Question: I had a hair stylist attach hair extensions to my hair using metal bands. My hair is fine, but I had a lot of it before the extensions. After the extensions were removed, my hair is REALLY thin. Can you tell me why this happened and what I should do about it?
Answer: I am sorry you are having trouble with the look of your hair after the extensions. We frequently get Emails from people that have very similar problems. Even though you know you are not alone, it still makes you feel bad.
Anyways, I am not a professional cosmetologists and can not offer a professional opinion. However, I have done extensive research on hair extensions and can provide you with tips and advice that I have come across over the last few years. Of course this info is Use At Your Own Risk.
There are several reasons that your hair seems to appear very thin after removing the hair extensions.
1. Normal hair loss every day is 100-150 strands of hair. When you have hair extensions attached to your normal hair, this hair still falls out, but remains attached to the extension hair. This leaves less of your natural hair holding the extension in place. If you leave the extensions in too long, or your hair is fragile, then the weight of the extensions in the hair can actually pull out the natural hair along with the extensions, causing very thin hair or even permanent hair loss. Did you lose a lot of extensions when you were wearing them? And how long did you have the extensions in your hair?
2. Perception--After having beautiful thick hair for awhile, you get used to it. When they are removed your hair appears super thin. Do you remember the thickness of your pony tail before your hair extensions were attached. I.E. was it the size of a quarter.
3. Your hair stylist did not remove them properly. Most damage occurs during the removal process. Did you check out your stylist (i.e. call references, see before/after photos, etc.)
Solutions to get your hair back in shape.
1. Treat your hair very carefully. Try not to do any chemical processing, such as perms, color, highlights.
2. Switch to a thickening shampoo/conditioner. Some shampoos/conditioners I have heard (in various forums) that are good are the Nioxin ones and Aveda Hair Thickening Shampoo . My husband has a hair thinning problem and I ordered the Nioxin system for him. It makes his hair look more healthy and thicker.
3. Start taking vitamins that are specifically for your hair. I know that Nioxin has vitamins that I have heard are okay. Your family doctor may be able to recommend vitamins for your hair and you might want to ask around or research on the Internet for others vitamins.
Future Hair Extensions?
If you had the human hair extensions, maybe your hair is too fragile to hold the extra weight of the human hair. Maybe you should try synthetic hair extensions. Synthetic hair weighs about 1/3 the weight of human hair and is much gentler on your natural hair. Synthetic hair nowadays looks just like natural hair and is less expensive than the human hair extensions. Check out these methods: http://www.prohair.us, http://www.domecosmetics.com
Finally, there is a Hair Extension forum over at HairBoutique.com You can browse and read thru posts concerning people with the same problems that you have, or even create a post yourself. There are many professionals that visit the forum and offer advice. Go to http://talk.hairboutique.com and scroll down to "Hair Extensions"
Finally, for additional info on other Hair Extension methods, refer to our brand new site, http://www.hrhairextensions.com You can read several complete chapters from our Number 1 selling E-book on Hair Extensions.
