Tips for Styling & Caring For Your Clip-In Hair Extensions

Having clip-in hair extensions gives you the versatility to modify your style and up your hair game – instantly adding length and volume for a glamorous boost. They are a commitment-free investment to switching-up your style.

So, how should you care for – and style – your extensions to keep them lasting longer and looking their best? 

We share our top 10 tips for styling and caring for your clip-in extensions, to keep them looking natural and feeling comfortable. 

Backcomb Your Roots

For hair extensions to hold comfortably in your hair, gently backcomb the roots before application. 

Use a natural bristle brush to avoid damaging the hair and gently backcomb around 1-inch from the scalp. 

For optimal hold, use a light mist of hairspray at the root before clipping-in your hair extensions to add texture.

Keeping your extensions comfortably in place not only prevents painful pulling on your hair, but also wear and tear on the extensions themselves, so they last longer and you can enjoy more wear. 

Practice Weft Placement

Securing your wefts properly allows you to achieve a natural and undetectable look when wearing your extensions.

Start with your smaller clip wefts, at the nape of your neck, and work up to your 4-clip volumising weft towards the crown of your head. Depending on the thickness of your hair, you should leave around 1-2cm between each row. 

Following this, mirror the single-clip pieces and the remaining 2-clip wefts around the sides of your head. 

If you have fine hair, avoid clipping extensions inside the crown section as you risk showing the extension tracks.

Hide the Bottom Section

A styling tip for those with very thick hair or a shorter, blunt haircut. 

With these styles, the section of hair at the nape of the neck is more likely to stick-out whilst wearing hair extensions.

To avoid a visible natural hairline, plait or twist the bottom section of hair and pin it into a small bun – trying to use the least amount of bands or hairpins. 

You can then begin clipping your first row to this section.

For more tips on blending your extensions into shorter hair, check out our useful guide!

Apply Them Diagonally

If you have shorter hair around the frame of your face, you’ll want to feather your extensions to complement your style. 

With your two-clip and single-clip wefts, place them diagonally on the hairline, sectioning your crown into a ‘V’ formation – this will often start from the top of your eyebrow and meet at the crown of your head.

Try Our Ponytail Hack!

Want to achieve a killer power-pony? Try this simple hack!

Begin by sectioning your hair to apply your extensions as usual. Then, instead of clipping them upright, flick the extensions over and apply them ‘upside-down’. 

This tip will also make the style much more comfortable to hold – so, you can wear them all night long.

Regularly Brush Your Extensions

Keeping your mane in top condition is essential when you are using hair extensions. 

A good extension-friendly hairbrush will not only save your tresses from unnecessary breakage and regular replacements, but will also help to keep your natural hair in good condition. 

Avoid brushing your extensions while they’re wet. Hair is more fragile when it has absorbed moisture and is, therefore, more prone to breakage. Instead, use a wide-tooth comb to gently untangle the hair – starting at the ends and working your way up to the root. 

Our loop-brush is a specialised extension hairbrush which avoids damaging the lace weft and stops unnecessary fallout.

Store Your Hair Extensions Carefully

Caring for your clip-in extensions while you’re not wearing them is just as important as when you are. You’ll likely have a haircare routine that keeps your clip-ins looking and feeling their best while they’re clipped in – but how should you look after them once you take them out at night?

It’s important to store them properly to avoid tangling, matting or exposure to dirt and grime – and to keep them lasting longer and maintaining their beautiful condition. 

Each of our Milk & Blush hair extensions comes with recyclable packaging that also doubles up as a beautiful, handy storage box for your extensions. 

After taking out your clip-ins, we recommend brushing them through to remove any knots and avoid matting. Our daily maintenance Silicone Spritz spray also helps with detangling the hair. 

This will soften, and prolong the lifespan of, your extensions. If you wish to tie your extensions together overnight, use a silk or satin scrunchie to avoid any kinks or damage.

Bonus tip – don’t sleep in your clip-in hair extensions. Not only will this result in potential matting of the hair but it will put unnecessary strain on your beautiful natural locks. 

Blend Separate Sets

This tip helps you get more life and wear out of your extensions, even as you experiment with your hair colour.

If your hair is multi-tonal or you are in-between shades, you can blend together two shades of hair extensions. 

To fit more wefts around your head, stack the wefts on top of each other. You can also use this trick to create more volume or to achieve an ombre look. 

If you are layering your wefts, use no more than two rows per section and clip them to a generous amount of hair to hold the weight comfortably – to avoid damaging the extensions or painful pulling. 

Wash Your Clip-In Hair Extensions with Sulphate-Free Shampoo

Clip-in hair extensions are not constantly attached to the natural hair or worn overnight, so they should not need to be regularly washed. 

But if your extensions have experienced too much product build-up to brush-out – and need to be washed – only use a sulphate-free shampoo. 

Sulphates will strip moisture from your extensions, making them brittle and dull in colour.

Find out which sulphate-free shampoos our hair extensions experts recommend in our helpful guide!

We strongly advise against using dry-shampoo on your hair extensions – as it can result in product build-up and will dry out your extensions. Alternatively, revive your extensions with our Silicone Spritz, which is specially designed to maintain the softness of your extensions while encouraging them to last longer.

Style Your Hair Extensions After Clipping them In

To achieve the most natural blend as possible, we recommend styling your hair extensions after they’ve been clipped to your hair. 

Doing this will help the ends of your natural hair blend seamlessly into the extensions as you are styling. 

A straighter hairstyle can often make your natural hair more noticeable when wearing extensions. So, create some movement to your hair by styling it into waves or curls for a seamless blend. 

Always use a heat protectant spray. And we would recommend pin-curling the hair for extra hold. A curling wand will be the easiest styling tool to use for anyone who is new to using hair extensions.

For more help styling your extensions, simply follow along with our helpful tutorial video below:

For more tips on looking after your extensions – to keep them looking luscious for longer – check out our complete hair extensions aftercare guide.