Tips for washing your hair curly extensions to prevent tangling & matting

Remember tangling and matting happens for 5 main reasons:

1. DRY extensions that have been stripped of moisture due to use of harsh shampoos, clarifying shampoos (too often), chlorine, ocean salt water, silicones, silicone derivates (anything that ends in 'cone':  DIMETHICONE, PHENYL TRIMETHICONE), sulfates, alcohols, & clarifying products, higher humidity climates, and excessive heat tools and/or using heat tools without heat protectants.
2. Over washing hair. Curly hair extensions are already prone to dryness. We suggest washing your extensions no more than once a week. Twice max. If you have semi permanent extensions & your lifestyle requires you to wash your hair more than twice a week we suggest switching to clip ins. 
3. Faulty or messy application of extensions that eventually causes your natural hair that is shedding to get stuck in the bonds of the extensions.
4. Oil and dirt sticking together on extensions (product build up).
5. Allowing hair to air dry. When air drying the cuticles on your extensions never fully close causing hair to rub together and cause friction.

Before starting your wash process, determine if your hair truly needs to be cleansed or not. Whenever possible, skip the shampoo and do a condition only wash (referred to as co-washing). Over-washing with shampoo strips the hair extensions of moisture which causes friction and dryness and leads to frizz, tangling, & matting. Innersense has an excellent conditioner that cleanses and conditions without stripping the hair of moisture.

Speaking of products, your curly human hair extensions are no longer attached to genetics so it needs all the moisture it can get. Here's a list of of products we HIGHLY suggest to use with your extensions. 

Suggested Wash Day Process 

Important: Never try to shampoo tangled and matted hair, it will make the situation much worse.

For semi permanent extensions, it's important to detangle your hair and separate your bonds before washing.

1. First, lightly separate your This is the base connection of your weft, i-tip or tape-in extensions
2. Use a moisturizing detangler or a mix a deep conditioner with argan oil and water (2:1 ratio) in a spray bottle.
3. Then spray in-between your rows/bonds midway down and gently detangle your extensions and your own natural hair separately with a wide tooth comb.
4. Once detangled, add a deep conditioner mask. And comb through with a wide tooth comb. Try Innersense Hydrating Mask to deep condition the hair.. (We also recommend their Leave-in Conditioner. Leave the deep conditioning mask on for a least 15-20minutes. Its now ok to get in the shower and finish the wash process.
5. Rinse out your deep conditioner with the coldest water as possible (as cold as you can take it).
6. IF your hair does in fact need a cleansing, follow up with your hydrating-moisturizing shampoo and rinse thoroughly. try your best not to get shampoo and conditioner directly on your bonds or scrub your scalp close to your bonds as this can weaken your bonds.
7. Condition again using a hydrating moisturizing conditioner that has jojoba oil, avocado oil, or argan oil in the ingredients. Rinse thoroughly with cold water.

At this point your hair should be completely  detangled.

8. Towel dry hair using a microfiber towel.
9. Saturate your hair and extensions using a hydrating-moisturizing leave-in conditioner and detangler.
10. Add a pea drop of coconut oil hair serum. We recommend adding small amounts of oil to small sections of hair, then adding more if you feel like your hair needs it. It should not look or feel greasy after the application.
11. Use Innersense styling lotion to style your hair while its damp. Be sure to not weight down the hair by adding too much product.
12. Finish with drying with hooded dryer or diffuser. If you have wefts, its very important your wefts are fully dried to prevent matting. For best results with weft sew ins we recommend investing in a hooded dryer. 
13. At night it's important to braid your hair and wrap inside a silk/satin bonnet.

Clarifying shampoo can be too harsh for the extensions and should only be used once every 4-6 weeks.