Clip In Hair Extensions

I went to get my hair cut on Saturday in the attempt to make my ends look as healthy as possible prior to the wedding day.  I have pretty much decided to curl my hair and leave it down for the wedding.  I'm leaning towards half up and half down, actually.  The other idea was to put it in a low pony.  But the length that my hair is in right now, when curled it becomes even shorter and really a little too short for the look I'm going for.  So I asked my hairdresser about hair extensions, and she recommended that I get clip ins instead.  She actually had some herself and she showed me how simple it is to use.  You literally just clip them in in different layers under your hair, and you are good to go!  I decided it was a much easier and economical way to add length to my hair, so I ordered some.

I went and picked them up today.  They are 100% human hair, and they are super silky and soft.  Must admit, it kind of creeps me out a little when I think about where they came from.  So I'm just not even going to try to figure that out.  They are $200 for 10 pieces in various widths, all 18 inches long.  I didn't get the super thick kind, as I have a lot of hair naturally and do not need to add tons of thickness.  I just want length.  I have no idea if that is a good price or not, but it doesn't seem too unreasonable.  She put them in my hair and it seriously adds instant length!  I actually think 18 inches is a good length.  I was actually having second thoughts before and thought maybe I should have got 20 inches instead.  But I think 18 is perfect - it is pretty long when left straight, but once I curl it, it will be a good inch or so shorter.

My hair is like a dark brown color, with the bottom slightly lighter.  I believe that's just due to being exposed to the sun.  But it could also be due to years of coloring my hair before.  I haven't actually dyed or highlighted my hair in at least 4 years, so I'm pretty sure all the dye from before have been cut off already, but I guess there could be some lingering still.  The extensions my hairdresser had to order were like a soft black color, which is one shade darker than my hair color.  She said the one that was lighter would have been a little too light.  So I may have to dye the extensions to match my hair color perfectly.  However, she also said that it is most obvious when it's left straight.  If I curl it, it will blend in a lot better with my natural color.  I will be trying that out in the next day or so.

Anyway, she put these clip ins in my hair when I picked them up.  Here's what the result looks like - after I took this photo, I actually straightened my own hair since the extensions are super straight.  It blends better when my hair is super straight too.  But I forgot to take a picture of it before I took them off and took a shower.

So in the photo you can definitely tell where the top layer of my hair meets the extensions, as my hair kinda has a weird wave thing going on.  Though some of the color differences are due to lighting, as you can see some pieces higher up actually match the extensions perfectly in this photo.  But I think I would feel more comfortable wearing my hair curled.  It would definitely be less obvious.  And I will probably go pick up a box of hair dye and just dye the extensions myself.  I did get some test stripes that came with the hair pieces just for that reason.  I think if the ends of the extensions don't look that dark, it will look a lot more natural.

I will be practicing putting these in myself a lot for the next 2 weeks.  The last thing I want is to be walking down the aisle and a piece of my hair falls off.  LOL!  That would be so funny and not at the same time!  When I had them in tonight, they felt pretty secure as the clips are good quality.  My hairdresser teased my hair before putting the clips in, and she said that I can also hair spray after that for maximum hold.

So this is what the clip looks like, it's super easy to use - you just push it one way or another to open or close.

And then you just have to be careful where to place these, as you don't want people to see them poking out anywhere.  Though with dark hair, it hides pretty well.  

I am optimistic that these will work very well for my needs.  And of course they can be used any time after the wedding as well.  When I feel like dressing things up and having longer hair one day, I can always put them in.  How fun!