My hair is very fine and also very thin. I have never been able to grow my hair very long. I have dabbled in extensions throughout the years and wanted to give my two cents (for what it’s worth!)

Tape-In Extensions

My first experience with hair extensions was when I was getting married (about 3 years ago). My friend had gotten extensions for her wedding so I was inspired to do so as well. I wanted to wear my hair down for our wedding (because that felt most like me) but needed some length and thickness. I got the tape-in ones from a local salon. Tape-in extensions are glued to your hair and you cannot take them out.

Pros

I liked having tape-ins because it genuinely felt like my hair. Because it is permanent (well, glued) it basically is your hair. I could blow dry it, round brush it, and do whatever I wanted. I could also shower in them or sleep in them. Besides for styling it, you basically forget that you are even wearing them.

Cons

Tape-in extensions are very high maintenance (in my opinion) because every 4-6 weeks you go to the salon and get them “un-glued” and moved back up to your scalp. If you don’t do this, they will show (because they have grown out too far) or they will fall out. This is also very expensive! The other part I did not like was that I had to style my hair every day. If I let everything air dry, the extensions were straight and my hair would be curly. I had to wear it up or style it every day, which was difficult for me. In addition, I found it very difficult to straighten or curl my hair when the extensions were in the way.

Clip-In Extensions

Fast forward to today. I just bought clip-in extensions from Barefoot Blonde Hair. This is no way sponsored, just FYI. The extensions are super long (21 inches) so perfect to play around with fun hairstyles. Each set contains 10 wefts with varying amounts of hair, that you can use or not depending on the style. Each weft has little clips which you clip close to the root of your hair.

Pros

I love that I can take them out! I wear them when I want to and don’t when I don’t want to. It’s fun for me to put them in for an event or to take some photos, but I don’t have to be married to them. I also like that I can wear some or all of the wefts. If I want to add a braid, I braid one of the wefts and clip it in. If I want to have it down and curly (like in this post!) I wear them all. Also, once they are curled, they stay that way until you wash them. The only work each wear is clipping them in and positioning them. They are super low maintenance, because the only work is washing them every 20 wears.

Cons

The biggest con is probably that you aren’t supposed to sleep in them or shower in them. Because I am not wearing them every day, it’s not a big deal to me. You also have to clip them into position each time you wear them. If you don’t like the idea of clipping them in each wear, tape-ins may work better for you. Lastly, after about 20 wears you do have to wash them (as I mentioned above). So yes, it is extra work because you aren’t washing at the same time as your own hair, but it’s so infrequent that this is not an issue for me.

The Verdict

Overall I am a lot happier with clip-ins because I have more options. I am a pretty low maintenance girl, so having to wear them, style them, etc. was too hard for me. When I go to work, I like to be able to get ready in just a few minutes, so the tape-in extensions didn’t work well for my lifestyle. If you want to wear extensions 24/7 (not me!), tape-ins are definitely for you. If not, I would go with the clip-in!

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