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FAQs of Clip in Hair Extensions

General Information

  1. What are clip-in hair extensions?
  2. Who can wear human hair extensions?
  3. How long does my own hair need to be to use clip hair extensions?
  4. What's the difference between the Elite Set and the Artisan Set?
  5. What type of hair is used in clip hair extensions?
  6. How long do the Hair Extensions last?
  7. Do hair extensions have to match perfectly to your natural hair in color?
  8. What about the clips?
  9. Can I perm and/or dye the hair?
  10. How to Choose and Buy the Right Clip-in Hair Extensions?
  11. How to Apply and Remove Clip-in Hair Extensions?
  12. How to Wash Clip-in Hair Extensions?
  13. How to Take Care of Clip-in Hair Extensions?
  14. How to tell your hair thickness and choose right hair extensions?
  15. How to Blend Clip-in Hair Extensions with Short Hair?
  16. How to Tell Your Hair Texture and Choose Right Hair Extensions?
  17. How to Use Clip-in Hair Extensions to create styles you want?

(When our hair is mailed out to customers, enclosed in the package is a brochure of proven care & maintenance tips and instructions, covering more specific issues on customer care & styling.)

  1. What are Clip-in Hair Extensions?
A: If you are looking for a quick Do It Yourself hair extension system without long-term bonding, then you have found it. Compared to permanent methods like gluing, weaving or fusion, clip-in extensions attach using pressure sensitive clips and cause less damage to your own hair. They are easy to attach and can be perfectly matched with your own hair - giving you longer hair, thicker hair, lowlights, highlights, etc.
Low cost, easy to apply, low maintenance and less hair damage – these make clip-in hair extensions a popular option among consumers who want new hair appearance and fun.

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  1. Who can wear human hair extensions?
A: Anybody who wants to enhance the length, volume, style or overall appearance of their own hair can wear hair extensions. Hair extensions is a fabulous choice for ladies who want to dress up and have fun: the clip-in hair extensions, which are easy to remove and easy to change, are the best option.
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  1. How long does my own hair need to be to use clip in hair extensions?
A: Different people may have different opinions. As a general rule, we find as long as you have shoulder length hair, or about 6 or more inches in length, you should be okay. If you hair is fine to medium thick and longer than shoulders, the extensions can easily blend with. If you have above shoulder length hair or your hair is very thick, adding extensions may be a bit more difficult because the extensions add additional thickness to the lengths you have already, and the additional length you get from the extensions will always be a bit thinner. A solution for this is to have hair layered first so the short layers are the thickest and the longest layers the thinnest, and then curl the hair extensions and your hair, – by which the blending will look natural.
For more details, please watch our tutorial video “How to Blend Hair Extensions with Short Hair” (coming soon).
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  1. What’s the difference between the Elite Set and the Artisan Set of your hair extensions?
A: The difference is the weight and the number of pieces. All of our hair extensions are made of the same high quality of human hair. If you are sure your hair is fine and you are looking for length and some volume then the Artisan set is sufficient. It is cheaper in pricing, has fewer pieces of wefts and clips, and is easier and faster for you to put on. If, however, your hair is thick or very thick, or you are not sure, or you are looking for volume as well as length, we recommend the Elite set, which provides more hair. It will blend in with thick hair and create lots of volume for all hair types.
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  1. What type of hair is used in clip in hair extensions?
A: We used 100% high quality protein rich remy human hair that are completely natural in appearance, that keeps cuticles aligned with the same direction, that remains smooth, silky and tangle-free throughout its lifetime. Nothing beats the versatility of human hair extensions. Human hair, unlike synthetic hair, can be straightened with a flat iron, curled with heat, or chemically treated to perm or dye the hair.
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  1. How long do the Hair Extensions last?
A: The lifespan of the clip in hair extensions ranges from three months up to one year depending on how often they are worn and how well they are taken care of.
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  1. Do clip hair extensions have to match perfectly to your natural hair in color?
A: No. This is the beauty of hair extensions. They are set in between the different layers of your hair. So a natural blending effect will take place. In this case, an exact match is typically not necessary and a slightly different color of hair extensions will often add to your appearance with a new look.
If the color of extensions doesn’t match well with your own hair, you may choose to make a few highlight streaks (like 8-10) in your own hair layers with a hair color similar to the extensions (always do a strand test first).
In either case, for better blending results, you can simply curl your hair and extensions to blend them together. Or at last, you can choose to dye your extensions to match your own hair. For this option, better consult a professional.
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  1. What about the clips?
A: Quality of clips is important. You don’t want any pieces of hair extensions to fall out when you are at a party or at your wedding. The clips should be secure to grip, comfortable to wear, easy to apply, light and small enough to hide. Our clips meet well these standards. We use metal clips with silicon tubing for secure grip. They also weigh less than one gram (0.03oz) each and one inch wide, so they are very easy to hide and the total weight of clips is only a small fraction of the set weight.
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  1. Can I perm and/or dye the hair extensions?
A: Yes. While we don't recommend perming or coloring hair extensions because of the possible damage to hair, they can be permed or dyed in a professional manner. Since perming or dyeing requires skills, experience and particular processing products, we recommend an experienced hair professional does the work.
When perming, we suggest you use low-setting temperatures (below 350 degree F) and apply quality heat protecting hairspray, holding on the heat less than 10 seconds, to avoid the hair being burnt and damaged.
When dyeing, we recommend you dye the hair from a lighter color to a darker color to maintain hair quality. As we know, bleaching will cause more damage on any hair. Coloring the extensions to a different color will need two processes - bleaching and coloring, causing even more damage to hair. It's not recommended. Each of our sets comes with 4-6 small pieces, from which you may use 1-2 of them as testers before the entire set is colored. Blonde hair has been bleached, so more caution should be taken.
Extensions are not attached to scalp to get nourishment, so the added distress such as coloring could damage the extensions to the point not being able to use them. Extra conditioning or nourishing oils need to be applied to treat hair that has been color treated. Be sure to use color treated shampoo and conditioner to prevent color fading from washing.
Washing the hair extensions prior to coloring is suggested to remove factory residues. If going darker, we recommend using a color that is no more than 2 shades darker to achieve most desired results. Please use a professional brand of color (not a store bought “box dye”), and a 10 volume peroxide that deposits color only. If going lighter, use a professional brand of bleach, and a 10 volume peroxide, to cause dryness the least. (Example: when cooking a hamburger, if the temperature is set too high, it won’t cook faster, but a burnt outside and raw inside, not the result you want). Our experience is that you need to use a professional brand of hair color (e.g., Clairol) that comes in a tube form that can be purchased at a beauty supply store. The color needs to be mixed with peroxide to get activated. Store-bought hair color from a grocery or pharmacy store that comes with stuff to mix is not going to give good results, tends to be very drying and uneven results.
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  1. How to Choose and Buy the Right Clip-in Hair Extensions?
 (You may also watch our video series "How to buy clip in hair extensions matching your hair")
There are many stores, physical or online, selling clip-in hair extensions. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed and confused when making a decision on the right products for you. To keep things simple, the following should be considered.
       1) Color Choice – First take a good at your hair in the daylight. Look at the color of the bottom inches of the top layers of your hair. This is usually lighter than the hair at the roots and will be a better match because this hair will lay on top of the extensions. Then review the color chart and compare the color of the extensions you want to the bottom inches of your own hair. We offer eight colors to cover a range of customers from very dark color to very light color, including Off Black, Dark Brown, Medium Brown, Light Brown, Wheat Blonde, Light Blonde, Brown/Blonde Mix and Dirty/Strawberry Blonde Mix.
       2) Quality of hair extensions. This at least involves the quality of hair, clips and weft making.
Firstly, hair quality varies greatly, with the best lasting one year and poor quality lasting only for one use. Make sure that you are buying authentic and premium quality human hair that is strong, smooth and tangle free throughout its long life, and can be treated and styled like your own hair. Secondly, the clips should be secure to grip, comfortable to wear, easy to apply, and light and small enough to hide. Good weft making means that there are good hair thickness even at the bottom, that hair is shedding or fraying the least, and that the wefts are made neatly and evenly. Our hair extensions meet these quality standards well.
        3) Your Hair Thickness and Texture – People’s hair thickness varies significantly. If you natural hair is very fine and long, then getting extensions with less volume of hair should be sufficient to add length and volume and create new styles. For instance, we offer the Artisan set – the 16” long set is about 3 oz and the 20” long set about 3.5 oz. We also offer the Elite Volume Set, which has more hair and thus is a little bit more expensive, - the 16” set is about 4.1oz and the 20”set about 4.8oz. The Elite set is better for customers who have naturally thick hair or who want more volume of hair regardless of their hair thickness type.

In addition, people’s hair texture can be straight, wavy or curly with varying degrees. If you natural hair is straight, hair extensions can blend with your hair in just minutes. If you hair is wavy or curly, you may choose to make the extensions wavy or curly as well.
       4) Your Hair Length - Clip-in extensions are easier to blend with shoulder length hair or even longer hair. But a lot of customers with above shoulder length hair may even want hair extensions more . The solution for this is to layer your short hair so that short layers are the thickest and longest layers the thinnest, then curl your hair and hair extensions, then they can blend amazingly well. Ask a professional to do this, or watch our tutorial video “How to blend hair extensions with short hair”.

       5) Purpose of Use – Good Clip-in extensions offer much flexibility and versatility for consumers to try multiple styles. Our Elite Volume Set has 10 pieces in total. The four wider wefts (9”, 7”, 6” and 6”) can fit with a wide range of customers who are different in head size, hair thickness and style preference. Even with the six 1.5” wide pieces alone, you have the flexibility to use all of them for maximum volume or simply creating streaks, or use some of them for your desired look, or use two of them just as testers for you style creation.
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  1. How to Apply and Remove Clip-in Hair Extensions?
 (For details, please watch our video series “How to apply clip-in Hair Extensions”)
       1) Locate the area where you want to insert, starting from your back head. Always follow the contour of your head. Move your fingers from the front towards the back until they meet in the center of your head. The result is a U-shape part. Use a comb, part your hair and lift the section up and pin it out. There are 3-4 wefts for your back head. Part your hair section for the lowest trough on your back head.
       2) Tease and flatten your hair area where you will place clips. On the wefts used for your back head, the back pieces have 3 clips each. First use the 6” wide wefts. Open the clips and slide the clips into place -first press the middle clip then the other two clips. When you hear it click, you will know it is secure. Run your fingers across the top to make sure the section is lying flat.
       3) Repeat this to part your hair section from bottom to top trough on your back head and apply other wider wefts as you wish to achieve the amount of volume desired.
       4) Smaller pieces can go on the sides of your head and even on the top of your head.
       5) Now comb your own hair down over the Hair Extensions and gently comb to blend hair
How to remove your Extensions:
Simply open the clip by gently pulling backwards until you hear the clip release. Then gently remove the section and be careful not to pull your hair. It is suggested to move the placement of your sections slightly every couple of wearing. This will allow the clip to rest in a different area preventing too much stress on your hair.
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  1. How to Wash Clip-in Hair Extensions?
 (For details, please watch our video series “How to wash and care clip-in Hair Extensions”-coming soon)
       1) Before washing gentlybrush them through with fingers or a soft, round and wide-tooth comb.
       2) Use gently running andlukewarm water, and lightly squeeze hair; do not rub or twist vigorously.
       3) Apply a small amount oflow PH value moisturizing shampoo preferably with detangling agents from clips to ends.
       4) Rinse thoroughly until allshampoo is removed, and gently squeeze out excess water.
       5) Apply certain amount of moisturizing and repairing conditioner from clips to ends.
       6) Leave the conditioningwith 4-5 minutes and rinse thoroughly again.
       7) Gently squeeze out excesswater, blot with a towel, and shake out.
       8) Hang to air dry. Refrain from blow drying.
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  1. How to Take Care of Clip-in Hair Extensions?
 (For details, please watch our video series “How to wash, care and maintain clip-in Hair Extensions with pro tips”)
Human hair is tender. The quality and lifespan of the extensions largely depends on how they are worn and taken care of. Based on our testing as well as investigations of customers’ experience, we found most of the unexpected issues actually arose from lack of knowledge and experience on treating this kind of products. To make the extensions work better and last longer, we strongly recommend that you read through and act upon the following tips.
The way you care for human hair extensions is not very different from the way you care for your own hair. Just keep in mind that human hair extensions, unlike our own growing hair on scalp, can no longer get nourishment and moisture from roots. Moreover, the hair may have been processed including coloring to achieve the current color results. So we cannot expect them to be as strong as our own hair. They need extra nourishment and extra care.
1) Always Be Gentle When Handling
Some girls tend to be rough when caring for their own hair. But it’s important to be extremely gentle when caring for hair extensions. Always brush them gently with fingers, or a soft bristle brush, or a soft, round and wide-tooth comb before and after use. Do not scratch, rub, twist or comb them in a hard way. Do not swim, shower or sleep with them.
2) When to Wash
There is no need to wash before wearing if you want to keep their straight and silky texture. We suggest washing them infrequently, or after every 10-20 wears, or before curling them for the first time, or when they get too tangled/frizzy, or when there is much built up and they become unmanageable to style.
3) How to Keep from Tangling and Frizzy
While by nature long hair tends to tangle more easily than short hair, tangling and frizzes can be prevented or minimized by proper care and maintenance. Since human hair extensions are prone to heat and dryness damage, it is recommended to use moisturizing and repairing shampoos, conditioners or leave-in creams (particularly for color treated hair, brands like Schwarzkopf/Osis, Aquage or Joico are good). We strongly recommend using moisturizing and nourishing oils or shine sprays (e.g., Moroccanoil, sleek- serum CHI) to keep hair extensions silky and less likely to tangle when combing or styling. Avoid teasing or back combing extensions. On the market professional brand care products have ingredients to restore or replenish moisture to hair but cheaper products tend to use fillers like silicone that just smooth hair but create buildup on hair.
If the hair gets frizzy or dry looking, apply or spray the above mentioned conditioners or oils; make sure all moisture is out of hair extensions prior to style and applications. The hair needs to be treated very often with moisture oils due to the fact the extensions do not have a healthy scalp to nourish it.
If tangling has occurred, remove wefts from your hair and brush out knots by gently combing or brushing from below to release tangles. Spray shine or use oil to prevent re-occurrence.
In case severe tangling has happened and the above techniques do not work, following the following steps:
1) Fill a sink with luke warm water and mix in hair detangling agents (brands shampoo or conditioners from Moroccanoil, Schwarzfopf Osis, Aquage or Joico also work);
2) Place wefts (excluding the clips area) in water and soak for 10 minutes;
3) Gently squeeze out water, place wefts on a towel and gently comb from below to release tangles;
4) Let air dry on towel.
4) How to Use Heat-Styling Tools
Nothing looks worse than frizz and breakage, which are common problems among girls who use hot tools on their hair. Limit the frequency you use a blow dryer, straightener, flat iron, or curling iron on hair extensions. But if you need to curl or straighten, follow the tips below:
a) How to Curl
Extensions should be gently washed prior to curling. Keep in mind that they have also gone through a straightening process.
If using a hot roller set, apply style-holding hairspray prior to wrapping on roller and leave to set overnight. The longer you have curl set, better results.
If using foam rollers, use damp extensions and apply style-holding hairspray once dried.
If using a curling wand or iron, curl at medium temperature (300 degrees F~350 degrees F), apply heat protectant hairspray first, hold for less than 10 seconds, release curl, and then apply style-holding hairspray (e.g., TRESemme strong-hold hairspray).
In some cases the extensions curl better with some product residue from hairspray, from previous styles.
b) How to Straighten
A professional temperature regulating straightening iron is the best (such as a GHD or BaByliss Pro). Use iron at a medium temperature (or hair level), apply heat protectant spray, and make a smooth pass going slow but steady, and then apply shine spray or oil to seal hair cuticles.
We ever saw a few cases in which the hair extensions tangled like a birdnest, or became gross looking, or had many knots due to improper washing, tangling, curling or coloring. Seemingly there’s no way to get them back to normal. Actually it’s not the case if you follow the procedure below:
1) Gently pull apart tangled hair and use the hair detangling tips mentioned from the above Section 3;
2) Place the whole set or wefts on table, set the flat iron at medium temperature (or hair level), and slowly, smoothly and steadily flat iron the hair;
3) Apply shine spray or nourishment oils and brush through again until the hair is back to normal.
Any hair extensions have its longevity. Over time the hair may lose its luster or its color start fading after many wears. This is normal and occurs on your own hair. It’s the time for a new set when you can no longer restore back to original look.
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  1. How to tell your hair thickness and choose right hair extensions?
 (Please watch our Hairstylist’s Video series “How to choose Clip-in extensions matching your hair”)
Simply put, hair thickness means whether you hair is fine, medium thick or thick. If using a scale of 1 to 5, we can say scale 1 as very fine, scale 2 as fine, scale 3 as medium, scale 4 as thick, and scale 5 as very thick. A simple way to tell your hair thickness is ponytail circumference. Firstly put your hair in a ponytail with as much hair as possible in it and let it sit smack dab on top of your head. Then measure the circumference of the ponytail using a rubber band to tie it tightly. If you have to wrap the band around for 4 or more times, then your hair is thin, if you get 3 there, then it is medium, but if you wrap the band two times and it feels tight then you have thick hair.
You may also take a strand of hair from the back of your head. Roll the strand between your thumb and index finger. If you have Fine Hair-- your hair is difficult to feel or it feels like an ultra-fine strand of silk. It’s barely visible if you hold it in front of your eyes, hardly show up against a contrasting background.
If you have thick/coarse Hair -- your hair feels hard and wiry. As you roll it back and forth, you may actually hear it! If you have medium thick Hair -- your hair feels like a cotton thread. You can feel it, but it isn't stiff or rough. It is not fine or coarse.
People’s hair thickness varies significantly. It’s very important to know your hair thickness. If a person with thick hair gets extensions with a small volume of hair, definitely the extensions can’t match and look fake. But if a person with very fine hair, to get a big set of extensions set with too much hair, it may be a waste of money.
Our hair extensions are designed to match customers who are different in hair thickness at two levels. Firstly we offer two sets by weight and number of pieces – The Artisan Set and the Elite Volume Set. The Artisan set has less weight of hair (it is also cheaper in pricing), designed for customers who have very fine hair. The Elite Volume Set has more hair (a little bit more expensive), which is better for customers who have medium to thick hair, or who want lots of hair regardless of their hair type. Secondly, each of our set offers a lot of pieces. Depending on your desire, you may want put on all the pieces or some of them. For instance, our Elite Volume set offers 10 pieces - the four wider wefts (9”, 7”, 6” and 6”) can fit with a wide range of customers who are different in head size, hair thickness and style preference. Even with the six 1.5” wide pieces alone, you have the flexibility to use all of them for maximum volume or simply creating streaks, or use some of them for your desired look, or use two of them just as testers before you style the whole set.
Keep in mind – if you are not sure about your hair thickness, buying the Elite Volume set is a safer option.
Also keep in mind – adding extensions to short hair or very thick hair can be difficult because the extensions add additional thickness to the lengths you have already, and the additional length you get from the extensions will always be a bit thinner. A solution for this is to have hair layered so that short layers are the thickest and the longest layers the thinnest – which then looks correct.
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  1. How to Blend Clip-in Hair Extensions with Short Hair?
 Clip-in extensions are always better to blend with shoulder length hair or even longer hair. But a lot of customers with above shoulder length hair may even want hair extensions more. The solution for this is to layer your short hair and then curl your hair and hair extensions, then they can blend amazingly well.
For more details, please watch our Hairstylist Video series “How to Blend Clip-in Hair Extensions with Short Hair” (Coming soon)
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  1. How to Tell Your Hair Texture and Choose Right Hair Extensions?
 Simply put, hair texture means whether your hair is straight, wavy and curly. Straight hairis "straight" because it has no kinks or bends. Under this category, there are three levels -
  • stick straight – hair doesn’t have any kinks or bends from roots to tips,
  • straight but with a slight body wave, just enough to add some volume, doesn't look wavy,
  • straight with body wave and one or two visible S-waves (e.g. nape of neck or temples)
Usually, people with thin hair have the straight type of hair.
Wavy hair is a result of your hair forming a bend or slight "S" shape. Under this category, there are also three levels –
  • loose, stretched out S-waves throughout the hair
  • shorter, more distinct S-waves (similar to waves from braiding damp hair)
  • distinct S-waves and the odd spiral curl forming here and there
Curly hair forms loops and will spring away from your head.Under this category, there are
  • big, loose spiral curls
  • bouncy ringlets
  • tight corkscrews
People with thick hair may have wavy or curly type of hair. And people with very thick hair may have frizzy hair, and easy to get tangled.
Most of human hair extensions on the market, including the TressMatch™ extensions, are straight. Since most people’s hair is wavy and curly with varying degrees, you may choose straighten your own hair and then apply extensions, or you may choose to make waves or curls on your extensions.
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  1. How to Use Clip-in Hair Extensions to create styles you want?
 A well designed clip-in extensions set should offer as much flexibility and versatility to create new styles as possible.
We offer two kinds of sets by weight and number of pieces. Like the Elite Set offers 10 pieces, four wider wefts and six small wefts, which is particularly designed to offer as much flexibility and versatility as possible. The four wider wefts (9”, 7”, 6” and 6”) can fit with a wide range of customers who are different in head size, hair thickness and style preference.
For instances, if you have a big head, you can use all the wider wefts and six wefts; if you have a smaller head, you can choose the 7”-wide and the two 6”-wide wefts for your back head, leaving the 9” wide wefts alone or cutting it into two 4.5” wide wefts for both sides of your head.
If you have fine hair, you can use only two or three of the wide wefts and two or three of the small wefts; if you have naturally thick hair, you should use all of them. Similarly, if you only want to add a little bit volume or length to your existing hair, you may also flexibly use some of them.
Even with the six 1.5” wide small wefts alone, you may use all of them for maximum volume, or only use some of them for your desired look. Or, you may want all of them to simply create hair streaks if the extensions have a lovely different color to your existing hair.
If you want to straighten, curl or color the set of hair extensions, since there are six small wefts, you can always use one or two of them as testers before you style the whole set.
Unbelievably versatile styles you can create, at an unbeatable price you can afford!
For the demonstration results, please watch our Hairstylist’s Video series “How to Apply Clip-in extensions to create styles you want” .
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