins in your hair in the first place, which also leads me to my next point, which is these are way more expensive options than the other ones. Microlinks and tapings can range anywhere from around eight hundred dollars to three thousand dollars now. This, of course, depends on the hairstylist who's, doing your hair, the salon you're, using whether you're using protein like keratin bonds or glue the type and the grate of the hair that you're using whether it is like you know, brazilian peruvian and then also what grade it Is how good the hair is? That is something you need to look into, and this is always the case of anything where someone's like. I can do it cheaper. I can do it for 300. I can do it for 200, for you they can probably do it, but the maintenance and everything else might not be as good as if you're doing it in a trusted place with someone. You know has been dealing with this for a very long time. So the other thing that adds to the expenses is the maintenance. Like i said before, you have to keep up with the maintenance. It is probably better to continue going to a professional to kind of maybe redo some of them. If you have a lot of build up or shedding, you might need to redo a couple bonds. You may need to wash your hair in a very specific way, so it may be better for them to just do all the handling you might have to go for, like maybe frequent salon visits like if you used to go once a month, you might have to Go every two weeks or every week or something like that to keep up the maintenance. So, yes, it is expensive, but that's the option you have to choose if you want to end up with healthy hair at the end of that, the next con for micro links and tape ins, but i think even a little bit more leaning towards micro links is, If you want to use micro links or tapings for that nice natural look, your hair has to already be at least four to five inches. That'S what most of them choose, some of them even say six inches, but on average they'll ask you to have at least 45 inches of hair, and the reason for that is the tape ins need enough hair to attach to and blend with. So if your hair is too short, you cannot pull off the look, because your hair will not blend around the perimeter of your head, even if you have longer hair in the center of your head. If your edges are extremely damaged and you only have like two inches of hair - it's not going to blend with the tracks and the micro links well as well. So again, if your hairline is not intact, you will not be able to put in the micro links or the tape ins, and this is actually for your own good. If you go to one of those, i can do it cheaper kind of people. They'Ll, probably let you do it even if you have two inches of hair, but it will not blend well and it could probably cause way more damage, because it's going to put too much stress on the tray on the hair that you have longer hair can handle A little bit more stress so, unfortunately, if your hair is under four to five inches long, you will not be a candidate for micro links or tape ins. At the moment. The next con is not necessarily a con, it's more of a disclaimer, and this is tapens and microlinks are not protective styles. Okay. I know it might seem that way, but it is not at the same time not all hairstyles have to be protective styles. For example, i do a silk press once to twice a year, i'm trying to take it to three or four. Maybe it depends on the weather because i hate it when my hair reverts, i find it pointless. I like to wear my hair straight for at least a month. So if i wear my hair straight just because i'm enjoying it - and i can comb it and i'm not really experiencing any excess shedding or tangles, because my hair is straight - it's still susceptible to heat damage. So that does not mean it's a protective style. Sometimes you just want to have a hairstyle for the fun of it for the fashion. You want to bleach your hair because you want blonde hair, it's not a protective style. It is just a style to do whatever you want. So i would say it's more of a disclaimer or a neutral comment: okay, the next con is actually a great thing in my book and if you have a good hair stylist, they will not agree to put micro links or tape ins if you're in your hair. If your hair is a little, is a little damaged, so here is the con. Your hair has to already be in good condition, so a lot of people would do weaves and wigs when you have some sort of breakage because you're like you know my hair is a little damaged. It'S not looking the best, so i'm just going to braid it up, tuck it away and take care of it while it's in a protective style and then, if i want to go out, i can cover it with a wig or a weave or whatever. So your hair is protected and you can take care of it while still wearing whatever kind of hairstyle that you want. But with this one, if your ends are frayed, if you've got lots of split ends or your hair is just damaged, you can tell what damaged hair looks like just by looking at it, even if it doesn't necessarily have split ends. You know that kind of fried dyed and laid to the side kind of look. It doesn't matter what ethnicity you are, what kind of hair texture you have damaged here always shows it just looks bad okay, the tape ins and the micro links are not going to blend well with your hair if it is damaged and they can cause even more Damage on your hair, so that is something to look into if your hair is looking crazy and is terribly damaged and you're. Thinking of looking going to this look focus on improving the health of your hair. First before you think of doing tape, ins or microlinks. Now that we've got into all the pros and the cons, you might be wondering after all this are you going to try it? Will you recommend it? I would say this first of all, when you think of going to this hairstyle, remember that it is not a protective style. Second, i would say if your hair is in great condition, you are willing to pay a good fee to get it done and you're willing to pay for the maintenance fee, and you just want it to look good and you want your hair to flow, and you Want to just i don't know, experience what that feels like, i absolutely recommend it will. I try it myself, possibly in the future, when i've reached a stage where i want to maintain that, and it would probably only be for the purpose of some kind of like special event like a wedding or my birthday. By the way, when i say a wedding, i don't mean my wedding, i don't know when that's gon na happen. So yes, i would do it possibly for a special occasion, and i would keep it for the term because these can actually last for around five months or something like that. So that's actually a pro you can keep it in for a long time. That'S a good thing, but the maintenance is very high. So i would maybe do like a four month kind of thing and i would probably do i don't know. Actually, if i do micro links or tapings, i don't know which one i'd be more drawn to, but it would most likely be in, like a winter, when i want to wear my hair in like a silk press, because my hair just takes too much manipulation in Its curly state to match with another curly wig. I would probably want to do it while i'm wearing my hair straight, possibly when i've reached more of my hair goes and i'm just maintaining my length and i'm not necessarily worrying about like growing it longer and longer. So possibly in the future, i may look into it, but right now i am more focused on just getting my hair longer and thicker and healthier also where i live. I don't personally know anyone who does micro links and tape, ins and, honestly on my texture of hair. It is too soon to see what the side effects are like. So i will wait for the guinea pigs to see their side effects in two to three years. Then i'll decide probably, but don't quote me on that. Thank you so much for watching watch the two videos on the side of the screen right here. If you'd like to see any of my older videos hit my face there to subscribe for more fun. Videos like this and other hair growth tips. Thank you. So much for watching and i'll see you guys in my next one bye,