Two weeks ago I had a very exciting opportunity to work with Leah at The Glossary Salon here in KC to have NBR extensions installed in my hair! As many of you may know, I have always worn clip-in extensions that I really loved. I have long hair, but it’s not very full so I love the added volume that extensions give me and they allow me to play around with different hairstyles, do fun braids and I especially love the long mermaid hair they give me when it’s curled! I had heard amazing things about NBR extensions and all of the pictures I saw on Instagram of girls wearing the extensions were total #hairgoals! When Leah reached out to me, I was beyond thrilled and couldn’t wait to head in to salon to hear more about the NBR extensions and to have them installed.
Now that I have had my extensions in for a little over two weeks, I wanted to share all of the details about my NBR extensions, the process, and answer all of the questions you guys had asked me!
Where did you get them done?
I went to The Glossary Salon to see Leah! She seriously works magic on your hair, and is so, so good at what she does! If you go to visit her or go for a consult about NBR, don’t forget to mention my name!! And be sure to let me know if you do end up going, I’d love to hear and see what you have done! 🙂 Check out the salon’s Instagram here and Leah’s Instagram here to see some of their amazing work!
What’s the process?
I started out with an initial consult (about 30 min) with Leah where we talked about what I was looking for and what I wanted the result to be. The NBR extensions come in different lengths, so she took in to account how long my hair already was. I only needed a trim on my own hair, and wanted the extensions as long as possible, so the 22in ones were the fit for me! The next length, 18in, would have been to short for my own hair. She also color matched my hair to the extensions, and decided that she would use two different sets of hair (shown in the pic above) to give my hair a natural balayage look without having to actually balayage all of my hair, so cool! The next appointment was for the install!! This appointment took about 3.5 hours, but we were filming and having fun so I’d guess it would normally take a little less time, ha! An exclusive bead and string technique is used to make a “track” where the extensions are then sewn in to. Leah then trimmed and blended my hair!
How much hair did you have installed?
I had the 22inch extensions installed, which was the longest option, and the only option unless I wanted to cut my own hair! With the NBR extensions, you can have 1 or 2 rows installed. I wanted to have as much hair as possible (go big or go home, right? lol) so I did two rows! I believe I have about 5-6 wefts of hair on each row.
Do they hurt, pull, or damage your hair?
No!! They don’t hurt a bit, they don’t pull my hair or my scalp at all. In fact, I seriously can’t even tell they’re there now. I don’t even think about them during the day like I sometimes did with my clip-ins when they would start to feel a little heavy or pull a few hairs sometimes. I do want to mention though that the only time they bothered me a little was the initial adjustment period for the first few days. Leah had told me they would just feel a little tight at first, but would loosen up, and they did exactly that. After all, I did have like 3x more hair now so of course it felt a little weird and heavy at first! My head was only slightly sore, and I would say my scalp just kind of felt tired at first, like I had been wearing a tight bun all day. I would compare it to the feeling when I had had my clip-in extensions in all day, and my head was just a bit tired. Only a few of the beads felt a little tight and uncomfortable to lay on, but I just had Leah adjust them and after that, it’s like the extensions disappeared! I haven’t noticed them since, haha! And because some people asked, no, they will not cause bald spots or damage your hair like many other forms of extensions would! I included a screenshot from the NBR website of Danielle K. White, the founder, mentioning what makes these extensions so great!
Tips for caring for your NBR extensions?
– Use a wet brush when brushing your hair! I had always used one with my clip-ins and on my wet hair. They work wonders!
– Leah told me to put lots of argan oil on the ends of my extensions to keep them very well moisturized, and looking like your natural hair! You can put it on wet or dry hair before brushing your hair, and you can apply anytime during the day that you think your extensions or natural hair need it! It won’t make your hair look oily.
– Let your hair air dry as much as possible. I normally shower at night and then let my hair air dry anyways, so this works out. At the very end of your hair air drying, just round brush the ends of your hair/extensions with the blow dryer if needed to keep the extension hair from looking clumped together and unnatural. If I’m ready to go to bed and my hair is still pretty wet, I will blow dry it a bit so that I don’t sleep on my extensions so damp and wake up with crazy hair, ha! The extension hair does take a little extra time to dry, especially since I have so much of it.
– Use a moisturizing shampoo/conditioner!! I’ve always used this for my natural hair, and definitely now with the extensions in. Use a leave in conditioner/detangler as well.
– Use a heat protectant if you don’t already, and go easy on the heat setting on your tools. I never have my straightener/curling iron on the top heat setting so that I don’t fry my extensions, or my natural hair. I use T3 Micro tools, and I’ve been using this spray that Leah gave me that has argan oil in it, adds shine and works as a heat protectant (and smells amazing!!)
– Try to minimize washing to avoid drying them out. I think this has been one of my favorite things about having these extensions, haha! Before getting them, I have always washed my hair almost every night. Mostly because I work out almost everyday, but also because my hair is so fine and fairly thin that it gets oily fast. Now that I have SO much hair, I don’t really want to wash and re-style it every single day, and I haven’t! I’ve tried to be better about spreading apart my super sweaty workouts so that I can wash every other day or every three days, but the best part is that my hair hardly gets oily at all now!! It’s like now that I’ve got all this extra hair, my natural hair doesn’t get near as oily and it’s amazing! I’ve been using this dry shampoo when needed that Leah recommended. She got me hooked on Unite products, and this dry shampoo is one of the best I’ve ever used!
How long do the extensions last?
The extensions will stay in for about up to 8 months if you take good care of them, so they’re so worth the investment!! You just get them retightened about every 6-8 weeks or so.
Do you like them and do they look natural?
I absolutely LOVE them!! I can’t recommend them enough! I love that I just always have this much beautiful hair to work with now, and that I don’t have to clip it in when I want to wear them! It’s just there 24/7, ha! I’m absolutely AMAZED at how natural they look, and so is everyone that’s seen it. So much so that if I grab some of my hair, I can’t even tell what’s actually mine and what’s the extensions! Leah did an incredible job at matching the color perfectly to my hair! The possibilities are endless now with hairstyles and braids that I can do, and I can’t wait to start sharing some styles with you like I did with my clip-ins! Whether you do one row or two, long or short, I think you will absolutely love the added fullness that the NBR extensions give you!
Sorry this has turned out to be a little long, but I wanted to make sure and answer all of your questions and share why I love my new NBR extensions SO much! If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to let me know and stay tuned for a video on my YouTube channel from my day at the salon! Be sure to go visit Leah at The Glossary Salon, and don’t forget to tell her I sent you! Also, you can watch the video below to take a look at our fun day in the salon getting my extensions installed!! Give it a thumbs up and SUBSCRIBE to my channel!!
