How To Care For Permanent Hair Extensions

I’ve shared a hair extension blog post here before. I love them. I’ve been wearing hair extensions on and off the past 4 years of my life but I’ve worn them non-stop for about a year and 3 months. They’re addicting. I’ve had beaded (fusion) extensions, tape-ins, a halo, clip-ins, and now I have natural beaded row extensions. They’re the best.

I’ve worn “permanent” (AKA, you don’t take them out at the end of the day) hair extensions for about 8 months straight now so I’ve learned a thing or two about how to care for them. I was chatting with a reader on IG DM’s the other day about how she just got extensions in and that it’s SO much hair to deal with. I laughed as I’ve been there and sometimes it’s STILL way too much hair to deal with haha. Here’s what I’ve learned:

How To Care For Permanent Hair Extensions:

1. The washing process TAKES TIME

Don’t expect to lather the hair up like you used to and be done. You’re doubling the amount of hair you have so you have to know it’s going to take a lot of extra time and patience. I mean, you’re gonna have to really scrub and get around those extensions to keep your hair clean.

2. Double Cleanse

Wash your hair thoroughly with shampoo, rinse, and then wash again. Your hair extensions grab product easily and the hair that your extensions are holding onto, grab product easily as well and builds up in that area. Yeah… grosss. I got dandruff for the first time IN MY LIFE after a month of having permanent hair extensions because I wasn’t caring for/washing them properly.

3. Deep conditioner it up

I shared in this blog post all about my favorite deep conditioner. I recommend conditioning your hair and then leaving a deep conditioner on it for 5 mins after and then washing. Since you also have so much hair, I would condition it by sections. Start with the top layer and fully soak all of your hair in the conditioner. When rinsing, make sure you get IT ALL OUT thoroughly or else you’ll be washing It the next day because your hair will look greasy.

4. DON’T brush through when completely wet

The toughest thing I had to learn. I kept getting out of the shower and putting detangling spray on it, and would spend an HOUR trying to brush through it and my hair would just get worse. I recommend taking a wet brush and gently combing through as much of the hair as possible while wet. The tough areas, don’t spend time on. Afterwards, rough dry your hair and brush through it as it starts drying. For some reason the hair just brushes through so much easier when it’s dry.

5. Keep a good hair oil on it at all times

I really like this one lately. It smells good and is pretty heavy so it really nourishes my ends.

6. Don’t wash as much as you can

I only wash my hair 1-2x a week depending on how much product I put in it. The more you wash your hair, the more your permanent hair extensions lose their quality. Don’t over wash. If you do have pretty oily hair where you wash your natural hair every day, your situation may be different.

7. Be gentle

Permanent hair extensions are just like your normal hair. You have to treat them that way. They need your normal (if not more) care and attention.

8. Give it time to adjust to your own head

As weird as this sounds, extensions that are beaded/taped/sewn into your hair actually adjust to your hair. Your hair oils mix into them and eventually they become JUST like your own hair. It’s weird. Give it time to go through that adjusting phase.