If you are a colour freedomer who also loves the length and volume achieved with either bonded or weft extensions, you no doubt face the issue of matching your changing hair colour with your extensions.
A big question we get asked at Knight & Wilson is IF our products can be used on human hair extensions. Our general answer is no. Let us explain why.
Hair you own but didn’t grow!
The reason we are not comfortable with any Knight & Wilson colouring product being used to colour match extensions, is quite simply because we cannot guarantee how the extension hair may respond to the product. We understand our products, you understand your own hair, but with human hair extensions the hair history is vague. You might own the hair, but unlike your real hair, it did not grow from your head.
Healthy on the outside? Weak on the inside?
Today, the global hair extension industry is highly complex and diverse. Demand for high quality human hair is very high and manufacturers deploy many processes to treat this hair. Human hair extensions and wefts can often be processed in acidic baths, to strip the cuticle. The hair may then be coated with varying silicones to give a lustrous and healthy feel. However, with washing, this outer silicone coating may be removed from the hair and the true quality (of the hair) could be revealed as very poor. If the hair quality (under the silicone) is weak (but you do not realise it), applying any colouring process to this hair could irreversibly ruin it.
Human hair and textile processes
In many situations, human hair is coloured using principles deployed in the textile industry. Therefore, direct and oxidation dyes (used for haircare) may give unpredictable results when applied to hair treated via textile processes. We would never recommend attempting to lighten human hair wefts and extensions using bleaches. Most human hair is sourced from donors who have a natural dark hair ethnicity and a hair type that can be very resistant to lightening. To achieve pale blonde hair, hair extension and weft manufacturers use delicate vat lightening processes over prolonged periods of time to gently remove the hair pigments. These processes are trade secrets, so you are unable to recreate them at home. If traditional bleach and peroxide is used, you will find human hair wefts and extensions can damage and break and it is almost a certainty a pale blonde result would never be achieved.
Ask your extensions brand before you think about colouring
If you have invested a significant sum of money on human hair extensions and need to colour match, we recommend you contact the supplier of your hair and ask their advice. It is vital you do this, before you even contemplate applying a hair colourant product to the wefts or extensions.
The manufacturer of your hair extensions will understand the processes the hair went through to achieve the current colour and will be able to advise whether oxidation or direct dyes are recommended for recolouring.
Tip for bonded extension wearers
If you wear bonded extensions and need to colour match, we recommend you always colour your own hair with a permanent shade and next have your extensions matched (at application) with your own colourised hair. Colour matching bonded extensions to hair coloured with a semi-permanent shade is not a good idea. Simply because, the semi-permanent shade (on your own hair) will fade over washes and will require re-application. Meaning, you will also have to re-apply this semi-permanent colourant to your new extension hair, which may give unpredictable results. However, (unlike semi-permanent) permanent colour will not fade, leaving your own hair and the bonded extensions perfectly matched for prolonged periods of time.
