I Tried Amazon Hair Extensions At Three Different Price Points, And Honestly, I'm A Little Surprised At The Results
Hello, I'm Hannah, and I LOVE extensions! I used to have tape-in extensions (from Donna Bella Hair), which I really loved.
Tape-in extensions are ones that tape onto tiny sections of your hair (taping on both sides to kind of sandwich a piece of your hair). You need to get them professionally installed (my roommate was a hairdresser, so I was in luck there), and it probably takes at least an hour because there are a bunch of individual pieces to put in. They're supposed to last about two to three months before you'll want to take them out because of regrowth. You can usually reuse them a couple of times, depending on the quality!
Most tape-in extensions, including Donna Bella, use human hair that you can dye within a few shades but should not bleach or lift. They always recommend ordering a lighter shade if you're between shades, because you can always go a tiny bit darker.
Care for tape-in extensions is pretty easy, IMO. You have to refrain from washing your hair for a few days after installation, but after that, you can wash the hair as much as you want. You shouldn't use cheap conditioners and products — basically, treat the hair well, as you should your own hair. They recommend braiding it before you sleep, but honestly, I rarely did that and didn't have any problems. You can style it as normal, and it's recommended that you dry it as soon as you get out of the shower so the tape doesn't stay wet for too long.
I like Donna Bella because in comparison with other brands, they were cheaper, and I still found their hair to be great quality.
Donna Bella was about $65 per pack, if you buy 14-inch extensions. I believe I used three, but I would recommend four or five unless you're just adding fullness and not length. Other brands, like Bellami, go for $224.99 for 14-inch extensions — and you'll also have to buy multiple packs.
However, there were a few reasons I stopped using my extensions. First of all, I kind of ruined them.
I put them in twice, each time for about three months. I decided to use them a third time, but by then I was blonde. Going against cautions about bleaching the extensions, I bleached the heck out of the hair — like, I fully bleached them, I think, five times — and that realllyyyyy thinned out the hair. If I hadn't done that, I probably could've used them at least two more times. I still put them in, but I only kept them in a few weeks before I took them out, because they were bothering me and not adding much length or volume anymore. You can get them professionally removed or do it yourself with a product like this bond remover. I don't feel that wearing the extensions really damaged my hair, but taking them out on my own definitely caused a bit of hair loss, just because some strands would come off with the tape. If you got them professionally uninstalled, I don't think this would happen as much.
Second of all, I wanted to try something other than tape-in extensions because a) my hairdresser roommate moved out, and b) tape-in extensions are a bit difficult to wear up, and it was kind of frustrating to work out with them in.
Relativity Media
I work out a lot, and my head would get really hot. I also felt as if I needed to wash my hair often, which was difficult because I HAD to style it as soon as I was out of the shower, since you're not supposed to let it air-dry. Also, my actual hair texture is very different from the Donna Bella hair, which was 100% straight, so if I didn't style my hair, it looked weird.
I wanted to try something I could install quickly by myself for temporary use — meaning I wouldn't have to wear them to sleep or the gym. The options for temporary hair extensions are either halo extensions or clip-ins.
Clip-in extensions usually come with a bunch of different pieces that you clip all over your head, similarly to tape-in extensions (though not quite as many), while halo extensions contain all the extensions in a single piece. There are some other options if you wear your hair up, like ponytail extensions, but these are the main ones for wearing your hair down.
Clip-in extensions have these little baby clips that work like normal hair clips that are also kind of combs. You basically just lift your hair up and start clipping the pieces on the various under-lengths of your hair all around, kind of brushing the clip slightly through your hair, then clipping it down. I do the placement kind of haphazardly, but you can watch a great video on how to do it here.
The process of putting them in, honestly, takes me five minutes. If you do it as methodically as you probably should, it would maybe take 10 minutes. And then of course, there's the time it takes to style them, which really depends on how fast you are with a curling iron or straightener.
Halo extensions, by contrast, are basically just one big clump of hair on one side and an elastic on the other. You put it over your head like a crown, then pull all the hair behind the elastic through.
Afterward, you just pull out any pieces around the elastic that are being pulled and then lightly brush the hair over it. You really can't see the elastic after. You can watch a more in-depth video here!
To get a fuller experience, I decided to try both halo and clip-in extensions. I didn't want to spend a ton of money, so I went with cheap extensions from Amazon, trying three different extensions at different price points under $100.
Bravo
Disclaimer: Obviously, hair extensions are very different for people of different hair types. What works for my hair might not work for yours! For context, my hair is wavy/very frizzy and damaged, but when I'm wearing extensions, I style my hair into waves.
First up: these Reecho extensions from Amazon. I paid $15.23 for them, but they're currently $13.99. I bought them in the color "Medium Blonde With Bright Blonde Tips."
As you can see, these are halo extensions. They are also synthetic hair instead of human hair.
First impressions from putting these in without styling them or my hair: These things were super shiny and felt a bit fake. The curls were also very Old Hollywood and unnatural.
They were also pretty yellow, but that may be on me for choosing the wrong color. The hair was really easy to put on and even had a few little clips on it for extra security. It took under a minute to put in my hair. (If you're wondering why the "OMG" is there, it's 'cause you can see my credit card number, lol.)
I decided these extensions would probably be less shiny and easier to style if I washed them first — I also wanted to tone them with some purple shampoo. I did so, then left them to dry overnight. And y'all...it dried EXACTLY THE WAY IT HAD BEEN BEFORE.
I also don't think the purple shampoo really toned them, even though I left it in for a few minutes before rinsing.
This was really weird, but I decided to go ahead and try to make them work. I put them in again, cut them (they were way too long), then sort of straightened them (they didn't totally straighten), and then tried to curl them again into more modern curls. The hair did NOT want to work with the heat, but eventually I was able to create the curls I wanted.
I had to hold the curls in a spiral until they cooled a bit after I curled each piece; otherwise, the weight of the hair would just make it straight again. I'd recommend using clips if you don't want to burn your hands.
The hair still looked too blunt, so I followed this tutorial to sort of haphazardly trim pieces and layer the hair. In the end, it definitely looked passable for wearing out to a bar or club, but I would NEVER have worn it in daylight. Mostly because the color match wasn't exact, but also because it still looked a little too thick and unnatural.
These extensions held up fine throughout the night, but it did feel like the cord stretched out a tiny bit. I might secure with a few bobby pins to be safe or go on a tighter setting (the cord was adjustable). They did include an extra cord in case the original one breaks.
Next up: these Sunny Seamless human hair clip-in extensions. You can buy them in the color and length I chose (#16/22, 18 inches) for $97.88. The price does range a bit for different colors and lengths.
When I took the hair out of the package, the extensions felt really thick and smooth. The one thing I will say is that by the clips, there were definitely some really short flyaways.
I clipped them all around my head, then curled them, and I was IN LOVE. They match my hair color almost exactly (not at the root, but they're covered up there anyways), and they looked really natural to me.
They're real human hair, and they style really easily. I don't need to wash them often because wearing them for a few hours doesn't make them very dirty, so I just quickly style my hair, then clip them on in. The actual clipping process only takes a few minutes, and I can wear them for hours.
However, I definitely have some tips if you want to make them look good or even lower-maintenance.
The CW
They also definitely look better if you do a half-up style so there's less of the short hair on top. I usually wear a mini bun in the back or twist those pieces.
The under-lengths of my hair have the tendency to curl and frizz up easily, especially when it's hot and I'm sweating. I saw a video that recommended clipping up that part of your hair below the extensions, especially because seeing shorter hair underneath longer hair looks a bit unnatural (compared with shorter hair on top of extensions). This definitely helped!
I basically just twisted it into a mini bun, then put the first and longest extensions right above it. Also, ignore my roots — that's not the point of this post.
My only complaint is that with clip-ins, they take a bit longer to place, and I always have the fear that they'll fall out. Also, some of the places that I like to clip them in are a bit hard to cover with the hair above it. A lot of times, I have to clip a few pieces back just to make sure every clip is covered and the bumps the clips are creating are covered.
NBC
Having curtain bangs definitely helps because I can clip pieces right below them, which helps my extensions blend a lot better.
Now, I understand there's a big price difference between $15 and almost $100, so I decided to try one last brand: WindTouch. It was $45.99 for the 18-inch extensions, and I got them in the color #18p613, Mixed Bleach Blonde.
They looked very similar to the ones I already have, so I was super intrigued to see if there was a difference in quality at less than half the price.
Right off the bat, the extensions looked and felt almost identical to the more expensive ones. Like, to the point where I was wondering if they used the same manufacturer.
They also came with the exact same pieces: one four-clip piece, two three-clip pieces, and two two-clip pieces. The only difference was that the more expensive extensions came with just one one-clip piece, whereas this one came with two one-clip pieces, but I'm wondering if that was a mistake in my order from the first company. (Excuse the zigzaggedness of the cheaper extensions. This is pre-styling, and they were folded in the package.)
Upon closer inspection, I did notice some slight differences. The lowlight color was ever so slightly darker on the cheaper extensions. They were also slightly thinner, and a tiny bit shorter than the more expensive extensions.
The $46 extensions are on top.
Because these extensions seemed a bit thinner than the more expensive ones, I was really curious to see how they looked on. Here's how they looked before styling.
You can tell how I feel by my expression.
I was really hoping that the stringiness was just because they weren't styled...turns out it was not. Here's how my hair looked after I quickly styled them.
I probably could've spent more time and styled them better, but to me, it wasn't worth it. The hair was super thin and just did not blend well. This was annoying considering that I really didn't have any space on my head left to put in clips, so it's not as if I could've just bought a few more wefts and clipped them in.
Honestly? The midrange ones ended up being my least favorite extensions. I didn't find them wearable at all. For almost $50, that was a bit annoying, especially considering that the $15 extensions were better!
Paramount
After all this, I suppose it's not surprising that the most expensive extensions were best. But honestly — super-cheap, synthetic halo hair extensions can be fun if you're just wearing them to a bar or club where the lighting's not great. They're also the easiest to put in!
Tangled
I feel like color selection gets worse with cheaper prices. I couldn't seem to find a dimensional, ashier color in the really cheap extensions, and because they're not human hair, you can't really tone them. But if you're lucky enough to have your hair color match, they're actually really decent. I'd say if you have darker hair, you probably have a better chance of them blending in.
If you want something for day wear, I definitely recommend going with human hair — but tbh, for clip-ins you only plan to wear occasionally, Amazon options are GREAT. However, it's definitely worth shelling out the extra money to get a better option.
Lucasfilms
I'd be really interested in trying better-quality halo extensions because the installation was so easy and quick. However, for now I like the flexibility and control over placement that clip-ins afford me. If you're looking to add fullness to your hair and not length, I'd definitely suggest halo extensions.