Can I Run with Hair Extensions?

I have always wanted long, beautiful, thick hair. I envied those who could grow their hair super long or were blessed with thick, luxurious hair. That is not what I got in my genes, so I’ve been stuck with thin hair that only grows until a certain point (See the before and after pictures.) all of my life.

But . . . .enter hair extensions.

I knew hair extensions existed, however, I knew very little about them: what kinds there were, how to care for them, could I wear them running, how much do they cost, etc.

I have now had hair extensions for about 6 months, and I am also an avid runner–running 6 – 7 days a week, so I wanted to share my experiences with running and hair extensions because there wasn’t a lot of information on the Internet when I Googled it.

I have wanted to try extensions for quite some time, and I finally bit the bullet last fall and got them put in. I had them in for about 4 months before taking them out during the winter because it got to be a lot of hair to manage under my hat for running. I also wanted to take a break from them to see how much I missed them.

Come this spring, I had them put back in for the spring and summer months. There is a lot to like about my hair extensions: my hair is so thick and full, and my hair has never been this long! (I don’t think I could grow it this long if I tried. Plus my hair grows so slow!) I also don’t spend as much time on my hair when getting ready in the morning, and have I said how beautiful they are?! (Kudos to my hair stylist for matching things so well and installing them seamlessly!)

After all this time, I can confidently say my hair extensions have done so well with my daily runs. They are very comfortable to wear (I don’t even feel them!), the extensions don’t get ruined with the extra sweat, and you can’t see them when I pull my hair back in a low ponytail.

Here’s a picture of my hair before extensions:

I have very thin hair naturally and this is about as long as it will grow. I’ve always wanted thicker hair (my sister got it instead of me), and I’ve always wished I could grow it longer.

When I initially did a consultation with my hair stylist, I told her all my concerns and asked how the extensions would do with running. She was very upfront and honest and told me she wasn’t entirely sure, but she also didn’t see why there would be any problems with it. So I went for it, and I’m so happy I did.

I polled my Instagram followers regarding questions they had about hair extensions and running, and here were the most common questions. I’ve included everything from: can I feel them when I run to how I care for my hair to the type of extensions I have. I’ve learned a lot over the six months of having them, so I wanted to share my experience and the pros and cons to having them. (If I didn’t answer your question, be sure to leave a comment, and I’ll answer it there or edit this post to include it afterwards.)

What type of hair extensions do you have?

I have hand-tied hair extensions by the brand: Aqua. It is a long strip (called a ‘weft’) of real hair that my hair stylist “sews” into my hair.

[The website for the brand of hair extensions I have has a listing of several other types of extensions (tape-in, keratin fusion extensions, clip-in, etc.), so that can be a good place to start if you are learning about all of the different kinds of extensions.]

What is the process like to install the extensions?

In the picture below you can see the weft of hair to the left of the clip and the ‘beads’ that are holding my own hair that the weft will be sewn to.

It’s a tedious process that takes a couple of hours, but I will bring my laptop to do work while my stylist installs them. My stylist uses the beads as anchors to sew the weft to. When she is installing them, there is a little bit of tugging from pulling the hair through but otherwise it doesn’t hurt.

Here is what the extensions looks like when they are installed. You can see the string that wraps around the weft and anchors it to the beads.

Can you feel them?

I cannot feel them when I’m walking around or doing day-to-day things. They are very lightweight, and I literally do not even notice they are there.

I can’t feel them when I run either. They don’t move around, bounce weird, or shift in any way.I feel a much bigger and longer ponytail (which I’m strangely obsessed with!), but otherwise they don’t tug, bounce, or feel uncomfortable in any way when I run or exercise. I use the TIY hair ties, and they work so well to hold my hair secure when I run.

Now when I comb my hair or run my fingers through my hair, the weft does prevent me from seamlessly running my fingers through that area. Essentially, I can’t run my fingers through my hair from the top of my head to the bottom without having to lift them up and over the weft. (Hopefully that makes sense.) It’s not really that annoying but you do have to kind of retrain yourself how to comb carefully around the extensions so you don’t catch your comb or brush on them.

How much do extensions cost?

The upfront cost is the highest because you have to purchase the hair initially, and then you’ll have to pay your stylist to put them in for you. But then once you have the hair, you can reuse them for about 10 – 12 months, if I remember correctly. On top of that, I opt to have my hair highlighted, so adds to the cost of the services as well.

During your consultation, your stylist will tell you how much the hair + installation will be since the exact price will vary depending upon where you live. I do know it was a lot cheaper to do them in the small town I live in in the Midwest versus Alaska where all services are more. (This was one big reason I never got them done in Alaska.)

What is the maintenance of the hair extensions?

About every 8 weeks, I have to go in and get the extensions moved up. Since they are attached to my regular hair, they grow out as my regular hair grows. And then what ends up happening is that the extensions get harder to hide. (At least that’s what I have found.)

It is about a 90 minute to 2 hour process to move them up. My stylists takes out the extensions, and then reties them back closer to my scalp.

The other thing to remember is that if you color your hair, you’ll probably need to re-highlight or color your hair as well, which adds another 90 minutes to 2 hours onto this process. This last time I opted to just get a few highlights at the top of my head, around the sides, and underneath, and the my appointment ended up being about 3 hours to highlight, plus move up my extensions.

(I will say that this picture below makes my hair look terrible, but my stylist promised me that this picture made everything look worse, and I actually took really good care of the extensions. Ha!)

How do you care for your extensions?

I wash my hair twice a week. That is about as long as I can go as my real hair gets super greasy otherwise. (When I don’t have extensions, I wash my hair every day–or at least 5 – 6 times a week–as it gets greasy within 24 hours.) I know other people with extensions will only wash their hair once a week, but I just can’t make it that long.

After I wash my extensions, I use a hair detangler to get the tangles out. I don’t need to use this with my regular hair because there isn’t that much hair to comb through but with the extra length and volume from the extensions, the detangler really helps to comb through it more easily. I also use a hair oil as the ends of the extensions can get really dry. Finally, I use a heat protectant on my hair. (This is a product I use even when I don’t have extensions.)

On days I don’t wash my hair, I will blow dry the sweat out of my hair after my run, use a dry shampoo, and then style my hair as I normally would. I will say when I curl my hair, the curls stay really well in my extensions. They tend to fall out in the humidity outside on a run, but if I don’t run, I can just fluff them back up with some hairspray.

How do the extensions do with running?

As far as running with the extensions, they have done really well for me. I don’t find them uncomfortable, nor do they pull on my scalp in a uncomfortable way. The biggest annoyance is that they become pretty itchy when they are wet from sweating. But then as soon as I dry the sweat out of them (since I don’t usually wash my hair), then it is fine again.

I do typically wear my hair in a low ponytail since putting it up in a high ponytail exposes the beads holding the extensions in. I will still wear my hair in a high ponytail, but if you are looking closely you can see the beads.

Do they damage your natural hair?

This last time I had my extensions taken out to be moved up, I ran my fingers through my hair, and my hair felt so thin. Now is this because I was used to my hair feeling much thicker from the extensions being in or was my hair damaged from the extensions? My gut says that my hair did sustain some damage from the extensions. (I’ve found the same thing to happen when I’ve let all of my eyelash extensions fall out.) I think the beads pulling so tight on my hair and scalp causes the hair follicals growth to be compromised and seemed to thin my hair even more.

I will say I thought the same thing when I had them taken out during the winter time, but within a few weeks my hair seemed to be back to its normal thickness again. So once again, did I just get used to it or did the hair start to grow back in after this time?

As with anything there are pros and cons to everything, so these would be my pros and cons to hair extensions from my perspective and experience.

Pros:

• thicker hair
• longer hair (if you want)
• less maintenance for me with my hair on a daily basis

Cons:

• the cost and maintenance (but ‘expensive’ is relative, everyone has things they splurge on, and the time I’m in the chair, I will do work on my computer)
• hairstyles can be limited
• potential damage to my natural hair

If you have any other questions, please leave them below, and I will be sure to reply back!