The hair we order is good hair: Remy, cuticle-aligned, capable of lasting most of a year. Sets that die at four months almost never die because the hair was bad. They die from three habits, all of them at home, all of them easy to break once you know what they’re doing.
The three failure modes
- Moisture held at the row. Damp wefts against the scalp are where matting starts, and matting is what turns a comfortable move-up into an hour of careful detangling.
- Tension. Rows worn past eight weeks, tight ponytails, sleeping in a bun. Extensions don’t damage hair. Sustained pull on the same follicles does.
- Friction. Cotton pillowcases, towel turbans, and brushes with plastic balls on the bristles that catch the thread.
Everything below is a defense against one of those three. That’s the whole philosophy.
The wash
Two or three times a week, not daily. Your extensions aren’t getting oily the way your scalp is, and over-washing loosens beads faster than anything else on this page.
- Sulfate-free shampoo, always. Extension hair no longer receives oil from your scalp, so there is nothing to replace what sulfates strip.
- Shampoo the scalp, standing under the water. Downward motion. Don’t pile your hair on top of your head and scrub. That twists the wefts against each other.
- Conditioner from the mid-lengths down. Never at the row. Conditioner at the bead line is the most common cause of slippage there is.
- Rinse longer than feels necessary. Product left sitting in the rows is the first step toward matting.
- No dry shampoo along the rows. It builds up where you can’t see it and grits against the beads.
The dry
This is the step people skip, and it does more damage than every other mistake combined.
Never sleep on damp rows. Not braided, not in a bun, not “mostly dry.” That single habit ends more sets than heat ever has.
Rough-dry the rows first, on medium heat, using your fingers to separate each row so the air actually reaches the bead line. Keep going until the beads are dry to the touch. Genuinely dry, not cool. Then dry the rest however you normally would. A round brush is completely fine once the rows are dry.
The brush
Twice a day, morning and before bed, with a loop brush or a proper wet brush.
Start at the ends and work upward. Hold the hair above the row with your free hand so you’re pulling against your own palm instead of against the beads. Brushing from the roots down drags every tangle in your hair straight into the row, which is exactly where you don’t want it.
The night
Dry hair, one loose braid or two low ones, and a silk or satin pillowcase if you can manage it. Cotton creates friction for eight hours straight, and friction at the row is what produces the felted texture people mistake for damaged hair.
Heat, product, water
- Heat protectant every single time. Extension hair cannot repair itself the way growing hair can.
- Irons and wands under 350°F, and never over the bead line.
- Oils, silicone serums and leave-in creams stay well away from the rows. They cause slippage.
- Purple shampoo is fine on blonde wefts, but sparingly, and never left to sit at the row. It pulls tone cool fast on hair that isn’t producing its own pigment.
- Pools and the ocean: soak your hair in clean water and coat it in conditioner first, wear it up, and wash it properly afterward. Chlorine can push blonde wefts toward green.
What a move-up actually is
Every six to eight weeks, without negotiating. As your own hair grows, the row travels down the shaft and the tension changes. That shift is where damage comes from, not from the extensions sitting there.
At the appointment we take the rows down, wash and detangle everything, check the wefts thread by thread, then reinstall higher and re-blend the set into your cut. Two to three hours depending on row count, and priced by row count rather than by the hour.
Stretching a move-up to twelve weeks to save money usually costs more. It takes longer to take down, it’s harder on your hair, and it shortens the life of the wefts you paid for.
When to call us early
- A bead you can see sliding down the strand.
- A weft with a broken or fraying thread.
- Tenderness or itching at a row that hasn’t settled a day after install.
- A row that’s become visible in your part.
Don’t cut a thread and don’t pull a bead. Every one of those is a five-minute fix in the chair and a real repair if it’s handled at home first. Call the studio and we’ll find you fifteen minutes.
Hair gets ordered before it gets installed.
Every new set starts with a short consultation, because the color match and the density check decide what we buy, and the wrong hair can’t be fixed on the day. Move-ups you can simply book.