Hair Extensions 101 with Celebrity Hairstylist Lacy Redway

24:32They have no idea. That's not her hair. Right. But then you also see those occasional examples where like in the back, like you can see the telltale signs. I think everyone wants to avoid that. So just like how give us. Yeah. Give us the lay of the land. Well, that is such a layered question, to be honest, because technique is also important to be able to find undetectable extensions. Right. So not all things are created equal. Not all stylists have the same skill set and not all clients that you send in the car are not going to not touch their hair and not embarrass you on the red carpet. Right.

25:08Or not come back in time or whatever. Yeah. I would say clip-in extensions are low risk. Right. At home. Yes. At home. Because it's like it's giving you an opportunity to preview. Like, do I really like this? You get to date extensions. Right. With clip-ins. Right. So you're like, I don't know. Should I give them a second? And then you see if you really like it. And then you can then invest in a more permanent opportunity. It also is another pro about them is that you can remove them. So if you're someone that suffers from headaches or like things that you don't like or just being uncomfortable by having something so permanent in your scalp, you can remove them because there's certain extensions like a sewn in extension that is a little bit more restricting because you you can't get to your scalp as easily as you would with a clip in extensions.

25:57Right. To wash your hair. Yeah. So and maybe you want to go to the gym. So it's like you want to be able to take them out and put them in. So I would say also a con for them. I mean, there aren't a ton of cons because the convenience and the flexibility really is what makes them a pro, to be honest. Yeah. But I would say for those that do enjoy other forms of extensions, what I've heard from them of the the cons is that they feel that sometimes they can like, you know, not pull their hair as tight in a ponytail because of the clips. Right. So. Right. Yeah. And the price point difference like in a salon versus these at home.

26:34Is it significant to do extensions or to do, I guess to do extensions. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there I feel like I just saw something online. I can't remember which celebrity it was that went to some Hollywood extension expert. And I think they're paying like at least eight thousand dollars for extensions. Wow. Yeah. And those are things that has to get redone like every couple of weeks, like three weeks to a month, sometimes eight weeks. That's why it's like pay the 10 grand for the wig sometimes. yeah you know like cardi b when she was on court she was like do you know how many times she's like my forehead is ripped from wearing all these raw from all the wigs she had to wear to court and i was like each wig is probably 10 grand that she's wearing too i mean listen there have been there's so many great wigologists yes you know nowadays that can like really turn out a cheap wig by you know the things that they the customization you know that they do at home wizards wig wizards yes they're like tweezing hairlines they're like i mean cardi's you know person i think tokyo yeah right yeah he's pretty great you know he does good work on her yeah you know it keeps it exciting yeah yeah she had the lawyers guessing i know yeah i mean was that appropriate though asking her is hair.

27:58Yeah, no, that was extremely inappropriate. Extremely inappropriate. I can't believe he wasn't called on it. Well, from the clip I saw. But I love her use of hair extensions as an accessory where it's like, yes, you obviously know this is not my hair because one day it's brunette, the next day it's blonde and long. But she's using it as an accessory and I think that's the conversation. That's the way we need to look at it. I feel like back in the day, hair extensions was so taboo where it was like, don't ask, don't tell kind of thing where it's like, you know, something is different and looks fabulous, but you don't really hear of like people being transparent about what's going on.

28:39Yeah. So I love watching entertainers like Cardi B because she has no filter. She doesn't care. She'll go on live and remove her wig with you on live. Yeah. So she really is a great person of this time because she's so open about it. And I think I think you make a good point, too, about how hair extensions have changed the game. Like we interviewed Chris McMillan not long ago. And he was talking about how, like, in the 90s, you had to work magic. And even if hair was wrecked to make it look really good. And then he was like, and then I discovered hair extensions and nothing mattered anymore. You know what I mean?

29:11Yeah. Thanks to extensions. And I mean, extensions are also great for us stylists that work in red carpet because, you know, there's awards season coming up. And sometimes having the extensions like blended into your hair just makes the style last longer. Yeah. We use it also for that purpose. That's one of our hacks. Okay. So like it's going to stand up under the lights. Exactly. Under the heat in California. Yeah. Or like if somebody is doing a three day Venice film fest or whatever. Yes. Okay. That's great. Where it's like your hair would fall quicker. Exactly. Or on its own, but having an extension mixed in.

29:49Yeah. The style lasts longer. Right. Yeah. It's like a little foundational prop support. Yeah. So I'm totally with you. And I love I love this era. I mean, Jill and I are already here because this is what we do for a living. We're always I'm always talking about my blepharoplasty or, you know, I'm an open book. And I love that celebrities are starting to get this way. Even Kylie with her boob job. I know. No, and didn't Kris Jenner just do a cover and she revealed that she did get the facelift? The facelift, yeah. Like we were like speculating, but she revealed it now. Yeah, exactly. So I love this era of just being more open and not trying to pretend they were just born this way.

30:27But having said that, I think we still don't want to have, we don't want to have the telltale signs of extensions. We want them to look as natural as possible, even if it is sort of avant-garde or an everyday look. So let's get some of your tips for people using clip ins at home. What's the number one tip for blending them naturally? And what's like a big do or don't? OK, so the number one tip to blend your extensions properly is to make sure that they match your hair texture. OK, you also want to make sure that you have the right amount of extensions to fit the density of hair that's on your head.

31:05So if you're not removing some of the weight by like maybe braiding it down, you want to make sure that you have enough hair that you've ordered. So you want to get at least two to three packs recommended. And then, you know, you want to make sure it blends. For straight hair, if you're wearing like straight extensions, and I would recommend that you get like a round brush and you brush it into, you know, to blend extensions. Right. Yeah. Okay. And Bellamy has this blowout texture that looks really great. Like it looks like someone with textured hair that, like relaxed textured hair that's just blown out or if you had your 4C curls blown out.

31:43So it's a great texture to, you know, to blend. Smart. Yeah. When you want to get a break from wearing your hair tightly curled or coiled, you can wear this blowout texture to have a different look. Yeah. What about placement? Are there any like little tricks or anything we need to know? Yeah. So placement. I typically recommend that if you are doing something where some of your hair is out, I would do a horseshoe at the top of your head, like, you know, section like a horseshoe and then sort of take, you know, wrap that away. Then also section out your hairline from probably your temples and then going back around your head and leave that out.

32:26And the reason you leave those out is to blend your hair with the extension. And then what's left over in the middle is where I would start adding the extensions so that you don't get too close to your hairline where it doesn't blend. And then when you let your hair down, we're not having the exposure of the extension. So that's why the horseshoe is important. And you can also like part out more than a horseshoe. You can, you know, it depends how full you want it or how much length you're trying to create. You can also just section out the crown of your head. Right. Yeah. To really make sure that they're undetectable.

33:00Yeah. Got it. And is there a way of like, but if you're keeping them flat or anything like that? Yeah, they're pretty flat. The Bellamy ones are pretty flat, I will say, but you know, bulk. So like if you were someone that were braiding your hair, you want to make sure the braid is flat or, or the bulk lives at the nape because that's where you can hide the most error. Right. But if you have really short hair, like let's say you had, you got a haircut but you decided to you know yeah like you're like oh i went for the emma stone look and now i regret it exactly and you want to add extensions you want to make sure that you are adding them far up enough where they are blending okay and you know you have you know as least hair to work with as you can i did that answer your question yeah i'm thinking of that quote where it's like what my hair looks looks like from the back is none of my business like you know what i'm talking about because like so many girls will just be like you know obsessed like putting it in front this is what it looks like for the selfie but then it's like a friggin mess in the back that must be your nightmare well you know that's the thing where people don't realize on photo shoots right because it's like there's so much that we hide in the back because it's not you know that's why i always like people do not give red carpet hairstylist enough credit because you have to make sure that thing looks good 360 okay on a on a photo shoot like people that you all you know It just needs to look good from the front.

34:21A lot of cheats. There's a lot of clips that we hide in the back. We could pin a wig in the back. No one knows. There's a photo. And there's Photoshop too. Yeah, there's Photoshop. It's true. I love that. And you've got to deal with sometimes it's like rain or humidity. Exactly.

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36:51so if you're getting a professional install how often should you your extensions be refreshed tightened removed to keep your scalp health paramount that's a great question you know again it really depends on what type of install you're doing yeah but i would not recommend keeping any extension in for more than four to six weeks because i feel like you need to really be able to get to your scalp and really be able to care for your hair and make sure that you don't have product buildup that can eventually cause damage. Yeah. Yeah. I want to ask about the clip-ins or sew-ins, but you talked about preventing them from getting tangly, like keeping them, you know, keeping them safe, maybe in a little pouch.

37:35When, like, should you wash them or is there any sort of other treatment that we need to know about for maintenance? Yes, that's a great question. you definitely if if you're someone that adds a lot of product in your hair when styling you definitely want to wash them so i would suggest you know tying them together in like a hair tie okay and then the way that you wash them is you're kind of massaging them versus like really getting in there and like you know how like scrubbing yeah you want to kind of like gently massage them down and you would shampoo them though the similar to how you do your own hair with you know shampoo conditioner and then you would lay them flat like maybe on a towel to dry properly right because you do not want to put wet hair back in the bag because that will smell yeah yeah yeah so you want to lay them out to dry them you know flat product wise you can use when you're styling them you could use the same styling products you would when you're styling your hair so if it's curly product if it's curly extensions you want to use you know curl products to do so okay yeah what are a few of your favorites.

38:38Sorry to, sorry to, sorry to, but yeah. My favorite curl products. Yeah. And like what would, what you like to cleanse them with? Yeah. Yeah. So I use, I use Dove repair shampoo and conditioner a lot, but I interchange, it depends on extensions too. Like I interchange, I also use like styling wise, I use Trésame A-list collection. Like there's this prep spray that I've been like using to prep the extensions before. Cause it really just helps the cuticles like lay flat and smooth. You know, I also use Shea Moisture has a lot of curl products that I love. The coconut and hibiscus line is like one of my favorite collections that they have.

39:17And I also love their edge control. So like whenever I put this, you know, extensions in, I also use that. Okay. Incredible. The final touches. Yes. I don't necessarily, unless I'm like curling straight extensions, I don't put hairspray on curly ones. Right. Okay. Do you use a particular curling iron is you have a different curling iron for extensions that you prefer versus I I just have a lot of yeah so it depends on the style I'm trying to create like if I'm doing really tight curl coils I'm using like a really tight skinny iron and if I'm doing like you know waves or whatever I'm using a bigger iron but more so than the type of iron I do prefer brands that are also consistent with iron So I have been using a lot of the GHD ones just because I find that, you know, the 365 degrees that they sort of like mastered.

40:10It really does work for most of the things, you know, that I'm doing. So, yeah. Yeah. We started the conversation talking about thinning hair and just solutions for that because it can be so isolating. One of our most popular episodes last year was about, you know, solutions for thinning hair. So what is in the market now specifically to not conceal, but if somebody has a lot of thinning on the top, like, you know, extension, installing an extension there isn't necessary. It's not going to work. Right. So or around the hairline, if you're miss, if your hairline is receding a bit, what do you do?

40:43Because it is like a sensitive topic, I'm sure, even amongst your clients. I mean, listen, the truth is that, you know, a topical product is not going to clear, you know, it's not going to be the solution only. You also have to do things internally in your body to help repair. Right. If you're if your hair and nails, you know, skin is not in great shape, you know, but also, you know, there's a lot of women. And I don't think we're talking enough about this, but a lot of women are doing hair transplants as well. You know, I did another podcast with someone else and, you know, she was telling me that she got a hair transplant.

41:18You know, I didn't know if I was allowed to see another podcast. But, you know, so I think that's also it depends how far the damage has gone. You know what I mean? Yeah. But I would I would say there's tons of products that you can do. But you want to like have biotin, you know, as a supplement that you, you know, you do. And there's lots of brands like adding, you know, things to their line with that really helps. And I feel like hair toppers, which we've talked about before, right? You know, do you ever use those? I do. So, you know, hair toppers, hair closures. What is that? So a hair closure is another way of saying a hair topper.

42:01OK. But it's the one that comes with a lace. Oh, I see. So some people are sewing them on to their hair. Like right now for the summer, especially with textured hair, there's been a lot of like flip over weaves that people have been doing and they're using like either a hair topper closure. Yeah. You know, or they're just like doing wefts and then they're like using their hairline to like flip it over back and forth. So they're bang toppers. They are closure toppers with lace that you can, you know, also like if you want to add adhesive to your hairline. And yeah, and there are tons of different toppers that you can use for thinning hair.

42:42Yeah. I saw this thing on TikTok the other day. A girl was demonstrating it. I believe she was of East Indian descent and she had had a receding hairline. And it was almost like a giant elastic band lace. Okay. But that had like a hairline attached to it. And she like put it under and then she like scooched it back like you would a headband. Like a halo? I don't even know what it was called, but I was like, what is happening? And then she pushed it back and it was like perfect airline. Wait, so it's a band at the back of the wig? It was. She had no other hair. Like she wasn't wearing any other hair pieces.

43:15It was just this one like thing. And it goes underneath your hair? Underneath. And then she pushed it back like you would a headband. And then it was like, boom, perfect airline. I feel like there must be an elastic of some sort under the back of it. i'm sure yeah no it was yeah she put it under and then she like popped it up yeah but i was like that is actually game changing yeah what is a halo though i'm looking that up now is like it's like wefts attached to a fishing wire okay and you can buy it like that it's like it's kind of like a half wig for lack of a better term yeah yeah and but it doesn't require clips so again there's so many methods of extensions it really becomes about personal choice yeah that's that's like dead easy to put in yeah halo yeah but then so our clip tell me about clippins versus halo i gotta ask yeah so clippin versus halo so halo halo can be tricky if it's not measured properly for you like if you're not placing it at the right place in your head it can slide yeah so it might not be as bulletproof for people that are very active.

44:19I don't know that I would recommend a halo. Yeah. But it is, again, a great quick solution for someone that is, you know, for us, like, busy. Like, I mean, I've been in scenarios where I got 10 minutes to do somebody's hair. So something like a halo is convenient at that time because I just have to, like, part, you know, section the hair where I want to place it and it's done. Yeah. You know, versus, like, sometimes a clip-in can take a little longer. It's more piece by piece. piece by piece. And it's also math where you have to like, you know, decide like, okay, where am I? Or yeah, right? Math.

44:53Yeah. Yeah. Where am I placing this? Yeah. Yeah. To fill it all in. I want to ask if you have any hacks for, you know, let's say it's a red carpet scenario or a real life scenario and people are moving their heads around. So they might move and then there's a gap and you can see through to the root where the clip. Do you have any hacks for like, do you tease. Is there a certain type of product that you might use that might almost like fuse it together without giving you a hard look? Like, tell us about that. Yeah, that's a great question because I find that that's also what makes people frustrated about clip-ins because they don't know how to actually put it on correctly.

45:30Yeah. So you definitely want to have a little grit and tackiness to the root of your hair and the, you know, where you would want to place the extensions. so I do back comb a little bit yeah especially if I don't have a lot of time you know I back comb and I use hairspray to to create the grit and you want the product to dry in a little bit because if it's still too flexible it's not gonna really lock in the clip yeah yeah so you want the you know you want a little grip to your hair and you want to back comb it a little bit so you want to get a teasing comb specifically okay because if you have a comb also with the teeth you know too loose, far apart, it's not going to really give you that sort of foundation that you need to, like, make sure the clip stays in place.

46:15Yeah. Yeah. So you can do that. Or you can also, again, you can like, you know, create a loose braid, you know, also as an anchor, you know, to like clip the braid clip, the clip in on top of if you don't want to use hairspray in your hair. Some people don't want the alcohol, you know, that's in the hairspray in their hair. So that's a great way. Okay. Doing like a French braid, you know, underneath and like making sure that it's tight enough. The weaving of the braid is tight enough where it's not still so loose where they're like swimming in your head. But the weaving of the braid can act similar to what the hairspray in the back home could do.

46:52Yeah. Just kind of like an anchor. Yeah. It's an anchor. What's the hairspray is that you're always whipping out? I mean, honestly, the one that I'm gonna have with me at Fashion Week, Trésame A-list collection. That's like my favorite right now because it's it's lightweight enough that it doesn't like weigh the hair down. But I can it's still flexible. So someone like me that a sometimes, you know, I got to change the styles on the go. You know, shooting editorial, you know, if I'm shooting a page editorial, like sometimes the hair changes three to four times. Yeah. And I need a flexible hold hairspray.

47:25So that one has been like getting me through. OK, incredible. And finally, Lacey, what's the one hairstyle that you haven't done yet, but it's on your dream list? Who's the client? What's the concept? Oh my gosh. Okay. Let's make this happen. Yeah. I mean, there's so much that I haven't done that I want to do. I feel like I've done a lot of different hairstyles. It's just like sometimes they don't get photographed right and you don't put them out or, you know, stuff like that. But I would love to do. I feel like through the pandemic and also like being a busy mom, when I started out my career, I was more like editorial focus specifically.

48:08And now I get to play. You know, I still get to play an editorial world. I still do like Vogue covers and different stuff. And then, you know, the clients that I get to work with are so creative, like Chapel Rhone and Tessa Thompson. But I would love to the the the people that I haven't worked with yet are like also nostalgic people from my like childhood you know and of course like everybody would love to work with like you know a-list you know musicians like I haven't worked with Rihanna or Beyonce that would that would be great yeah so universe make that happen I you know but style wise yeah I would just love to start getting back to a creative space you know to like really, you know, do like the art, you know, like really make the art happen.

48:53So I find that, you know, a little of the art is, you know, being lost in translation in the industry because everything is so commercialized. So I love creating things that are out of this box. Like I would love to take the plant behind you and create a, you know, or next to us and create a cool sculptural hairstyle with that. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, that's so great. Well, I can't wait to see what you come up with at Fashion Week and TIFF and everything else that you have coming up. Do you ever work with reality stars? Like, did you do Paige's hair for the Tresemme commercial? I did not do Paige's hair.

49:28We were supposed to do an editorial together, but I can't remember what happened because, you know, I think schedules just got crossed. But I have worked with reality folks before. Love Island girlies or no? Not yet. Not yet. But I see them on the scene. They're like big deal right now. Earlier in my career, I've worked with some reality stars. Like one of my claim to fame is that I worked, which it's hilarious now because I make fun of it. But I worked on Celebrity Apprentice. Oh, my God. Yes. That is a blast from the past. Oh, yeah. I worked on Celebrity Apprentice early in my career. You know, back when our now president of the United States was just, you know, it was a businessman and a reality star.

50:12Yeah, yeah. Money, money, money, money. So I worked on that show. Did you work with anybody in particular? I did, but it wasn't a great experience. So I don't know if I should name drop. I don't it's not like me because, you know, I'm a girl of discretion. But I will say that reality star that I worked with on that show. And, you know, I'm sure people can do research. Maybe they'll find out. But, you know, at the time and which is something I've learned along the way in this industry that sometimes when things don't go your way, it has nothing to do with you. So, you know, and you can't internalize every bad experience as like something you did wrong.

50:52That's right. You know, so. And that's on growth. And that's on growth. Yeah. Because when you're a young aspiring artist, you're just like, oh, you can take those things so to heart. You get so bent out of shape for the smallest things. But, you know, this particular person really wanted their own personal hair and makeup person to be used for the show. But I was a production hire. So they were having this fight with production that no other there was New York City. There's no hair and makeup people in New York City that can get them done right. You know, so so when I came in, they already didn't like there was already bad vibes because they needed to prove a point.

51:32yeah so it wasn't even about how many seasons where you did you work on that show i worked that's a good point because it wasn't the same people every season i think i might have done two to three seasons actually and i've had great trip i've had great experiences and then but that one particular season wasn't my best work yeah yeah you know and i've also worked with like you know different reality like i remember working with this other reality star where they had this like nickname famous nickname but you know when they came on set we were told that we couldn't call them by the nick you know their nickname and and then they were like kind of disrespectful for the whole crew that the magazine put together like you know I did their hair and then they like criticized it and it was like I could have done that in like you know 10 minutes and then they were so disrespectful to the stylist who had pulled all this amazing clothes where they just like then brought like some mall thing that they you know right whatever so it's just like that's that's that's my only gripe where it's like the people that are the most famous can be the nicest always and it's and and then you meet like the people that are like you should be so grateful that these people are offering you this and they are the ones that give you the most challenge yeah and we've talked about this before too having worked at a fashion magazine and yes trying to wrangle cover stars yes is that the higher the more a-list they are the more seamless it tends to be ironically and the c-listers are the most the hardest people to work for sure for sure and yeah it's like well maybe you're gonna stay there then because exactly people want to work with people they like people want to work with nice people yeah they absolutely do yeah yeah yes it's so good well thank you for the tea oh my god yeah yeah of course it's been so great to meet you and chat with you we're done we have to be done oh my gosh because we're running out of studio time okay okay this is like such a thrill we could be here all day i know we didn't barely scratch the surface seriously then you have to come back of course you're welcome you're welcome you've got the tips you've got the tea you've got you've got it all yeah and everything that we talked about today that Lacey talked about, we will link to it over on our website, which is breakingbeautypodcast.com.

53:50If you're listening to this episode, you got to watch it on YouTube because Lacey, you got to see how gorgeous Lacey is. And it's been a thrill to have you. Thank you so much. It's been amazing. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks for listening. You can find details on every product mentioned in today's episode, along with our exclusive promo codes on our blog at breakingbeautypodcast.com. While you're there, be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Every episode will be delivered directly to your inbox so you won't miss a single thing. And get social with us. Let us know what you think of the episode.

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55:14Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.