5 Costly Tape-In Hair Extension Mistakes You Must Avoid

StanleyLast Updated: March 13, 2022

Let’s briefly discuss the core Tape-In hair extension mistakes you must avoid at all costs.

If you’ve ever wished your hair has more volume, you must have considered hair extensions at some point.

While there are numerous ways to add hair extensions to your hair, tape-in extensions are the most common by a large margin.

There are many reasons why people tend to prefer tape-in extensions to the numerous other alternatives on the market.

Some of these reasons include their painless nature and their natural look.

While tape-in extensions are near-perfect, they need some effort on your end to reach their full potentials.

There are certain mistakes that you may be making after getting a ponytail that’s probably ruining your extensions. This article will explore tape-in extensions and some of these mistakes.

What’s a Tape-in Hair Extension?

To make sense of the numerous mistakes that ruin tape-in extensions, it’s crucial to get a good idea of how tape-in hair extensions work.

Tape-in hair extensions refer to a popular type of hair extension that sticks to the roots of your hair using a special kind of glue.

It creates an insanely-strong bond that keeps your hair in place unless you’re willing to take off the extensions.

Tape-ins are usually installed by a professional cosmetologist, as they’re not very easy to install.

Installing this type of hair extension without professional help is one of the major mistakes of tape-in hair extensions you must avoid at all costs.

Depending on how quickly your hair grows, tape-in extensions can last anywhere from two to four months. Once your hair starts to grow to a noticeable length, you may have to remove the tape-ins, again, by a professional.

Tape-in hair extensions can be very alluring, as long as you follow all the numerous rules.

Since these rules are easy to break, there’s also a long list of mistakes to avoid. The next section will abridge some of the commonest tape-in hair extension mistakes to avoid.

Tape-In Hair Extension Mistakes to avoid at all Costs

While tape-ins are a more advanced kind of other types of hair extensions, the rules don’t change drastically across the board.

If you’ve cared for other kinds of hair extensions, you won’t be doing a lot more work than you already did.

However, tape-ins aren’t as forgiving of mistakes as clip-ins or other types of hair extensions.

Remember, you’ll have to pay your hairstylist to fix them again if anything goes wrong. To prevent anything from going wrong, here is a list of mistakes to avoid.

1. Washing your hair too soon after application

The urge to wash your hair soon after applying a new hair extension isn’t very tempting, but it exists.

If you give in to the temptation, however, you’re well on your way to messing up your tape-in hair extensions.

Typically, you shouldn’t wash your tape-in hair extensions for 72 hours after application.

Since that’s the bare minimum, it’s even recommended to leave it for an even longer period before exposing it to a great deal of water.

The reasons why it’s usually a bad idea to wash your hair after a tape-in is pretty simple. Tape-in extensions are held together by an adhesive or glue, and most adhesives are weak to moisture and chemicals.

You may wash your hair as soon as the tape-in extension application is done, but not with a conditioner. Washing it with a mild shampoo will only make it look better without affecting the stickiness of the tapes holding the hair extensions.

2. Installing it for the first time right before an event

There’s nothing really bad in installing a tape-in hair extension right before an occasion, but that should never be your first time.

If you’ve never applied this kind of hair extension, you should probably try it for a few weeks before wearing it to any major occasion.

Some people are allergic to the adhesive on the tapes that hold the extensions to your hair, and in some cases, it requires some getting used to.

If you fall into any of these categories, you honestly don’t want to wear your hair extensions for the first time in public. Unfortunately, there’s usually no way to tell.

To know the consequences of flouting this rule, try to imagine yourself scratching your hair furiously due to the itchiness caused by the incompatible hair extensions.

While there’s no guarantee that that’s going to happen, there’s also no guarantee that it isn’t.

3. Washing your hair too frequently

It will be very correct to say most of the mistakes people make with a tape-in hair extension is related to washing.

While I warned against washing your hair too soon after applying the extensions, here is another warning about frequent washings.

If you’re the type that washes your hair every day, you may be shocked to learn that it’s not an effective way to care for a tape-in extension.

Instead, it’s generally seen as a way of treating your hair roughly, which is certainly not care.

The reason why you shouldn’t wash your hair too frequently is the same as why you shouldn’t wash it too soon. In the case of frequent washing, however, you’re gradually weakening the tape-ins that struggle to keep dry.

If you feel like getting a new look every day, you may want to consider using a dry shampoo.

Since it doesn’t require a rush of water, you can manage to wash your hair every other day without weakening the adhesive considerably.

4. Applying the hair extensions yourself or with the help of an amateur

It can be argued that the most significant mistake you can make while applying tape-in hair extensions is choosing the wrong person to apply them.

While the process may seem easy when you watch YouTube or read blogs, there are very technical aspects that certainly cannot be handled by a laywoman.

Interestingly, it’s not even recommended to use every hair salon that offers tape-in hair extensions.

Unless a professional is specifically trained to apply this kind of extension, there’s a huge chance they’ll be messing up your hair.

The first rule to choosing a professional is not going for the cheapest service.

Since there’s a scarcity of qualified professionals in tape-in extensions, experienced experts will often charge more to offer you the kind of service you’re after.

Also, you should consider using a hairstylist with a certification in hair extensions with before and after pictures. That way, you’ll have an idea of what you’re getting before paying for the service.

Lastly, using the help of someone who is inexperienced in hair extensions is probably worse than completing the task yourself.

How to Fix Slipping Tape-in Extensions

One of the biggest problems you might be facing after installing tape-in hair extensions is the extensions slipping away from the roots of your hair.

These slips are mostly caused by non-adherence to most of the mistakes I’ve outlined earlier.

If you didn’t know about those mistakes earlier, it may not be too late yet.

There are workarounds for when your tape-in hair extensions start slipping and I’ll cover them in this section. Before that, it’s important to confirm that the extensions are indeed slipping.

Beware of False Slipping

False slipping is a term coined to refer to the feeling that your hair extensions have started slipping, when in fact, they haven’t.

As your hair grows, the gap between the tapes and your scalp increases, giving a false impression that the hair extensions are already slipping.

If you’ve confirmed that your tape-in extensions are indeed slipping, you may want to stop using any products not friendly with tape-in extensions.

While it may not be obvious, not every shampoo or conditioner out there on the market is compatible with tape-ins.

Before buying any hair care product, it’s crucial to ask if they react negatively with tape-in hair extensions.

Generally, hair care products with alcohol and paraben don’t tend to react well with tape-in hair extensions. They weaken the glue, making the extensions slip over time.

You should also avoid washing your hair too often after applying hair extensions, as the rush of water and chemicals can weaken the bond.

Washing your hair immediately after getting tape-in hair extensions is equally bad for the same reason.

If your tape-in hair extensions are already slipping so bad that they’re disfiguring the overall look of your hair, you may want to see your cosmetologist or your stylist to fix the tapes again.

After that, you should avoid making all the tape-in hair extension mistakes to stay away from all related issues.

Conclusion

Tape-in hair extension is one of the newest types of extensions on the market, and consequently one of the best.

However, there are some practices that may ruin your tape-in extensions if you don’t stop doing them immediately.

In this article, I outlined some of the most common tape-in hair extension mistakes that you should avoid at all costs.

If you’ve already made most of these mistakes, there are redemptions. If your tape-in extensions have started slipping, you can use the preceding guide to find solutions to the problems that your mistakes have caused.

I hope you enjoy and find this post on tape-in extension hair extension mistakes helpful?

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Lastly, if you got questions or feedback, do not hesitate to let me know by leaving a comment below right now.

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Costly Tape-In Hair Extension Mistakes