Review (2/5): Not the longest lasting as far as quality is concerned.
So this is the first time I have ever ordered hair extensions off Amazon. Back in the day when I got my first set of extensions, you pretty much had to get them through a salon. Amazon just sold books back then.
I wanted to try extensions and was excited to see that the cost was fairly reasonable compared to what I was paying 20 some years ago. I thought that the first ones I had were more expensive since they were through the salon and salon has overhead costs, have to pay the stylist etc.
That last statement is only halfway true. There is something to be said for the quality of these extensions as well. At first, out of the box they seem awesome. The color matched amazingly well considering I chose it off the internet. The extensions were shiny, soft, and definitely seemed like human hair. I would braid them at night and take out braids the next day which left a nice wave that matched the texture of my natural hair. I washed them twice a week and used a leave in conditioner. I would also use dry shampoo throughout the week to keep them looking good. Here comes the not so great news...
I am writing this evaluation after 6 weeks of wear. I would say that these are fine for about 3 weeks, if you don't wash them all the time, keep them braided, brushed etc. After 3 weeks - well.. I hope you like braids!
So at the 3-4 week period the extensions begin to get very frizzy and dry. They will start to hang in strips or chunks. It becomes extremely difficult to run your fingers through them regardless of how much you brush. Even after braiding them at night, they no longer wave. It's extremely noticeable now because my natural hair does have a wave to it. They are like long strips of frizz or maybe carded sheep's wool (if any of you are familiar with sheep?!). I always kept the ends conditioned throughout the day because I was concerned about ratty ends. Well I could add a gallon of conditioner now and it would make no difference really. They just look bad and they look a bit better if I trim it up but then it's only a few days before they're back to being ratty.
So this may sound like a no brainer but you definitely get what you pay for with hair extensions and if you want to know the details as to why there are many videos on YouTube that explain the processes hair goes through before its boxed up and sold to you.
I love the way my hair looked more longer and fuller so next time I will just save up for better quality. Really, in the long run, if you decide you want to keep wearing hair extensions, it's going to cost you more money to buy cheap ones all the time then it would to just invest in a quality set of them.
Lastly I'd like to share my opinion on YouTube and other reviews you find on the internet. There are many reviews out there saying these are great. I've decided that either they are reviewing these right after installation and yes they really are great then. Or, they are being paid by the extension company to say positive things or at least not be totally negative and tell you all this bad stuff about a product.
I should have stuck by the old "you get what you pay for". However, I didn't know if I'd want to do this long term, I figured prices may be lower buying from Amazon vs Salon and it has been 15 or 20 years since I had extensions. They seem more popular now so maybe the price has gone down.
No. No. No. No. None of those assumptions were correct. Quality is definitely reflected in the price so just keep that in mind if you do decide to go with these. Or maybe just imagine how good you'd look with dreadlocks and try that towards the end of their frizzy little life? That's kind of what I ended up doing. I just do a bunch of long braids put em in a ponytail and wah lah now I'm boho, right?