Guest post by Katie Carswell, a TUBC student at our Chicago Northeast campus.
Hair extensions are a huge trend in the beauty industry, like all the other trends we have seen, they are ever-changing and evolving. There are so many ways to apply hair extensions that most of us have lost count but the trend sweeping the industry most recently are tape in extensions. Tape in extensions are easy to make, apply and simple to remove. These extensions are affordable, comfortable and undetectable. I have tried many forms of hair extensions and so far the tape in is my favorite.
I made the extensions myself in my living room and had a friend apply them for me, the entire process took about 30 minutes. Not bad compared to the hours you would have to sit in a chair for strand by strands or a sew in.
YOU WILL NEED
- 1-2 packs of hair lace front
- Wig tape
- Liquid Gold hair glue in the tube or the bottle
- Clips Tail comb
Cut a strip of hair to fit just above the nape of your neck, near the bottom of the occipital bone and one piece should measure from one ear to the other. You will only be applying hair in these three sections and make sure to not go higher than your ears unless you have thick enough hair to cover the extension.I cut two strips of hair per section in order to create thickness.
Now that you have the hair measured, lay out your tape and remove the protective paper on only one side and apply a layer of glue from the bottom of the strip coming only halfway up the strip all the way across. Lay the first strip of hair closest to the bottom of the tape and press. Take the second strip of hair and lay it just above the first strip but not directly on top so that it will lay flat on the head. Press the hair firmly onto the glue and wait 20-30 seconds to dry.
Now apply glue to the top half of the tape and fold it over on top of the hair so the hair is sandwiched between the tape. Set aside to dry and bond. During this time, you can make the other two pieces using the same steps. When all pieces have set to bond and dry for 15-20 minutes you can being to apply them. The first step in applying the extensions is parting of the hair. The first part should be just above the nape, leaving about 1/2 inch of hair down. Clip the rest of the hair up. Now take the piece that you have measured for that section of hair and remove the outer piece of protective paper so that the sticky part of the tape is exposed.
Next, place the piece not on the part but just under the part and press down. Once the tape has stuck you can make another very small parting above the part and little by little stick the hair you are pulling down onto the exposed tape. This makes the tape undetectable because it is sandwiched between two partings of hair. continue these steps for the other two sections. Once all extensions are applied go through and pinch each section of tape to make sure it is secure and stuck to the hair. To remove the extensions, purchase Liquid Gold hair glue remover and follow the directions as printed on the bottle.
Imagery from tapeinhairextensions.us.