I Want To Make My Thin Hair Look Better With Hair Extensions - Is This OK If I'm Still Shedding?

By Ava Alderman

I sometimes hear from people who are looking to make their thinning hair appear more full when they are suffering from telogen effluvium. Often, one option that they will look at is getting hair extensions. But they will typically have concerns as to whether this cosmetic procedure is compatible with the type of hair loss that they have.

I might hear a comment like: "I've had telogen effluvium for over eight months. My hair looks absolutely awful. It is so thin and stringy. Sometimes, when I'm watching TV I see these celebrities with wonderful thick, wavy hair and the vast majority of them have hair extensions. I'm wondering if this would be an option for me. I really want to try this because every time I look in the mirror, I am so depressed because of the way that my hair looks. But I also have concerns. What if the weight of the extensions pulls out more hair? What if I shed out all of the extensions and waste my money? What if my hair is even more damaged? What if the process causing a massive shed? Can people with shedding get hair extensions?" I will try to answer these questions in the following article.

I am not a hair stylist, but I do know some people who have had extensions (even though I believe that is more common in people who have less aggressive shedding with hair loss conditions like androgenetic alopecia.) This makes sense because no one wants to pay for a lot of extensions only to have them shed out.

I have known a couple of people who got extensions when they had telogen effluvium. But, they went to stylists that specialized in hair loss and they got the weft type of extensions rather than the ones bonded to individual strands of hair. The reason for this was that binding to the strands individually would put a lot of weight on those strands (which is something that is probably not the best idea when you have hair that is already at risk of falling out.)

Also, you might be advised that you want to keep the extensions of a reasonable length. Longer hair can be very heavy and can contribute to them pulling out. I also think that it's going to be helpful if you accept the fact that it's going to be likely that you will lose some of the extensions to shedding. But, even so, you can still get some improvement in the way that your hair looks. It really is a give and take situation. I have also heard that this is hair loss during this procedure just like there is with any other procedure like coloring or a permanent wave.

I did look at getting extensions myself but they were so expensive and ultimately, the stylist told me that my hair wasn't horribly thin and that with the right cut and some curl, my hair could look fine without the expense and risk associated with extensions. I appreciated this because while I wanted for my hair to look better, I didn't want to put my future hair at risk. I don't want to discourage anyone though. I know some women who are very happy with their extensions and wouldn't be without them.

But to answer the question posed, people can and do get extensions with shedding hair. It's important to go to a good specialist though that has done this type of procedure on people with hair loss. It's also important to be realistic and to choose the type that are going to do the least amount of damage.

Also, in this particular case, eight months is a long time to shed with traditional telogen effluvium, so it might be worth it to take a closer look at what type of hair loss it might be. I learned countless tricks of camouflage and treatment during my hair loss.  It turned out that this plus finding my trigger was able to turn my situation around. You can read more on my blog at  http://stop-hair-loss-in-women.com/

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