When deciding on having hair extensions installed, there are many things you should know. At New Image we often meet new clients who have either made mistakes in maintaining their extensions, or had an extensionist who didn’t really know what they were doing. Both of these possibilities can lead to serious damage to your natural hair, or to the extensions themselves.

If you’re going to put hair extensions in, it is important to be as informed as possible about best practices for installation, removal and maintenance. Otherwise you might find yourself forking out for a new set much sooner than necessary. You might also find that your natural hair sustains damage that takes years to correct. At our hair extension salon in Manchester, we always make sure we give our clients as much advice as possible so that they can make the best of their hair extensions.

We are also happy to pass this advice on to new clients before they have made the decision to install them, so read on if you’re wondering what not to do:

Don’t push up your hair extensions

If you already have extensions and they have grown out a fair amount, you might be wondering how to save money on re-installation. There are many salons that offer a push-up procedure, which basically means that rather than removing and reinstalling each individual extension, they simply loosen the micro ring and push it back up the section of hair it was originally attached to.

Saving time and money may be the plan, but you’ll actually lose it in the long run if you opt for the push-up technique. While it might seem like a good idea, it really isn’t. Here’s why:

When the ring is pushed back up the hair, it won’t sit as neatly as it originally did. When not in proper alignment, the hair can become tangled easily, leading to breakage and damage to your natural hair. It is also less likely to grow naturally. Think of it as you would back-combing. The hair holding your extensions in place is essentially being back-combed. As you can imagine, that isn’t a good foundation for an extension, and when you brush your hair you will probably end up pulling it out.

The bottom line is: never push extensions up, always refit them as new. At New Image hair extension centre in Manchester, we never ever push-up extensions. We take every single one out, re-bond it (or replace it if necessary) and re-install it from scratch. This ensures that hair sits in neat rows and natural hair can grow downwards unhindered.

Don’t dye your hair extensions

We can’t recommend dying your hair extensions. Although some people do this, the hair comes from all over the world. It is very difficult to discern whether the hair is going to take well to the dye you use. It might be incredibly porous, or not. The colour might wash out a lot quicker than it does from your natural hair (or vice versa), leaving you with two-tone hair.

The dye might also cause damage to the hair extensions, resulting in you coming back for new hair a lot sooner than you intended to. Again, it could be a costly mistake.

At our salon we have every colour of extensions in stock at all times. Not only that, but we blend the colours to suit your exact shade, so there will be no noticeable difference. Many salons don’t blend as it is time consuming; they have a set number of colours and just choose the closest match from those. This can mean that your hair extensions are noticeable to others, which is something we go out of our way to avoid at all costs.

Don’t use poor quality micro rings

A lot of micro rings on the market don’t come with a silicone inner ring. They are cheaper, which is obviously why some salons buy them. It is very important to make sure the rings being used on your hair have a sturdy silicone inner. Without the silicone, the metal of the ring sits harshly against your hair and can essentially shear it. Nobody wants to damage their natural hair with extensions, but often when damage has been done, they don’t really know why.

This is one of the major reasons your natural hair can be damaged by extensions. Insisting on high quality micro rings will prevent this.

Don’t cut your hair extensions at a normal hairdresser

If your hairdresser has experience with cutting hair extensions, this might not be a problem. However, it is something you should always check before you allow those scissors anywhere near your head. The reason is that hairdressers are trained differently to hair extensionists.

The way we cut hair is not the same. We cut the hair at a different angle so that it blends perfectly with your natural hair and tapers finely at the bottom to look natural, whereas many hairdressers will just cut it bluntly along the bottom. That never looks great on hair extensions, which tend to be a bit drier than your natural hair. That affects the way they lay at the ends.

If you are thinking of having hair extensions installed in the Manchester area, come and have a word with us. We promise to take the utmost care of your precious hair, leaving you feeling confident and well armed with the right knowledge to make them go the distance. We’ll be waiting for your call or email when the time is right.

When our clients come for hair extensions in our Manchester salon, they often have a few questions about hair extension refits. Obviously you can’t just let your natural hair grow and grow without adjusting the extensions, or your extensions are going to get in a tangled mess after a few inches of growth. This means that if you want to keep wearing hair extensions, you’ll have to come in from time to time and have them refitted. There are a few questions we repeatedly get asked about this aspect of hair extension installation, so we decided to enlighten you in this article.

Keep reading for our Q&A on hair extension refits:

Can I re-use the same hair?

Yes, you absolutely can use the same hair. That’s essentially why it’s called a refit – you’re reinstalling the hair we gave you at your first appointment. You won’t be able to use the same hair indefinitely though, because hair extensions are technically dead hair. Since they won’t be receiving nutrients from the scalp the way your natural hair does, they’re going to get tired over time and need replacing.

How long should my hair extensions last?

On average, we would expect your hair to last for between 6 and 12 months. You should get at least one or two refits out of your hair, depending on a couple of factors: a) the quality of the hair you bought, and b) how well you’ve looked your extensions.

Not all hair is of equal quality, and the price of the hair reflects this. We only sell top quality hair at our Manchester hair extension salon, but standard European hair is cheaper than the higher quality Russian Remy hair, so as you can imagine, the Russian hair is going to last longer. It’s normal to get a year or more out of Russian hair extensions.

How often will I need my hair extension refits?

As your own hair grows, the hair extensions will start to move down too. So when the extensions have moved down to around 1.5 inches from your scalp, it’s the ideal time to have them reinstalled. If you leave it much longer than this, the hair they’re attached to may get tangled and (potentially) damaged.

How often you have the hair extensions reinstalled also depends on the type of extensions you have.  For example:

• Glue (fusion bond) or tape-in extensions will need to be changed every 4 to 8 weeks
• Sew-in extensions will need refitting every 6 to 8 weeks
• Micro ring extensions should be refitted at between 3 and 4 months, but if your hair grows particularly fast, it could be necessary after 2 months

We think micro rings are the best extensions for various reasons, and since they refits are needed less often, you’ll probably agree.

Should I take a break between hair extension refits?

No, you don’t need to have any breaks. This is because we always attach your hair extensions to your new hair growth. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a break if you want to, but if you wish to keep wearing extensions all year around, provided you maintain them properly and refit when necessary you won’t have any problems.

Will I lose any hair if I keep having hair extensions refitted?

You’ll always lose hair anyway – this is part of your natural hair shedding cycle and it would happen with or without extensions. Most people lose around 80 to 100 hairs every day, which sounds like a lot - but we’re guessing you never notice it! However, the hair you shed that has extensions attached to it won’t actually drop out, as it’s fixed to the ring. This might make it seem like you’re losing a lot of hair when you see the extensions coming out at your appointment – but don’t worry, it’s normal.

It’s also normal to lose a few extensions over time too, and sometimes this can be down to your natural hair shedding. If you lose any, for the first three months we’ll refit them free of charge for you.

Will it cost a lot to have hair extensions reinstalled?

As you might imagine, it takes us less time to refit hair extensions than it does to carry out the initial appointment. You’re also paying for the hair the first time, so the initial cost will be a lot more than a refit. How much it costs to refit the hair will depend on how many extensions you’ve got and how long it takes to refit them, so we can give you an idea of that once we know those details.

We hope this article has answered your questions about hair extension refits, but if there’s anything you’re still not sure about, feel free to get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.

When people contact us at New Image Hair Extension Centre in Manchester, one of the first things they ask us is, “How much are hair extensions?” and it’s an understandable question. It’s reasonable to want to know how much your new look is going to cost you before you decide. However, that’s not a question we can answer easily.

The cost of your hair extensions will vary greatly according to the type of hair you choose, the length of the hair, how much hair you need, and how often you plan to maintain it. This is we offer free hair extension consultations in the Manchester salon; we want you to be clear on what is involved, what will work best for you and what it will cost you. That way you can make an informed decision about whether hair extensions are right for you.

Cost is certainly not the only factor, of course, and people naturally have several questions about hair extensions before they make an appointment. Below we’ve listed a few pointers to give you an idea of the factors you’ll need to consider in choosing your perfect hair extensions:

Your Hair Type

Your hair type will be one of the major factors to consider. For instance, if you have super-fine hair that won’t grow past your shoulders, you might want to thicken it up and add length. Your hair probably won’t hold more than 60 extensions without them being obvious.

If your hair is thick but you want to add some length to it, we will be able install lots of hair extensions – up to 200. However, you might not want or need anywhere near this many. It all depends on the final look you’re hoping for, which is something we can advise on at a consultation.

The Quality You Prefer

At New Image we only use the highest quality hair from whichever region we source it. There is a difference in the general quality of the hair from country to country, and it varies even dependent on where in the country it came from. So many factors affect the quality of the hair, from local diet to traditional care routines and genetics.

Russian Remy hair is known to be the finest quality hair in the world. You simply won’t find more beautiful hair anywhere, which is why it is now so popular for use in hair extensions. As you can imagine, it isn’t cheap! Yet if your primary concern is the look, you may want to go with the silkiest, shiniest hair on the market.

We also use European hair, which is easier to come by but also of good quality. You can consider it the more ‘standard’ hair, as it is so commonly used in hair extensions, along with Asian hair. Quality varies from salon to salon, but rest assured that we never install low quality extensions in our salon.  If the primary concern is length, you can take your pick.

How Long Your Hair Will Be

The length of your hair is an important consideration. Obviously it’s going to be heavier and require more maintenance the longer it is. It will also cost more. It may or may not be possible for us to install the lengths you want, depending on the current style, length and density of your natural hair. Again, it’s something to decide at consultation.

To give you an example scenario, if you have a short blunt bob, we would have a harder time installing 18” or 22” extensions for you. Even if it can be done, it will cost more due to the time we have to spend installing and blending it to look seamless.

Your Ideal Maintenance Level

The amount of maintenance you’ll have to do depends on a couple of factors too.

For example, the lowest maintenance will be the Russian Remy hair extensions, as they are of such high quality that they last longer than other types. That means your hair won’t need to be renewed for a year or even two – provided that you look after it!

If you opt for lower quality extensions, they can still last you a long time – from 6 months to a year or more dependent on your care routine. If you don’t want to have to renew the hair often (which involves us preparing, blending and creating your custom extensions each time), it might be better to go for Russian extensions from the start.

Otherwise, you can install European hair extensions and keep using that hair until it’s tired. Regardless of the hair you choose, you will need to refit it every two to four months dependent on how fast your natural hair grows. This is best practice so your extensions don’t cause matting at the roots.

The Type of Hair Extension Installations You Prefer

At New Image we use micro rings or fusion bonds. Most people go for micro rings these days, as they’re so easy to install and won’t damage your hair. They are easy to put it and take out. Note that not all salons use the same rings – some low quality rings don’t have protective silicone inners (or poor quality ones) that prevent the metal ring from shearing your natural hair. It goes without saying that we do.

Fusion bonds are the older installation method, but are still popular. These are tiny plastic granules that that attach the extensions to your natural hair. They are cheaper than micro rings, but require more careful maintenance to prevent hair shedding or the bonds breaking down and falling out.

Your Budget

You may not have a budget in mind straight away, and that’s fine. Your extensions might cost anything between £180 and £800 depending on the below factors, but once you’ve decided on those, you’ll have a better idea of whether you’ll need to pay higher or lower prices to achieve your ideal look.

The least you’re likely to pay is £180 for 50 extensions of European hair. The most is £800 for a full head of Russian Remy hair extensions, which are the finest quality.

If you’re looking for hair extensions in Manchester or the surrounding areas, know that it’s our passion to make sure you achieve the look you really want. Get in touch with us and we’ll go over these points with you in detail to tailor-make your perfect hair extensions.

Long hair hasn’t gone anywhere for as far back as we remember, and we will hazard a guess that it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon either. Women love to have long, luscious locks, for so many reasons. Having a gorgeous, flowing mane does wonders for self-perception, making you feel womanly and sexy. It also creates so much more opportunity for transformations in personal style… yet those are just a couple of reasons.

Let’s take a look at some of the other reasons long hair has continued to appeal to us over the centuries. These are undoubtedly the reasons why so many women visit us for their hair extensions here in Manchester. We are happy to oblige, as we would love you to feel as beautiful as you possibly can.

1.Hair flicking never gets old

Who doesn’t love a good hair flick? Any woman who has cut off her long hair knows all too well that the first thing she misses is being able to casually flip her hair over her shoulder and back. We do this for various reasons, including expressing attitude and flirting. There is something seductive about hair flicking and it seems to say, “I’ve got presence”. It can’t be denied that a well-executed hair flick garners plenty of attention!

2. Lovers love your long locks too

Loving your long hair isn’t solely your job. If your hair flicking successful attracted a partner, the chances are they’re now running their fingers though it regularly… and that feels great for both parties! Even if you haven’t got a partner, keep at the seductive hair flicking and it surely won’t be long before you have.

3.Long hair serves as a winter warmer

Sure, you can use a scarf for that job, but it’s always good to have that extra bit of warmth at the ready. Sometimes you have to pop out quickly and are unprepared for the cold. Long hair to the rescue! Anyone who has spent a winter in Northern England can tell you how cold it gets! Many of our hair extensions clients in chilly Manchester mention how grateful they are for that extra bit of warmth!

4.Long hair means versatile styles

 One of the major complaints shorthaired women mention is the lack of ability to reinvent their style. We love long hair for this one. Sometimes you look in the mirror and just fancy a change that day. Long hair facilitates that… one day it might be a ponytail, the next a messy bun, and the next a beautiful French plait. Long hair makes it possible to feel like a new woman every day… what’s not to love about that?

5.Wind in your hair feels amazing

There’s something so satisfying about feeling the breeze whipping through your hair. It’s another of life’s details that naturally enhances feminine beauty - and that probably feels like the only time the wind is on your side! It’s got to be good for something, right?

If you haven’t snapped a potentially iconic pic on the top of a mountain of cliff with scenic views and your hair flowing in the wind, add that to your to-do list. What would Instagram even be without shots like that?

6.You can play with it to alleviate boredom

Never underestimate the subtle pleasure of playing with your own hair. It’s so calming! You might do it absent-mindedly while daydreaming, or you might do it while problem solving, as it’s similar to doodling idly on a pad. It might be another method of flirting, like hair flicking! Either way, it’s good to have options, and you obviously can’t casually wrap short hair around your fingers – that’s just looks plain awkward.

7.It doubles up as a mask

There are times when you just want the ground to open up – it happens to us all now and then! Although the ground is unlikely to oblige, you’ve got your long hair to fall back on. Just allow it to fall in front of your face and you can hide any number of expressions from smirking to beetroot-faced embarrassment. When you spot someone you’ve been trying to avoid, hiding behind your hair could get you out of a tricky conversation.

Simply put, long hair has so many benefits that it’s hard to imagine why people ever cut it! So often they regret doing so too, which is something can vouch for as hair extensionists! If you’re ready to enhance your hair and reap some of the rewards above, come and have a chat with us about what how we can transform your hair.

We all know how it goes… that drastic hair cut with the short, choppy layers just didn’t turn out the way it looked in your imagination. Or perhaps the blunt bob that suited your friend so well didn’t look quite the same on you. Whatever the reason, sometimes it just isn’t working out with a shorter hairstyle and we would do pretty much anything to get those long locks back.

It’s a common story here at New Image Hair Extensions in Manchester. We see all kinds of haircuts and styles, and we regularly do transformations on unsatisfactory haircuts. So it certainly can be done, and you do have an option if you really want luscious long hair… but there are some things you should know about short hairstyles.

We want hair extensions to be both affordable and accessible to anyone who feels they need them. So In this article we will give you some advice that could save you a fair bit of money on your hair extension appointment here in our Manchester salon:

Short hair equals more extensions

It isn’t always the case, but if you’ve got a blunt bob or a lot of layers in a short cut, we are going to have to work pretty hard to disguise the extensions we’re putting in. It means that we’ll have to attach a significantly higher number of extensions and possibly do a bit of cutting and styling so that the end result appears seamless.

Don’t get us wrong – we’re not trying to put you off getting hair extensions if you feel they are right for you. We simply want you to be aware that the shorter or blunter your haircut, the more hair extensions you we will need to put in in order to disguise the style. The goal is always to hide the fact that you’ve got extensions in, and to make those extensions look natural.

We will always make sure you leave looking like that hair is all yours, but it’s likely to cost a lot more, depending on the length and thickness you need, of course. It is hard for us to quote without seeing you first… this way we can determine how much hair you need, and help you to decide on the kind of hair you want. Russian Remy hair extensions will cost more than European hair extensions, for example. The final price may also depend on whether you take any other services, like cutting, dying or highlighting.

The best thing you can do to save money is…

Not cut your hair! It may seem counter-intuitive, but by allowing your natural hair to grow as long as possible, it helps us to blend the extensions much more easily. We will also need less of them in the first place, so obviously this will save you a sum of money. Your hair being a few inches longer could mean that we only need to put in a quarter head of extensions rather than a half head.

Another example (as demonstrated in the above photo) might be that your hair has reached below shoulder length but is relatively fine, and you want to thicken it up with hair extensions. It’s quite possible that we’ll only need to give you a half head of extensions… whereas if your hair was only just below the ears, you might need up to a full head.

What to do if your hair is already short

Well, you have a couple of options. Provided that your hair isn’t too short to attach hair extensions at all (e.g. a pixie cut), you can go for it anyway - with awareness that the cost will be higher. However, note that going from a short bob to 18" extensions probably isn’t going to look that great – even if we can do that for you, at the very least it’s going to take a lot of extensions and a lot of time.

Shoulder length extensions will be less heavy and look more natural. This will work out cheaper for you, and as your hair grows, you can graduate to even longer (or a larger number of) hair extensions. Whatever your hair is currently like, we can offer you a free consultation to give you a good idea of what your hair extensions are going to cost.