The short answer
Hair extensions add length or thickness by attaching extra hair to your own. Two common semi-permanent methods attach it differently. Strand extensions go on a small section at a time, each held in its own bond, called a capsule. Tape extensions go on in thin adhesive strips.
Both need correction as your own hair grows, and both have to be taken out again at some point. Those two appointments are part of having extensions.
What are hair extensions?
Extensions are additional hair attached to your own near the root, so that it hangs and moves with it. People have them for length, for thickness, or for both.
The added hair can be natural or synthetic. The attachment is what differs between methods, and it decides how the extensions are maintained and how they come out again.
Anything fixed near the root travels down as your own hair grows. That is why correction and removal come with every method.
What is the difference between strand and tape extensions?
Strand extensions, also called capsule or keratin bond extensions, are applied a small section at a time. A small amount of added hair is bonded to a small section of your own, and the join is the capsule. In the hot method, the capsule is softened with heat so that it closes around both.
Tape extensions use thin adhesive strips. A slice of your own hair sits between two of them, so the hold runs along the width of the strip rather than sitting at one point. There is no capsule, which is why tape is described as a capsule-free method.
Clip-in extensions are a third kind, and a different category: you attach and remove them yourself, for a day or an evening, and nothing stays in your hair overnight.
What should you consider before choosing extensions?
The condition of your own hair comes first. Every attachment is held by your own hair, so a stylist needs to see it before recommending a method, or recommending against one.
Extensions are a series of appointments, not one: the fitting, correction as your hair grows, and removal. Weigh the time and cost of all three, not only the first.
Think about how long you want to wear them. Semi-permanent extensions stay in for weeks at a time; if the occasion is a single day, clip-ins do a different job.
What does the upkeep involve?
Hair grows from the root, so an attachment fitted close to the scalp sits further down the hair as time passes. Managing that is what correction means.
For tape, correction means taking the strips out, cleaning off the old adhesive, and fitting them again close to the root with fresh tape. Strips that can no longer be reused are replaced with new ones.
For strand extensions, grown-out capsules are removed and the hair is re-bonded, or new strands are made.
How often you need a correction depends on how fast your own hair grows, so it is a question for the stylist who fits them rather than a fixed calendar.
How does hair extension removal work?
Tape comes out with a remover that dissolves the adhesive, after which the strips lift away from your own hair.
Capsules are softened with a remover solution and taken out one at a time.
Removal is best done by someone who knows the method that was used. If you had extensions fitted elsewhere, tell the salon which method it was before you book the removal.
What should you ask a salon before booking?
Which method suits your own hair, and why. Strand and tape attach differently, and the answer should come from the hair you have.
How the price is worked out: what the fitting is counted by, and what correction and removal cost, because both will come.
How often you will need a correction, and how long a correction appointment takes.
Whether the salon removes the method it fits, and whether it removes extensions fitted elsewhere.
What decides what hair extensions cost?
The method and the amount of hair added. Salons count the fitting in different units, per strand, per strip, per gram or per set, so ask which one a quote is based on.
Correction and removal are separate appointments, so the cost of extensions over the time you wear them is more than the fitting alone.
A figure quoted before a stylist has seen your hair is an estimate. The real one depends on the length and thickness you agree on.
What if you want smoother hair rather than more of it?
If what you want is smoother or stronger hair rather than more of it, the difference between hair botox, keratin and nanoplastia is set out here.
Cuts, colour and hair treatments are on the hair services page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between tape and capsule extensions?
Capsule extensions are bonded to your own hair a small strand at a time. Tape extensions are thin adhesive strips fitted in pairs, with a slice of your own hair between them, and no capsule.
Are clip-in extensions the same as tape or capsule?
No. Clip-ins are attached and removed by the wearer and are not left in. Tape and capsule extensions are fitted by a stylist and stay in until they are corrected or removed.
How much do hair extensions cost?
It depends on the method and the amount of hair added. Correction and removal are separate appointments, so ask for all three prices, not only the fitting.
Do extensions need maintenance appointments?
Yes. Your own hair keeps growing and the attachment travels with it, so extensions are corrected, and eventually removed.
Can extensions be removed if they were fitted somewhere else?
Ask the salon first. It needs to know which method was used, because tape and capsules come out differently.
In short
Hair extensions attach extra hair near the root, either strand by strand in individual capsules or in tape strips. Both need correction as your hair grows, and both are removed with a remover suited to the method.
Before choosing, weigh the fitting, the corrections and the removal together, and have a stylist look at your own hair first.
