Guided to Good Hair

It was time to switch up my hair. I’ve more or less been rocking the same cut, color, and style since January. Ok I know it’s not that long, not like your Aunt who still rocks waterfall bangs from the 80’s- but still. With the season changing and a new baby arriving any day, I was feeling a switch up. Apparently so was my stylist and friend, Kassy Moen. She’s kind of a hair boss and when I texted her to make an appointment at Guide Salon, she told me we were going lighter and longer. I trust her so I was like, “ya girl!”

Before (sans extensions)

We had also talked about trialing a new type of hair extension from our fav, Philocaly Hair. Rather than traditional ‘tape ins,’ we wanted to give ‘bonded extensions’ a try in my hair! Our girls at Philocaly were sweet enough to create a custom set of bonds for us and we were so excited to apply those beauties! Of course Philocaly’s bonded extensions are still made of the highest quality Remy Russian human hair on the market.

Since we wanted to lighten things up, we went with the 18-20” extensions in Champagne Kiss. As you can see, the bonded extensions are much smaller, literally adhering to single strands of hair. Kassy focused on applying them to the front and sides of my head, and we filled in the back with Philocaly tape ins.

The application was pain free of course and I enjoyed french press coffee, popcorn, and chocolate courtesy of my Guide girls, while Kassy and I gossiped ;) I love the laid back atmosphere at the salon. Everyone is easy going and strikes up a conversation. No weird, uptight salon vibes here.

Once Kassy worked her color and extension magic, viola I felt like an instant mermaid! I was so happy with the results! The color was lighter and brighter, but not too high maintenance, as Kassy created a ‘shadow root,’ to allow my color to grow out under the radar. The extensions were perfect; they added the length I’ve been wanting, while also blending well with my natural hair. I couldn’t stop looking in the mirror and touching my new hair! Sorry not sorry.

Now that it’s been about a week since my hair appointment and I’ve got the chance to wash and style my hair a few different ways, I’ve gotten to see some of the differences between tape in and bonded extensions.

I find it easier to pull my hair straight back/up with the bonded extensions, as they are little more low profile and incognito. I also find that the bonded extensions dry faster after washing, because they are applied to such few strands of hair. For this same reason, it seems the bonds have a bit more texture/wave after washing. If I let the bonds air dry, they have more of a wavy, mermaid vibe, while the tape ins dry a little more straight.

Both types of extensions are equally comfortable and style the same. Kassy recommended caring for the extensions the same way, but making sure to keep direct heat (like a curling iron) away from the root of the bonded extensions because they could melt. Not a problem here, as I usually don’t curl up that high anyway!

My verdict is… you can’t go wrong either way! I love both types of extensions and don’t know how I could ever live an extension free life again. Chances are you will love extensions too! If you’ve been considering them, now is the time to give them a try! I got my friends at Philocaly to hook up my readers with a 10% off code!! Just enter the code KELSIKENDEL at checkout to save!

Thanks for reading!

XO Kk