How to Wear Hair Extensions and Toppers

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Hair. Story of my life. I'm pretty sure I have the most sought after hair. Thin, fine, and brown with a strategically placed chunk of gray. AmIright?!

I have often dreamed of the perfect pony tail.

But this is pony reality for me :

Thin Postpartum Hair

I often see small children with 100x more hair than I have.

The below left photo is one month before I had Theo. That is my thick pregnancy hair! The right picture is after all the hormone fluctuations after giving birth and nursing. Woof.

And below......just no.

Those who know me, may say that I am a bit obsessed with my hair. That would be a fair assessment.

I have been wearing hair extensions for over 10 years. I got my first set when I was in college. A girl who I worked with walked in with long, beautiful, and thick hair one day. She looked very different than she did the day before. I asked what her secret was. She said she had clip in extensions, and that I should get some too. This is before the day when clip-in extensions were mainstream. I cannot remember the name of the stylist who assembled my first set of extensions, but let's just call him Vidal. Vidal could not wait to fix my hair!

After paying Vidal the $370 that he charged a poor college student, I walked out with my clip-in weave. I wore that weave everywhere! I'm well known for becoming irritated with the extensions after wearing them for a long period of time and then stuffing them into my purse or casually carrying them around as if they were a set of car keys.

Clip In Hair Extensions

Left: Without clip-in extensions. Right: With, duhhhhh.

Now, I don't know what I was doing or eating at that point of my life (that was 4 years ago), but my hair looked AMAZING. It may be the only time that I ever said that about my natural hair. It is shiny, full, and about as good as it gets for a thin-haired girl.

And of course, the clip-ins made an appearance at our wedding:

Wedding Hair

I still have that weave. Over the years, I have also made my own hair extensions, and have tried other hair-thickening products. Two years ago, I decided to try Dream Catchers hair extensions. I LOVED they way they looked! This was my before and after.

Dream Catchers Hair Extensions

BEFORE extentions (left) AFTER extensions (right)

I started out with many more extension pieces (attached one by one with a tiny metal bead) than what I ended with. I slowly had my stylist put in fewer and fewer extensions over that two year time period. One time, she took them all out for a fresh set. These extensions are known for causing less damage to your natural hair than others, but any time you remove hair, it is going to look and feel like you don't have any natural hair left. Case in point below:

My Hair After Taking Out My Hair Extensions

The Dream Catchers only helped the bottom half of my hair though. I had zero volume, and the top half of my hair was lacking. The hair I had was lifeless and flat. I contemplated going full wig. I loved the idea of a wig and how easy and maintenance-free "doing my hair" would be. 

But then, my hair prayers were answered, and I found Tressmerize!

When I first found Tressmerize on Instagram, I thought her products looked amazing. I had to try them out.

I reached out to Emina, the owner of Tressmerize, and she was extremely helpful in guiding me to select the right product for me. I ordered TressChic, which is a brown/blond mix.

You have the option to order a full kit (which includes a topper and 5 clip-in wefts), or you can order the topper only, or the weft extensions on their own. I ordered a full kit. When it arrived, it was beautifully packaged with care instructions on the inside of the box.

The hair felt amazing! It was soft and silky, which make sense because it is 100% Remy Human Hair. The best you can buy. Since this is real hair, you can wash it, style it, curl it - it is very versatile. And check out what a difference it makes! SO. MUCH. HAIR!

Tressmerize Hair Extensions and Topper, Before and After

BEFORE TRESSMERIZE (LEFT) and AFTER TRESSMERIZE (RIGHT)

As soon as I tried the TressChic, I order an Auburn color as well (TressMirage!) I had to have! It was gorgeous looking. Now, I have the ability to change my hair color every day!

I could not be happier with my new hair - Tressmerize has saved my thinning strands. The hair is very comfortable to wear, especially the topper. I have tried other toppers that pull what's left of my real hair after a while. I was relieved to have a product that was as comfortable as the Tressmerize brand. I also love that you get so much hair in your kit. You can wear as little or as much as you want on a daily basis.

So, aside from the fact that I look and feel better with hair than without, there are other reasons why I think many more people would benefit from wearing wiglets. First of all,  with Tressmerize, you really can save money at the salon and go much longer before needing to color your hair. You can go twice as long and no one would ever notice, because they cannot see your roots when wearing the topper. ChaaaaaaChing!

Another huge advantage is that wearing purchased hair gives me back 25 minutes of my mornings before leaving the house for work. Instead of washing my seven strands of hair every day (which is more of a hassle than you'd think), I can take a 47 second body shower and then move on to hanging out with Theo for a bit, finishing up dishes from the night before, and swiffering the giant German Shepherd dog hair tumble weeds that cover my floors. Below left is what I look like every morning two seconds before I walk out the door, and below right is me walking out the door with a topper on. So extremely fast and easy. 

Washing Tressmerize hair is a breeze! You can go a long time in between washes because the hair does not become oily like your natural hair. In order to wash, submerge the hair in warm water and shampoo (using sulfate free shampoo) and condition like you would your natural hair. I then use a blow dryer and round brush to style. I was shocked with how great the piece looked after the first wash. Since the hair is real hair, you can blow dry, flat iron, curl, and color the pieces.

Is my whole hair obsession silly? Yes. Is it vain. Absolutely. But you know what, it is also kind of fun! Wigs are fabulous, and Tressmerize is by far the highest quality and easiest to use product that I have found so far. Now, when my son pulls a fist full of bio hair out with his little chubby baby hand - momma don't care!

Interested in trying Tressmerize for yourself? Click here to see all available colors!

Postpartum Hair Loss Solution