It's no secret that hair extensions have been a major epidemic in almost 95% of every woman's beauty regimen. From Celebrities to your every day women, we all love adding to our look by utilizing extensions occasionally.
Here Is The Truth About Extensions:
Hair extensions are here to stay and they play a role as an asset in every woman's life. It always baffles me when I hear professional hairstylist state "They wish extensions would disappear or people would stop wearing them". My take on extensions is this especially being a professional, extensions is another form of providing solutions to a problem or challenge. Wearing hair extensions is not a bad thing, and every hairdresser on the planet should know how to professionally apply extensions, create a wig, and maintain natural healthy hair. I don't find it a challenge when a woman comes in to the salon requesting extensions. I find it challenging when professionals fall short in providing education on properly maintaining healthy hair while wearing extensions.
Now, not to be misconstrue I love this industry whole heartily and I will never deprive what we do, especially with YouTube and people being able to get a 1/4 of a cup of truth about healthy hair and extensions. However, as professionals we must continue to properly install and educate women on wearing extensions and having healthy hair!
Hair Extensions, Wigs, and Toupees have been in the market for century's. In my opinion we need them to stay and continuously play a role in the professional industry. Now I'm not oppose to those whom believe that women should embrace their natural beauty. I think this is very true, I also feel that wearing extensions can be a part of embracing your natural beauty. However, due to this industry being based around beauty in all of it many facets, when person wears extensions or wigs it does not mean that do not embrace who they are naturally.
Wigs and Extensions allow women to try various colors, cuts, and styles without altering their hairs natural state. This can be a very important asset for professionals, as well as women who are looking for a change with their hair but are not big risk takers. This can include adding a hue of color, length, and fullness to a persons hair. If a woman is naturally straight and has a desire to wear her hair curly, extensions or wigs can help stylist and guest achieve this look without chemically altering the hair.
Extensions and wigs can aid in enhancing the looks of women who may have experienced hair breakage or hair loss. There are many reason why women can experience hair breakage and hair loss. Some of those reasons include, not properly nourishing the hair, genetics, hormonal imbalance, under-active thyroid glands, insufficient scalp circulation, medication and my all time biggest reason IMPROPER NUTRITIONAL INTAKE.
Nutritional Intake is the number one source to providing fuller, thicker, longer, healthier hair. It is essential that women ensure they are in taking the following to maintain a balanced PH level of their skin and hair. I am a believer that what you feed into your body is what externalizes in your reality. This includes thoughts as well as the foods that we eat daily.
1. GET ENOUGH ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS:
Essential Fatty Acids are specific fats that are critical to the proper function of our bodies. Our bodies are not able to produce these fatty acids on its own, so it is necessary that we eat foods containing them such as: Walnuts, Flaxseeds, Fish and Avocado.
2.UP YOUR COLLAGEN PRODUCTION WITH VITAMIN C:
Collagen surrounds the hair strands but as we age collagen breaks down, causing hair to be more vulnerable to breaking. The best way to boost collagen is not through some expensive medical procedure, it's by getting more Vitamin C from foods such as: Citrus Fruits, Strawberries, and Red Peppers.
3. BOOST UP YOUR BIOTIN:
Biotin, a water soluble vitamin of the B complex, encourages hair and scalp health. Dietary sources of biotin includes nuts, brown rice and oats.
4.BOOST YOUR KERATIN PRODUCTION
Keratin is a protein in the hair eating green leafy vegetable such as Swiss Chard, Cabbage, Kale, and Watercress can help boost up your keratin production. Raw vegetables contain a higher amount than cooked vegetables because heat causes some of the MSM in vegetables to volatilize.
5. EAT IRON RICH FOODS
Iron is essential for hair growth and can be found in black strap molasses, green leafy vegetables, leeks, cashews, dried fruits, figs and berries. To help your body absorb iron you need to have a balanced intake of vitamin C
6. GIVE YOUR HAIR A MINERAL BOOST:
The minerals silica and zinc are also critical for hair growth. Food sources of silica include cucumber, mango, green leafs, beans, celery, and asparagus. Some of the foods high in zinc are pumpkin seeds, fresh oysters, Brazil nuts, eggs, and pecans.
7. REJUVENATE HAIR FOLLICLES WITH B- COMPLEX VITAMINS:
100 MG daily intake of a B-Complex supplement that includes biotin and vitamin B6 can reduce hair thinning by increasing scalp circulation and rejuvenating hair follicles.
8. PREVENT BREAKAGE WITH VITAMIN E:
Vitamin E is required to nourish damaged hair and to prevent breakage. It aids the bodies ability to produce keratin within hair strands and reduce breakage. Foods high in Vitamin E include sunflower seeds, almonds, pine nuts, dried apricots, cooked spinach and olives.
9. BOOST SCALP CIRCULATION WITH ROSEMARY ESSENTIAL OIL:
Rosemary Essential oil has been traditionally used to increase circulation to the scalp. Add a few drops per shampoo or add a few drops to your scalp regularly and massage.
10. KEEP REGULAR MAINTAINED TRIM OF HAIR ENDS:
Keeping your ends trimmed every six to eight weeks helps aid in the promotion of healthy hair growth and every woman should seek a professional hairdresser to aid them in trimming their ends properly.
11. DEEP CONDITIONING HAIR MASK :
Deep conditioning hair mask play a major role in providing the hair with it's proper nourishment as well. Deep conditioning treatments should be done and maintained by a professional every six to eight weeks, I highly recommend doing them with your trim. Rotating between a moisturizing treatment and protein treatment helps ensure the balance of healthy hair and scalp.
Extensions should be something that is used by choice, not force unless other issues allow you to experience hair loss therefore resulting in extensions being the result you need to enhance your look.
12. SHAMPOO YOUR HAIR WHEN EXTENSIONS ARE INSTALLED:
You want to treat you extensions just like your hair, because remember they are an enhancement and we want to utilize them by choice, not force. If wearing a sew-in installation or extensions that are attached to your hair other that clip ins you need to shampoo your hair at least every two weeks to maintain an healthy balanced scalp. I would start with a clarifying shampoo to help cleanse the hair of dirt, oils, and other impurities. I typically finish up by spraying a leave in conditioner on my natural hair, braids, as well as my extensions. I wear virgin human hair extensions so I prefer to treat my investment just as if it where my natural hair.
I wear extensions and wigs year round as my life style changes and is becoming much more fast paced with travel, I prefer wearing my wigs vs sew ins. I also take the following steps that I have shared with you all above to keep my hair healthy.
I think it is important for us to remember that wearing extensions is not a bad thing. However extensions should and can be worn by choice, not by force unless life circumstances cause us to experience hair breakage or loss. Extensions should be used as an enhancement to either provide women variations of style, length, and fullness.
