Alisa Pose
Journal
Can you color hair extensions?
Usually the better question is whether you need to. Matched properly, most sets never want colouring at all.
Written by Alisa Pose · Great Lengths certified · 20 years in extensions
Why matching beats colouring
Extension hair has already been processed. It does not have a living scalp feeding it, so it will not recover from a harsh chemical service the way your own hair will. Every colour service you put through it spends some of its lifespan. A set matched correctly at the start avoids that cost entirely.
The blending trick that removes the problem
Because hand-tied wefts are so thin, several can be installed in a single row. That means multiple tones woven together rather than one flat shade laid against your hair. Real hair is never one colour, so a blended row reads as natural where a single matched shade can read as a wig. This is the main reason a good set does not look installed, and it is done at the point of ordering rather than with dye afterwards.
Matched in the salon, in the salon light
Every tone Alisa carries hangs on the rod on the wall. Your hair is held against it in that light before anything is cut or ordered. Colour matched from a chart, a phone photo or a shop light is the usual reason a set arrives wrong.
If colour does have to change
It can be done, and it should be done by the person who installed the set, going darker rather than lighter wherever possible. Lifting processed extension hair is where things go badly. Talk to your stylist before putting box colour anywhere near it, because a damaged set is not covered by anything.
Common questions
Can you dye hair extensions?
Often yes, but the hair is already processed and will not recover from harsh chemistry the way your own hair does. Going darker is far safer than lifting.
Can you bleach hair extensions?
Lifting processed extension hair is the riskiest thing you can do to it, and it is the most common way a set is ruined. Talk to the stylist who installed it first.
Is it better to colour or to colour-match extensions?
Match. Hand-tied wefts are thin enough that several tones can be blended into one row, which reads more natural than a single dyed shade and costs the hair nothing.