Maintenance Advice for Hair Extensions

Maintenance Advice for your new Vixen & Blush Hair Extensions

Your new hair extensions are safe and will not damage your own hair if you follow these rules. We have fitted your hair extensions with care and attention to detail. This aftercare advice is a guide for you so that you can now take care of your own hair and your new hair extensions at home.

The 3 Golden Rules: No pulling. No upside down head. No oily or wet roots.

1. What you need to maintain your hair extensions

• Shampoo: Clarifying Shampoo (for oily hair type) or Volume Shampoo (regular or dry hair types). Never use a moisturising shampoo or a shampoo for ‘dry damaged hair’. Never use Pantene, Tresemme, Timotei or other supermarket shampoos.
• Conditioner: Use a lightweight good-quality conditioner on the ends of your hair only — never on the root. Read our expert guide on shampooing and conditioning your hair extensions.
• Moroccan Oil or Serum: Use Moroccan oil (the best) or a nice serum on the ends of the hair extensions to protect them from heat styling. Heat protection sprays are not advised.
• Brush: Use a Tangle Teezer (for the ends) and a Soft Bristle brush (for the top). Never use a brush with baubles on the end, or a comb, or any hard brush.
• Hairdryer: Your hair extensions need to be very well dried especially at the root — make sure you have a good quality, effective hairdryer.

2. Hair extension maintenance: the method

1. Before washing

   Brush through your hair (starting at the ends) with the Tangle Teezer and remove any tangles.

2. Washing

   Hair extensions cannot be left to go greasy at the root. Wash your hair regularly — enough to keep it clean and not allow it to go greasy. Only ever wash your hair in the shower (never the bath). Use a Clarifying or Volume shampoo and lather on the top of your head where there are no extensions. Allow the water and shampoo to wash down from the roots to the tips and use downwards strokes only on the connections. Do not scrub or rub your bonds/rings in a round motion. Rinse for double the amount of time you normally would. Use conditioner on the ends only.

3. Towel drying

   Never put your head upside down. This means you cannot wrap your hair in a turban.

4. Drying your hair extensions: within 30 minutes

   Hair extensions must be dried at the root within 30 minutes of washing. Do not tip your head upside down to blow dry. Use your fingers to begin with and only use a brush when the hair is 80% dry. Brushing aggressively when wet can lead to loss of extensions. Finish the blow dry with a cool blast on the bonds/rings to harden them up.

5. Volume

   You can treat your halo section (the section at the top with no hair extensions) as you normally would and use volume products with a round brush. Do not try to get volume or root lift in the sections that have hair extensions attached.

6. Styling

   You can use any heat styling tools. We advise using a curling tong (like a Glamour Wand) to create a wave rather than straighteners, as straighteners need to be pulled through the hair. The less pulling and tugging on your roots the better.

7. Brushing

   When brushing you should use two hands — one to hold your hair just below the extension connection area and the other to brush gently with a Tangle Teezer or soft bristle brush. Only brush over the ring/bond area with a soft bristle brush (not a Tangle Teezer).

8. Sleeping and gym

   You must tie your hair in a low plait or ponytail when you go to sleep or do exercise.

9. Up-dos

   You cannot tie your hair in a high ponytail, top knot or high bun. Low ponytails only.

10. Dyeing

    You can dye your T-section as normal. Do not put any dye on the small sections of hair that enter each hair extension. The dye can get inside the ring and over-process, causing damage to your root area with long-lasting consequences. Most clients only need to touch up their T-section.

11. Visiting another hair salon

    Make sure other salon staff do not scrub the area where the hair extensions are attached. During the blow dry they must be gentle and not pull on your hair with a round brush — fingers only until the hair is 80% dry, then they can smooth the ends. Tell your hairdresser on the phone that you have hair extensions, but that they are good quality and will blow dry easily.

3. Further advice for taking care of your hair extensions

1. For those with damaged or bleached hair

   If you want to condition the top of your head you can do so, but do not allow the conditioner to wash down onto the rings/bonds. Instead, wash out the conditioner from your halo section over the front of your face.

2. For those with an oily hair type

   Wash your hair extensions regularly. Leaving your hair to go greasy will mean they will fall out (rings) or go soft (bonds). Use a strong clarifying shampoo to get rid of the oiliness.

3. Going on holiday

   If you are going to a hot country and will be in and out of the pool, put your hair into a low plait or ponytail for swimming. Once out of the water take your hair down and let the sun dry it. Do not put a hat on as your hair needs to dry as soon as possible. Rinse any chlorine or sea water out to prevent discolouration.

4. Styling tip

   Hair extensions look best when freshly washed and styled well. A good style holds for up to 3 days. If you leave your hair extensions without washing for more than 3 days they can look stringy. Brush through your hair regularly to keep it looking its best.

5. Losing hair extensions

   It is normal to lose between 5 and 10 hair extensions throughout the 3 months of wear. If you feel you have lost enough for it to be noticeable, call the salon and we will fit you in for a check-up and refit the lost extensions at no charge. Please do keep the hair though as extra extensions will be charged for.

6. Having your hair cut between visits to Vixen & Blush

   We highly advise clients not to have their extensions trimmed at other salons between visits. Hair extensions are cut very differently to normal hair and going elsewhere for a trim can lead to a blunt cut and jeopardise your refit.

Important: You must not wear your hair extensions for more than 3 months. After this time your hair extensions have grown out too far and can lead to matting, which can be very hard to remove.

Find Us

• Address: 6 Rathbone Square, London W1T 1EB
• Monday – Thursday: 10am – 8.30pm
• Friday & Saturday: 9am – 5pm
• Sunday: Closed

Sarah Mckenna

Sarah McKenna is the founder of Vixen & Blush and The London Hair Lab. Sarah graduated as a research biochemist in 2005 and started a career within the pharmaceutical industry, before becoming a hair extensions expert. In 2010, Sarah gained insight into the hair extensions industry and could see that clients had a very poor value/quality proposition. At that time, poor-quality hair extensions were available, at prohibitively high prices. Sarah left her initial career and set out on a mission to improve the hair extensions industry in the UK, using her research and development skills.

Spending 3 years securing a high-quality and sustainable supply of human hair, Sarah then developed new products and fitting techniques to allow long-term refits of the same hair. In this way, Sarah was able to offer hair extensions services at a more affordable price to clients, while improving the quality of the service for her clients.

With Vixen & Blush starting in 2012 as a 1 chair salon in London, Sarah quickly grew the business to what it is today, a team of more than 20 hair professionals working together as London’s leading hair extensions specialists.