The following is a set of instructions on how to wash your clipin hair extensions. I think when you have the time you should always allow the hair to air dry. Drying with hair dryers is ok but you will get a longer life out of your hair if you air dry. Hopefully these instructions will help keep your hair looking and feeling its best. There will be two follow up tutorials covering how to straighten the hair and how to use your straightening irons to achieve curl. Other tutorials coming in the next week.
First we start with a set of sorry looking hair. There is about 2 full sets worth here.
Gather all of the pieces up and tie them with band, you only need to tie them, don't worry about brushing them just yet.
Now give hair a good brushing to get out all tangles. Grab the hair holding it at the top (where the clips are) and brush.PLEASE ALWAYS BRUSH HAIR FROM ENDS UP. Tangled hair being pulled down on-top of tangled hair only causes bigger tangles. Tangled hair being pulled down through untangled hair means smiles all round!!!
Next begin with the washing. Throughout this process you should always hold the hair with the water running down the hair. The water should be lukewarm/ warm. Begin wetting gradually from the bottom up again.
Next get some good quality shampoo and begin shampooing. The shampoo pictured is especially for hair extensions, though any good clarifying shampoo will do. As you can see there is no need for a large amount of shampoo. This amount here will be more than enough for the 2 full sets of hair.
Lather up shampoo between your hands and proceed to "press" the shampoo into the hair. DO NOT RUB THE HAIR. It only needs to be pressed through and only a small amount of suds should be coming out. Make sure to pay attention to the clip area at the top as well.
If there is a lot of product buildup in the hair (hairspray, styling product), leave it to soak in the bottom of the sink for a few minutes.
After hair has finished soaking in its own suds begin rinsing. Again hold it from the top and begin by rinsing out from the bottom up.
It may take a few minutes to get all of the shampoo out of the hair depending on how much hair you have chosen to wash at once. One way you can tell is by gently wringing out the hair, if suds still come out, continue with rinsing.
At this point the hair should feel clean. If you do not feel as though it is, shampoo again.
This hair has been gently dried by pressing between a couple of towels.
After getting hair clean you may notice some tangles. Do not be tempted to brush the hair out. Hair should never be brushed while wet because it can stretch and break.
what I like to do is sort the hair out into smaller sections, usually by weft width (ie single clip pieces, double clip pieces, quad clip pieces) and then lay about 3-4 pieces ontop of one another ready to hang.
Now hang the hair like you would clothes on a line. Using vey tight secure pegs/clips is great for the next part of the process so the more securely the hair is pegged, the better. You should not have combed the hair at any point while it has been wet, even when it is hung on the line.
Add your leave in conditioning treatment at this point. I prefer the spray in type as it leaves the hair feeling light. You could also run some serum through at this point if you do not have leave in conditioner treatment. Leave to hang until completely dry. After the hair has completely dried you can brush and continue with styling.
And there you have it. A gentle way to wash your clipin hair extensions. If you are not going to be wearing the hair immediately after, simply bundle the hair up into a pony tail and store away for next use. A good storage idea is to get some "s" hooks and hang the hair in your cupboard on your clothes rail. That way it is out of the way and easily accessable for when you need it.
