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| Third Year, 2013 |
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| Third Year, 2012 |
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| Second Year, 2012 |
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| Second Year, 2011 |
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| First Year, 2011 |
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| First Year, 2010 |
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| First Year, 2010 |
They are totally crazy. I actually haven't put them side by side before. But, wow! It's insane to think that only three years ago I had platinum blonde hair, like it happened. It actually happened! But oh boy, am I paying for it now.
Although I loved having the blonde hair, only about 30% of it was mine. It was insane the amount of time I spent on hair extensions and hair dye and it was becoming really unpractical. I mean, I was had the whole blonde thing for about two/three years and by that time, I just couldn't take it anymore. My hair was shredding all over the place and I had stacks (and I mean stacks) of a variety of hair care products that did nothing to really keep my own hair from breaking. Although, I can definitely recommend Bumble & Bumble products, they were the only thing hair care products that actually prolonged the life of my hair at the time, but it's not exactly cheap.
Right now I'm still waiting for my own hair to go back, it's just about shoulder length but now it's pretty much jet black in colour. I have a love/hate relationship with the "blonde period" of my life: sometimes I think the efforts I took to actually get it as white as it was, was completely wasted now it's black! So, I think I need to remember to remind myself how awful it was having to constantly change extensions, dye my hair and how awful I felt every time I brushed my hair and all my dead ends would fall out!
So, what are my experiences with hair extensions?
In 2010, when my hair started to break due to how dry it was as platinum blonde and how broken the hair follicles were I started to wear clip in hair extensions. They were remy 20"weave in a darker colour than I was at the time. I brought the weave style so I could layer them and sew the clips to suit my head. I wouldn't recommend getting the weave extensions, unless of course you are willing to dedicate at least a full day sewing them together and sewing the clips as hair extensions with clips do exist, it was just at the time I was desperate for them and well, I couldn't wait!
Just before 2011, I actually searched for a more permanent method of hair extensions and came across the 22" semi-permanent keratin bonds. These can be pretty expensive at around £200+ and as it was the first time I was having it done, I thought it would be better if I was going to spend so much to actually go to someone with genuine experience. As I was studying in London, there was quite a lot of choices at the time and I went with Belle's Hair Extensions based in North London. At the time, I thought it was brilliant as you couldn't tell where the extensions started and where my hair ended! However, beware keratin bonds are glued in individual strands to your hair with use of a heated glue gun. So, it was very difficult getting them out (I actually kept them in until they were so matted) that I'd actually broken my hair more than if I had worn the clips. But, desperate times called for desperate measures!
Later on in 2011, I knew I was kidding myself with trying to stay blonde, so I actually dyed my hair to a lighter shade of brown. It was really upsetting because I had put so much time and effort into the blonde upkeep that with one coat of dye it was gone! It was heartbreaking but it had to be done! So what I did was after I took out the blonde semi-permanent extensions, unmatted my hair and dyed it, I fumbled for my old clip in extensions and dyed those to match my uncategorisable brown colour hair. Then, with only merely weeks of this, I just couldn't take the feeling of being so bald (I knew I wasn't, but after having at least 180g of 22" long hair, I felt like I was) I actually went back and got more keratin extensions! I was blind to all that hair!
In 2012, I actually went on a trip to Thailand and had my hair extensions redone there with real, real, real human hair. Which was a relief because my second time at keratin was miserable, the quality just wasn't as good as the blond and it just didn't feel as full as last time. I wished I could get my hair done in Thailand all the time because it was so cheap in comparison and the quality was much better. Although these were the best extensions I had at the time, after a while, I thought about going back to clip in extensions and soon did. This was because after nearly two years of keratin bonds, the maintenance was just too difficult to keep up and my hair eventually matted regardless of how much care I took.
So, later in 2012 I actually ordered two sets of 100g hair extensions online. They were 20" with eight strands each set, so I had sixteen! I was insane putting them on with difficulty trying to find space on my head to fit them all in! But my love for semi-permanent hair extensions wasn't over where I found on Gumtree that I could get micro bonds hair extensions. It had me at no glue! So, I went for it and at first the experience was terrible because the first women that I paid for them to be done gave me the worse quality hair that was so cheaply tied together that clumps would fall out in my hand. Having some experiences with extensions in the past, I knew it wasn't right and when I tried telling her - well it got really nasty. So, what I did was instead of trying to confront her anymore, I actually found another lady that was relatively cheap and had her do my hair. I never realised how easy it was that after that set started o fray, I started doing my own!
Let me tell you, I'm really picky with hair so when I eventually started to get a set from eBay (the Chinese stores are cheap and have great quality) I went crazy and tried to fit as many in as possible. It took a long time with strained hands but I was dedicated! And well, by the end of 2012 I had gone through three or four sets because I kept interchanging them.
However, I knew that I couldn't spend forever with semi-permanent extensions as I would eventually need to let my hair breath without all the extra weight. So at the end of 2012, I took out all my extensions and let my hair grow with my old clip in extensions used for comfort. Until now, my hair has been growing relatively well, moving from a more bob cut length to just passed my shoulders. My clip in extensions are great as it still gives me the ability to be flexible with my day to day look (although, I would admit that I wear them a lot more than I don't). I've actually just ordered some 3/4 hair piece from eBay actually and can't wait for them to arrive.
I'm just an addict for length & volume!
Perhaps, in the future I'll do a post with great places I know to find hair extensions (under £40). But, with this being such a long post, I think I'll leave it here. Thanks for sticking with me!
