Normally when you purchase hair extensions, you would either walk into a salon or have your hair stylist use his/her best judgment and measuring techniques to get the right sized extensions. In a salon environment, the stylist doesn’t have to be 100% accurate because he/she can always cut and trim the extensions as needed in order to make them blend in with your natural hair.
Another popular method for purchasing the right sized hair extensions is to walk into a beauty supply and a sales rep can help you choose the right sized extensions. They can often remove the extensions from the packaging and hold them up next to your hair to further aid in the measurement adjustments.
When you order your hair pieces on line, you do not get that same face to face customer service. Instead, you will need to properly measure your hair in order to know which size of hair extensions to order.
First we will measure the two middle layers. To get started you should first section your hair by creating a section starting at ear level. The ear level should be about 1/2″ inch below the tip (the highest point) of the ear and secure the top part hair section with a clip on top of your head. Now, take a clothing measuring tape (one that is pliable and bends easily) and measure the nape section of the head which would be from the back of one ear to the back of the other ear. The measurement should be 5-7 inches across. You will need 2 extension pieces that measure 5″ or 7″ in width; meaning the track section that is clipping onto your natural hair and not the actual hair strand length.
Secondly, we will measure the top layer. Keeping your hair sectioned, slide the measuring tape to be approximately 1 inch above the highest point of the ear. Now make sure that you measure this area so that your measuring tape is still raised 1 inch above the tip of the ear but that you want the measurements to be extending just past the ear as if it was wrapping towards the point of where your hairline and face meet. This measurement should be between 8″ and 11″.
Then we will measure the bottom layer. Take the measuring tape and place it about 1 1/2″ from the bottom of your hairline (where the top of your neck and bottom of your hair meets) on the back of your neck. Your tape should start about 1 inch behind the back of one ear to the other. This measurement might be something like 3″ -5″ wide.
Now we measure the side smaller pieces. Section your hair so that you have piled up the top most part of your hair which would be the bangs and a small portion of hair that is on the crown of the head. Now measure the width straight across of where your hairline meets your temple (about 1 inch above your eyebrow) and it ends at the beginning of your ear area. This is usually a measurement of 1/2″-1 1/2″.
Your measurements may look something like this:
1 – Piece measuring 3″-5″
2 – Pieces measuring 5″-7″
1 – Piece measuring 8″-11″
2 – small side pieces measuring 1″- 1 1/2″