Hot Heads Extensions, Review

 Well, I finally went and took that step to have long hair 24/7. Above is my before and after using Hot Heads extensions!

^^ My Dirty Looks extensions in 26" inches.

To those who may not know, I've been wearing clip on Dirty Looks extensions for over two years. The one thing, is that since I've been on a fitness kick, and all my hair washing, the whole upkeep and staying matched to my extensions, clipping them on and off and styling has been pretty annoying. Now with summer weather being so hot and all too, I can't even bring myself to clip on the blanket of hair. 

Now that I have a stylist I trust with my hair, I asked her about a more permanent solution, and she told me about Hot Heads. 

Now, I've had a history trying out different types of extensions. 

I've tried tape extensions like 8 years ago, and I hated them, especially because they were so thick and long and the grow out was horrible, and we had to use tape and heat to bond it, and I honestly wouldn't do it again. I've also tried keratin bonded extensions where you basically glue individual hairs  to the root of your hair to add thickness and length, and that shed like crazy for me, and you can't reuse the hair you buy. So, def not doing that again. And obviously the one extension type that I loved and stuck with were clip ins.

So, when my stylist told me that Hot Heads were a type of tape in extension, I was REALLY antsy, but she was like, no, the tape is really thin, no heat is required, and the wefts are like 1" inch and a half so grow out won't be annoying and you will barely feel them! So, after I did my $200 USD down payment, I waited a week for the hair to ship in and we were good to go.

Okay, so let's break down the pricing at my salon and what it goes to~

So, the $200 down payment was to order the hair, which is 20 inches in length [6" inches shorter than my regular extensions, great for this hot weather] and I used two packs, so $100 a pack I'm assuming?  The hair is real human hair with cuticles in tact and going in the same direction, so it lays flat and can be reused. Each pack has twenty 1 1/2 inch tapes that have the hair attached.

Which means that one pack will make 10 complete wefts, since the tape sandwiches one piece of hair, like the picture on the right. 

Since my hair is on the thin side and relatively long, I only needed two packs, or 20 complete wefts to fill out my hair for length and retrain a good blend into my natural hair.

The remaining $450 I paid the day of application, with that price comes application, dye job, trim, and styling. Application, like my stylist said, used no heat~ She just parted my hair where needed, worked in small sections and sandwiched those pieces on the separated sections of hair. She worked meticulously to keep my hair looking balanced and blended. The application process only took 45 minutes.

So, that day we stopped there. Since, my hair is a very custom colour, Hot Heads didn't have a matching hair shade. Which,by the way, they have an AMAZING selection of colours and hair textures, from blondes to blacks, dark roots to ombres, vivid purples, blues and reds to even a new selection of pastels, they even had my old pastel pink hair colour as an available hair shade!

But, back on track, pun intended, since we needed to colour the extensions to blend, we scheduled for me to come in in 3 days, so the tapes could bond, since you're not supposed to wet the tapes for at least 48 hours to make sure they're securely bonded together. So, after that, I went in to touch up my hair colour and get the extensions dyed along with it. She also helped to teach me how I should wash my hair and to also use products that are sulfate free, because sulfates can break down the bond of the tapes. By the way, the extensions blended even better, didn't know that was possible, and felt more natural after being washed. I then had my fringe trimmed since I didn't want to layer the hair or take of any length, and then styles by my stylist, which was wen the top photo was taken.

This is how the weft looks, it's actually barely visible and blends really well with my hair. I can also style my hair however I please, even throw it into a high pony tail for the gym or even french braid my hair without any issue~ I can also run my hand over my hair and though my hair and not feel the wefts, which is pretty nice. It's also very light, with minimal sheddding. 

I didn't think there'd be such a different feeling between my clip in hair and this hair but there definitely is! While my clip ins felt like this sticky blanket when I was sweaty or it was hot/humid, this hair didn't feel like that at all, it just felt like normal hair and didn't feel as uncomfortable. I wasn't expecting that kind of relief or that that 'blanket' feeling would go away, but I was ecstatic that this hair differed from my clip ins in that way... Which also made me kind of question the quality of my past extensions, though I loved them, cause this is really how real human hair should feel.

The Hot Heads extensions don't need to be moved up for 2-3 months depending how fast your hair grows and can be reused 2-4 times, so they have a year life span, which is great! It kind of helped to make my decision because The Dirty Looks Extensions are just over $200 USD and I have to replace them every 6 months, on the dot~ So, even though the Hot Heads were a bit of an investment, in the long run it's just a bit more than what I've already been spending on my hair...

It's been almost 2 weeks since I had them installed, and I absolutely love my extensions, and am so glad I took that step and got them done.

<3CarisseIris