How I Look After My Hair After Breakage & Hair Loss.
Most women experience hair loss and breakage at some point in life, and it happened to me a few months ago. I was sat in a New York hotel room having washed my hair the night before, and it just kept falling out in clumps - my tangle teezer was filled with so much hair that it looked like I’d not cleaned it in a month! It was one of the most traumatizing experiences because like most girls, my hair is my love. I take my vitamins, avoid heat, use hair masks and generally kept it in such good condition.. so how did this happen?!
I felt such a knock to my self confidence and immediately messaged my hairdresser for advice because I was terrified to wash it again incase more fell out. Luckily for me, it only happened on one occasion so we easily narrowed the cause down to using products which didn’t suit my hair, stress and bleach. I’d just been through a breakup alongside several months of back to back travel - which takes its toll. The solutions were pretty simple and involved cutting my ends so it looked thicker again, or adding extensions so I kept the length until my hair naturally grew back.
When I got back to London, I headed straight to Live True London and my magician hairdresser Paco added in some tape extensions. Tape extensions are the quickest, easiest extensions which are semi-permanent. I considered clip-in at first but decided it was much easier to just get tapes fitted, rather than take out and put back clip-in extensions every day.
Tape extensions are on sticky strips which are secured around small sections of hair and bonded with heat (usually a quick blast with straighteners). The individual strips are roughly an inch wide so its easy to pop in the exact amount that you need for thickness/length. Each application lasts for 6-8 weeks and the tapes can be re-used several times if the hair is looked after. I’ve had mine for 4 months and only changed the hair once.
I had extensions put in purely to give me back the thickness that I had lost from my hair falling out, but decided not to trim them much because I loved the length too. The tapes look so natural that you can’t tell that I’m wearing extensions and I’ve found them so easy to style with my own hair, so I’d definitely recommend them.
For haircare, I use paraben and sulphate free shampoo/conditioner as well as Olaplex 3 or a repairing mask twice a week. I’ve been taking biotin and omega 3 supplements to help my natural hair growth and condition too, so hopefully I can go back to extension-free life in due time!
My extensions came from Zen Hair which is salon recommended, but also the softest and best quality that I’ve ever had. We used two packs of 22″ tapes in shade 60 which were tinted to match the rest of my hair. They offer a range of extensions in different styles so its worth checking them out if you’re looking for some extensions.
