Remember the whole new year/new you mantra?

I had a dream about a week ago where I changed my hair color.. and couldn’t get it off my mind! The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with my subconscious – it is time for a change/new look. It’s been a few years since I’ve donned dark locks and I was super excited but also somewhat nervous to make such a huge change once again.

I routinely receive several questions about my hair, no matter what color it may be at the moment so I’ve decided to lay it all out on the table for you.

For years now I’ve had an array of extensions in my hair. Believe it or not, my hair used to be this long and even thicker on its own. Sadly, the stress and health issues that come and go in my life/career/etc quickly led to extreme hair loss. In college I started using clip-in extensions. I went venturing to the Korean hair store with one of my besties and perused the gigantic wall of hair, bought clips and cut the hair to my own sectional likings and made my own. Ahh.. the nostalgia.

After graduating nursing school and moving to Salt Lake City, I met a hairstylist who introduced me to bead-in extensions. My life was instantly changed. I would go back to the salon roughly every six weeks and have the hair moved up (from growth) and bought new bundles every few months.

Once I moved to Dallas, I was in need of a new stylist. A friend of mine happened to get her hair done at Dear Clark, so I went for a New Year’s test look. I asked if anyone there did extensions, met Tara (yes, we are Tara & Tara) and instantly found my new girl crush. Tara talked me into bonded extensions, which I hadn’t yet tried and I’ve never looked back.

When we did my first set, we of course took out the beaded extensions. It was unreal how thin and damaged my hair had become! I never knew or saw this, because the beads would be removed and moved up one by one.. so I never saw the entire set completely out. I was completely floored and not in a good way.

There are many different brands of extension hair and varieties of lengths to choose from, I chose Great Lengths. The quality is by far the best of any hair I’ve ever tried! The hair comes from India and isn’t pieced together from chopped up bits and scraps in random salons. The feel is incredibly smooth and looks refreshingly lovely. The price point is higher, but I whole-heartedly believe in you get what you pay for. Your price point will also vary depending on how many bundles you buy (how thick you want the look) and the length of the hair (the longer, the pricier).

Some people are afraid of damaging their hair with bond extensions. I will tell you, my hair has GROWN and gotten remarkably thicker with these extensions! No lie. It’s the hair unattached to extensions that just doesn’t seem to want to grow. Weird! Every time I get a new set (roughly every 4 months) I am amazed at the continued improvement in my hair health, even when it was blonde! I choose to renew my set that often because I personally don’t like the bonds to grow out more than a few inches, some people go 6 months or longer. It all depends on your comfort and how well you choose to take care of the hair.

You are given a special brush and are expected to brush the extensions just like you would with your regular hair, even your scalp. This keeps your bonds from growing together and avoiding any little dreads from forming. Now I will warn you, when you have the extensions removed DO NOT freak out at the hair you see on the floor. Your hair really doesn’t shed like it normally would, because of the bonds. This hair you see is an accumulation of hair that would have normally shed over the progression of many months. This is NORMAL.

I hope this answers some of your questions about extensions, please send me any unanswered questions you may have! And in the mean time, feel free to contact my stylist Tara Hlavac, she is absolutely incredible. You can find her on her website, instagram, or at Osgood O’Neill Salon on Lover’s Lane in Dallas.

Now, for the transformation!