My blonde hair extensions are changing colour!

January 13, 2018March 22, 2018Leave a comment

You have just invested in a brand new set of extensions. You went to your consult and she colour matched you to a tee, yet you notice something odd a couple of weeks later – they are turning orange/pink! How could this happen?! Fear not – there isn’t an issue with the hair extensions and the reason why it has happened is surprisingly simple.

Why do they change colour?

When blonde hair extensions turn pinkish/orange it is from a chemical reaction – it’s the same chemical reaction that causes blonde hair to go dull and brassy after a while.

It all comes down to violet and/or ash pigments.

When blonde hair is coloured, violet and ash pigments are added to balance out the warm tones, and you leave the salon with that perfect bombshell blonde you’ve been dreaming of. Slowly, as you clean your hair over the weeks, you will begin to wash away the violet and ash pigments. If your natural pigments are warm, this will result in your blonde hair looking more, and more, brassy.

This process is pretty slow, so normally by the time you are due back to the salon for a touch up, a toner can be applied, or you can use a purple shampoo to keep your blonde looking cool.

There are factors that can accelerate the “brassy” process, and this includes hair extensions. Our premium hair extensions come from Europe and do not start their life out as platinum blonde. Naturally the hair extensions will be made up of warmer pigments and will require the violet and ash tones to develop the lighter ashier shades available within the industry. Chlorine from swimming pool water, minerals from shower water, salt water, exposure to sun (both natural as well is in the tanning beds), all have the ability to strip away those violet and ash pigments.

When exposed to the above mentioned elements, the violet and ash pigments will gradually be removed, (just as it would from the non-extensioned hair, only at an accelerated pace) leaving an orangey/pink tone by revealing the natural warm tones.

So all of this being said, if you find your hair extensions have changed in colour, it’s not as serious an issue as you probably thought. It’s more or less the exact same problem anyone with blonde hair has encountered when preventing brassiness, the process has just been sped up from the higher level of natural warm pigment.

All you need to do is use a toner (professionals only) or some purple shampoo to help redeposit some violet and ash pigments.

Another common problem is the overuse of purple shampoo on extension. See what Purple shampoo can do to your extensions by reading Purple Shampoo and your blonde hair extensions

5 Keys to a successful hair extension business

1. Do it for the right reasons.

When running a hair extension business the most important factor to remember is that its not about you, its about giving the best possible service and product to your customer. They are relying on your expertise, your professionalism, and your experience. If your one of those people that is just looking for the cheapest hair so you can maximize your profit than read no furthur because this article isnt for you. This is written for people who understand the value of quality and customer service and building the foundation for a long lasting business.

2. Invest in training.

All great hair extension artists start out with a great training program. If you want to be successful you need to invest in training. Do your research. Find a company that supports its students, and most importantly offers great quality extensions. Even if you are an amazing extension artist, if you are using cheap hair your customers wont stick around and you’ll gain a bad reputation. Do you want to be the dollarstore of extensions or a company known for great service and quality. By offering great quality hair your customers wont be able to go anywhere else.

3. Set yourself up for success

Like with any business you need to invest in setting up your business. This means investing in tools and a basic stock of hair to get you going. A big mistake alot of people make when starting out is just buying the tools and extensions as needed. Imagine going to a restaurant and ordering a meal and after taking your order the chef has to run to the grocery store to get the supplies. That seems ridiculous doesnt it? As a responsible business owner you should have supplies on hand so you can serve your clients better. It looks much more professional if you have hair on hand that you can show potential customers. You may also cater to last minute clients and upsell adding more hair during a regular maintenace appointment.

4. Be prepared to work hard and continually learn

One of the biggest mistakes I see from students is they take training and are so excited to start, they start taking clients before they are ready. After you complete training you should continue to practice on your mannequin head and friends until you build up speed, your sections are perfect and you have memorized your training materials. We often get questions from students that are covered in the training materials and that is not acceptable. If its covered in training materials you should know it like the back of your hand. That means you should review your materials as many times as necessary. After that you should continue to educate yourself by reading blogs (like this one) and actively searching out new resources materials to learn from.

5. Learn how to market yourself

To be successful in any business you need to learn some basic marketing skills. Learning how to market yourself will help to bring in a continual stream of customers. Marketing really isn’t as scary as it seems and once you start doing it you’ll wonder why you never did it before. We have complied a few articles to get you going in the hair extension business portion of this blog so make sure to look at those. There is also thousands of free marketing courses and resources online.

Hair Contouring with Hair Extensions

November 19, 2017March 22, 2018Leave a comment

Hair Contouring 101

It’s hard to say when contouring really started, but today, many makeup artists credit the legendary Max Factor, for coining the contouring term as well as the technique. Now-a-days, because of celebs like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian West, pretty much everyone is familiar with the miracle that is facial contouring. We use shading and highlighting on the skin to accentuate/manipulate the structure of something, for example the cheekbones. Women worldwide are now using contouring as a way to transform themselves, but this blog isn’t about make-up; it’s about hair contouring using Hair Extensions!

Hair contouring is much of the same idea as facial contouring – its goal is to compliment your face shape and work with your skin tone. It uses a specific and accurate freehand approach to highlighting/shadowing your hair in distinct areas. Depending on your face shape, you can have your stylist target specific areas, or create an all over effect – easily achievable with the use of our hair extensions, and placing them strategically for that contoured effect!

Round & Square Shaped Faces

The Goal: Create a more elongated face shape.

Using Colour: We suggest applying lighter shades nearer to the roots and ends of your hair, and darker shades along the sides. This will create the illusion of a lengthened face with a better defined cheekbone and jawline area.

Using Hair Extensions if you have a rounder face you will want to elongate it. The best way to do this is buy adding length. Adding longer hair will elongate the face and make your face appear thinner.

Diamond, Oblong & Rectangular Shaped Faces

The Goal: We want to “widen” the face.

Using Colour: To create this illusion, you will need darker tones to the roots and nearer the chin/jawline, and lighter sections close to the ear height. By doing this contour trick, the sides of the face will appear wider and fuller, creating that perfect oval shape.

Using Extensions: You want to add extension more in the sides and temples to create more volume around the face. You can use some lighter pieces of extensions around the face to create the illusion of a wider face shape. Dont add really long extensions as it will elongate the face more, you will want to stay with a medium length style.

Triangle & Heart Shaped Faces

The Goal: Minimize the forehead, widen the jawline

Using Colour: These face shapes are much wider at the forehead, and pointier towards the chin. We recommend applying dark colours near the crown, with lighter shades outlining the edge of the face. This will help create the effect of a narrower forehead. We can soften a pointy chin by using lighter hair at the ends. This is the perfect face shape for ombre or a balayage effect. This can be achieved by adding ombre extensions like these.

Using Extensions: Place most of the extensions in the lower portion of the head and do not add any in the temple region or crown region. Add the bulk of the extensions so it sits at the chin line and below.

How to build speed and get faster at installing hair extensions

November 19, 2017March 22, 2018Leave a comment

Something you should always consider is how fast you are at installing, performing maintenance, and removing extensions. No client wants to spend 5 hours getting her extensions maintained and the longer you take the less money you are able to make. You may also lose clients if they know there is someone else faster than you.
It does take experience and focus to build speed so when your first starting out its more important that you concentrate on proper sectioning and blending. Once you have a few heads under your belt proper sectioning should be second nature to you and then you can start focusing on becoming quicker.

We have compiled our top 5 tips on how to build speed.

1. Have your client pass you the hair extensions.
Its so simple to give your client the hair extensions and pass them to you one at a time. This becomes very useful when your mixing colours as you can tell your client to pass you one light blonde than two medium blondes. Then you are not trying to remember which colour your on and you dont have to fuss with picking up one extension at a time. Another positive is that it gives the client something to do and in turn will make the appointment go faster for the as well.

2. Hold all your tools in one hand and don’t put them down between each extension. When I’m installing nanolinks I will hold the pliers, the loop tool and the extension all in one hand. This saves me considerable time. If you are finding it too hard you can try hooking your pliers on your shirt or pants or have a trolley very close by to put it on. The less time you spend fiddling with your tools the quicker you’ll become

3. Use prebeaded speed threaders Before your client arrives you should have all your beads already threaded and ready to go. We have prebeaded threaders available which you can get here. Or you can thread your own at home. I always have at least 4 threaders in each bead colour ready. Your client doesn’t need to sit there while you thread beads

4. Focus The biggest error I see with new extension artists is that they lose focus when talking to their client. As soon as they start talking their speed drops way down. Of course you want to be friendly and engaging in conversation but you need to multitask and stay focused on what your doing.

5. Practice Even if you dont have paying clients yet you should be practicing on your mannequin head daily. And even once you start doing clients there may be days in between services, you should use these days off to practice building speed. The more you practice the faster youll become and soon you wont have to even think about what your doing it will become second nature to you.

With every appointment you should time yourself and aim to get quicker and quicker. Once you know how long each service takes it will make scheduling appointments much easier. Take a look below to see how your time matches up with our suggested time frames.

You should aim for the following times:

NanoLink and Microlink Times
A full head installation (5 bundles) 1-1.5 hour
Half head install (3 bundles) 45 mins to an hour
Removal 30-45 mins
Touch ups can range depending on if you need to retip or detangle hair but should never take more than 2 hours

Fusion extension time goals
Full head 2-2.5 hours
Half head install 1-1.5 hours
Removal 30 mins to an hour

what-are-the-signs-that-nano-bonds-need-to-be-retipped

5 signs that Nano Extensions Need Retipping

November 14, 2017March 22, 2018Leave a comment

Its common that after extensive wear the nanolink bond will eventually start to break down. It is important as a hair extension technician to identify when a bond is starting to breakdown. We have compiled a list that will let you know if a bond needs retipping.

5 Signs that a nano bond needs retipping:

Has the bond turned white (easy to tell in dark hair)
Is the hair fraying from the top of the bond
Is the bond disintegrating and not fully sealed
Is the client complaining that the hair is shedding a lot
Is the metal post wobbly and not being held in strongly by the bond

If you notice any of these conditions it should alert you that you need to retip the bond before reinstalling the extension. If you need to know how to properly retip a nano extension you can read how to do so here.

How to Retip Nano Extensions

November 13, 2017July 17, 20182 Comments

An important skill to learn as a hair extension technician, is how to re-tip nano-link hair extensions so that they can be used for multiple fittings. When hair extensions are looked after correctly by following all of the recommended advice provided by you to the client, our European hair extensions can last for months and months, sometimes even years. It is at this point that is becomes very helpful to understand how to re-tip hair extensions.

Why do we need to re-tip?

When hair extensions are worn for long periods of time, the bond will eventually begin to break down long before the hair itself needs replacing. They start to split and become soft, allowing water and product to enter as the seal has been broken.

Your client may start noticing the extensions are shedding more.This is an important clue that the extensions need retipping. It is important to retip at THE FIRST SIGNS OF BREAKDOWN. Don’t wait until the bond is almost completely broken down as it may be too far gone to fix it.

The top reasons why the extension bonds will break down are:
1. Excessive washing-especially using purple shampoo
2. Colouring or processing the extensions
3. Getting oil or products on the bonds
4. Keeping the bonds wet for long periods of time

Benefits of re-tipping

As mentioned before, the main benefit of re-tipping hair extensions is that 9 times out of 10 there is nothing wrong with the hair itself; it is a cost effective way of making the most of your hair extensions. By re-tipping the hair extensions you are essentially starting fresh with a new reinforced tip that will stay in place for a number of extra months until you decide to change the hair for a brand new set.

TIP: You only need to retip the extensions that are breaking down.

How do I re-tip?

To re-tip a nano-link hair extension, you will need a fusion heat gun. If you took the master course you would have one included in your kit, if not you can buy one here.

Step 1: Use the heat gun to melt down the bond and make it flat. Make sure you are melting down the entire bond and DO NOT PULL OUT THE METAL LOOP. If you do pull out metal loop you will have to put it back in the center of the flattened bond.

Step 2: With the bond still hot, roll the flattened bond into a tube. Use as much force as you can as the bond needs to be as tight and hard as possible. The top of the bond should be sealed, meaning that there shouldn’t be a hole where the loop is coming out. Its ok to remelt the bond and try again if it is not properly rolled and sealed the first time. It’s also not a bad idea to further reinforce the bond be coating it with a clear sealant and then light curing it. (a shellac clear coat will work)

And voila! The bond should be secure and ready to use again. Do you have any questions? We would love to hear them.

10 Free Marketing Ideas for your Hair Extension Business

November 8, 2017March 22, 2018Leave a comment

You have probably already started with your family and circle of friends, but you will want to expand your reach to new customers to keep your business growing. To do this, you need to market your business.

We have compiled a list of our favourite free marketing tips that you can start to utilize right away.

1: Google My Business

Get set up on Google My Business https://www.google.com/business

It’s completely free
It’s how you get onto Google Maps
If you’re listed, when people Google hair extensions in your area, your business should show up with your contact information

2: Facebook business page

Use clear and high-quality cover and profile images
Make sure to have contact information (phone number, email address)
Share useful content (how-to videos, product suggestions, etc) more often than you promote your own services
Make sure to add your location so that customers in your area can find you

3: Set up an Instagram account for your business

Use high-quality pictures and videos
Connect your account with your business Facebook page
Follow other beauty businesses in your area to get ideas for local hashtags
Use hashtags on every post

4: Team up with other local businesses

Create packages that will help your client, for example team up with a makeup artist to offer a bridal or prom package
Other partnership ideas would be photographers, fitness shows,
Go to networking events, bridal shows, mom shows

5: Referrals

If you have hairdresser or makeup artist friends, ask them to refer clients to you (consider compensating them a percentage of each sale they bring you)
In exchange, you will refer clients to them as well
Ask to leave your business cards or other promotional material at their businesses and in exchange

6: Videos

You will get more attention with video content on your social media. Ideas include how-tos, show a client install, before and after videos, etc.

Live video such as Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, Periscope, Snapchat
Pre-recorded video like YouTube

7: Start conversations on Twitter

Connect with beauty biz bloggers, biz owners, top brands, and of course, any followers that are posting interesting content
Use a couple of relevant hashtags
Use images – they get re-tweeted more often than tweets without images

8: Home parties

Know someone who’s having a beauty-themed home party (Younique, Aloette, Arbonne, etc.)? Offer to demonstrate hair extensions to increase the appeal for guests.

9: Free online directories, classifieds, etc.

411.ca
Craiglist.ca
Kijiji.ca
Other free business directories in your area (do a Google search)
LinkedIn.com
Yelp: https://biz.yelp.ca/
Bing: https://www.bingplaces.com/

10: Write blog articles

Even if you don’t have a website, you can create blog articles with content your potential clients might be interested in and ask other local businesses that have the same clients to post them on their websites
Post a note to your Facebook business page

Remember:

Marketing can be a lot of work but it is one of those things that pays off in the end
The most important thing is that you’re out there, with accurate contact information!

Good luck!

Keeping it Professional: Texting your Clients

November 8, 2017November 8, 2017Leave a comment

Your clients are the bread and butter of your business, and you want them to be able to get in touch with you when they need to. Those relationships are so essential to the success of your business, and the people you spend hours with at appointment after appointment, year after year (if you’re lucky) can start to feel like more than clients. This is one of the best parts of the beauty industry: over time you get to know people (they talk about their kids, their partners, their jobs) and it’s like you have a whole extra clan of friends!

The tricky part comes when you have to establish some boundaries between your life as a business owner and your personal life. Hair Flair grew out of our founder Melanie’s desire to have the best hair extensions herself, and after she learned where to get the best hair and how to install extensions, her friends began asking her to install some for them, too. Soon, Mel realized there was business potential: no one else in the London area seemed to be providing the same quality of extensions! Her first clients were her friends, and then their friends. Long before she had a website or a Facebook page or a 1-800 number, Melanie had a cell phone and potential clients texted her for an appointment.

Fast forward several years later, Mel’s cell phone has become the main business phone, and many clients still text her for appointments. During business hours her assistant Jenn uses it like a business phone, and then after hours it once again becomes her personal phone. This arrangement works for us for now, because we take steps to ensure boundaries are adhered to.

Pros and Cons of texting your clients

Pros

Quick, easy communication
Sure-fire way to contact your client if something comes up (i.e.: you’re running late)
Fast way to answer simple questions (i.e.: whether you have extensions in a certain colour in stock)

Cons

Receiving messages at all hours and on your day off
Receiving lengthy messages requesting in-depth information
Can lead to miscommunication or worse

How to keep it professional

We may never give up the option of texting to communicate with our clients, because in many cases it works for us. But, when it comes to keeping it professional, here are some things we keep in mind:

If a text message for the business comes in after hours and we know it’s not an emergency (hair extensions seldom are), it’s okay to wait until business hours the next day to reply
When a conversation with a client gets more complicated than booking an appointment or choosing a colour of extensions, we ask them to email us or call us
We have the technology to set up an “out of office” reply on both our text and email communication channels, and we use them when necessary to maintain the boundaries between personal and professional (and we make sure we get back to those clients as soon as we are back in the office)
Our website has an instant messaging option which clients can use to communicate with us quickly during business hours instead of texting us if necessary
Original clients are welcome to text us, but going forward, we try to encourage new clients to communicate with us via email or another channel

Facebook and your Hair Extension Business

November 3, 2017March 22, 2018Leave a comment

As a business owner in this day and age, Facebook is one of those tools you can’t afford not to use. Not only can you market and promote your business for free, but the target market for your hair extension business uses Facebook regularly. As of 2016, the largest demographic of Facebook users are people aged 25-34, the majority of which are female. More than likely, many of your clients are females within that age group.

How do I use Facebook to promote my business?

Chances are you already have a personal profile on Facebook, and you may have been using it to promote your services to friends and family, and why not? But when it comes to making the most of Facebook for your business, a business page is the only way to go.

Here’s why:

Page insights
Scheduling content
Google search rankings
Instant messaging with clients
Share the work: page roles
Reviews
Promotional tools
Ads and promoted/boosted content

Facebook page insights

Facebook page insights provides you with information about who sees and engages with your content: where they are, what times of day they use Facebook, and more. These details help you focus your content to target the people most likely to be interested in your services.

Scheduling content

Since you now know who is interested in your content and when they’re online, you can use that information to plan posts to go out at a certain time. Facebook pages have a feature that allows you to schedule posts in advance so that you don’t necessarily have to be online posting during high-traffic times when your target market is also online.

Google search rankings

If your business has a page on Facebook, Google will rank it so that potential clients can find your business when they do a web search! In our opinion this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also have a website, but until you do, you can get your contact information, rates, and other important information out there to people.

Instant messaging

Using Facebook’s Messenger feature, your clients can quickly communicate with you. This is a great alternative to text messaging: you can send and receive messages from a mobile device, your client knows when you have seen their message, and you can even set up an “away” message if you are away from your computer or phone. Facebook will also indicate to anyone who visits your page when they can expect to get a response from you, based on how often you check and respond to messages. It’s a great way to help manage expectations.

Share the work: page roles

With a business Facebook page, you can designate other people to help you manage content and customer service. There are various roles you can add people to, such as Editor or Advertiser, so that your assistants or good friends can help you promote your business when you’re busy working. You retain complete control over your page and you don’t have to give your Facebook login information to your staff.

Reviews

One of the most valuable features of Facebook business pages is the ability for clients to rate your service and products. This is yet another tool you can use to indicate the quality of your services to potential clients. You could try rewarding your clients with a discount on their next service if they review your business.

Note that the review feature isn’t automatically turned on for every page – only pages in certain categories or with Shop sections.

Other promotional tools

Whether you’d like to sell your favourite extension tools or products, book appointments, promote blog posts, or merely indicate to clients what your regular hours are, a Facebook business page is a great resource. You can easily direct clients to your website to engage more in-depth with the services you offer, make it simple for followers to subscribe to your mailing list, or set up the “Call now” button which sends your phone number directly to a potential client’s device.

Ads and promoted/boosted content

Last but certainly not least, Facebook allows business pages to market to potential clients beyond the community of followers you already have on your page via targeted ad campaigns. For a fee, you can set up ads that will be seen by your chosen demographic in a certain location (your country, province, city, etc.) for a certain period of time.

There are lots of choices for customizing your campaign. Choose an audience, a goal, and a budget for your ad. Choose from several different formats of ads (video, slideshow, single image, etc.). You can choose to show your ad on Facebook, Instagram, and beyond!

Use your Instagram photos in ads, have multiple ads in a promotion, add a call to action, and more. You can also choose to boost (pay to promote) content you’ve already posted to your page, such as a product you’re selling or a blog post or image.

And Facebook guides you through the whole process, giving you tips on how to maximize your campaign’s reach. Two business help pages you might find helpful are Ads Basics and Ads Guide.

Your turn!

Now you’re ready to try it yourself — set up your business page on Facebook and start connecting with your clientele community online.

And check out the Hair Flair Facebook page for inspiration!

8 Steps to a great Nano Touch up Appointment

November 1, 2017March 22, 2018Leave a comment

One of the most important aspects of being a great hair extension technician is performing a great maintenance appointment for your clients. We are going to review the steps that you should be covering during every touch up nano link appointment.

Step 1: Review the install with your client

Make sure your clients are coming in at least every 8-10 weeks for a touch up appointment. Now that your client has worn their extensions for a period of time when they come back for a maintenance appointment you should ask them how the extension have been, if they are happy with the way they were installed and if they want anything changed this time. They may want to add more hair, take some out, or have the extensions placed higher or lower than they were before.

Step 2: Removal

You will need to remove the nano extensions to perform maintenance. If the hair is not cut or layered you can remove all the extensions at once then reinstall them. However, if the client has their extensions cut or layered you will want to remove the extensions in sections, or row by row, to preserve the cut.

Step 3: Brushout

Use a soft bristle brush to give the clients hair a brush out. Even if there is tangling using a bristle brush first will loosen some of the knots before going in with a fine tooth comb.

Step 4. De-tangling

Some clients will have no tangling or matting while others may have a lot (especially if it has been awhile since their last touch up). If there is a considerable amount of tangling you will need to remove all the hair extensions to give their hair a good brush out. If your client has a sensitive scalp or you feel that the brushing out is causing them pain it’s a good idea to give them a brush and let them brush their hair out.

Whenever detangling a clients hair make sure you are not pulling on their hair and scalp to hard. The best thing to do is tightly hold above the knot with your fingers and brush out the tangle below. That way when your detangling they cant feel their hair being pulled.

You will also want to tell your client to let speak up if its hurting too much. If it is, be gentler and move to a new area to detangle so that you can give the scalp a break in the area that is hurting.

If you feel like you cannot detangle the hair without causing the client significant pain it is best to let them go home and wash and detangle themselves in the shower with a lot of conditioner, oil and a wide tooth comb and have them come back on a different day to have the extensions reinstalled.

Step 5: Inspect the hair extensions

You will want to pay attention to the extension bonds to see if they need retipping. If the extension bods are breaking down you will need to retip and reseal the bonds before reinstalling the hair. If you skip this step the bonds will breakdown quicker and your client will experience excessive shedding.

Step 6: Reinstall the hair extensions

Remember to use proper sectioning and install in a similar pattern that you did before (unless the client has asked you to change it).

Step 7: Check the cut and style of the reinstalled hair

You will want to check that the ends of the extensions are all even. Watch out for individual strands that are sticking out way further than other strands. You may need to trim these pieces. Check the sides of the style (around the face) to make sure the hair is even on both sides and re-layer any pieces that need it.

Also look for pieces that are thick and blunt cut and not blending with the style. You will want to razor these so the ends aren’t so harsh looking

Step 8: The finish

Always finish off by styling the extensions, Ask your client if they would prefer it straight or curled. You want your client to feel like their extensions are new again and for them to leave a touch u appointment feeling great.