Pop, Lock and Drop It: The Tape-In Extension Technique

Think hair extensions are too complicated to work into your everyday routine? Think again! We visited the William Robert Salon in Cherry Hill, N.J., where hairtalk® educator Alicia Iannone (@liciebaby) showed us a complete tape-in extension transformation on Facebook Live to prove just how easy the service can be! Here are a few things we learned:

• Tape-ins are a FAST service—you can complete an entire head (meaning you’re adding length, fullness and color) in under two hours!
• Tape-ins are a luxury service and a big moneymaker for stylists—and a lot of times, extension clients are clients for life.

With more than 800 comments and questions from all of you, the Facebook Live was full of amazing tips, tricks and techniques. Here are two we had to share.

How much do hair extensions cost? And how much should you charge? Click here!

Pop, Lock and Drop It Technique
To add the tape-in extension perfectly, Alicia uses her “karate chop, pop, lock and drop it” method. Here’s how it’s done (if you’re right-handed!):

• Grab the section you’re going to sandwich in with the tape-ins and hold it taut with your right hand. The bottom tape-in extension is also in your right hand at this point.
• Then “karate chop” with your left hand where the scalp and the section meet. Then place the hair between your left middle and pointer finger, flipping or “popping” the hair up.
• Then, using your right hand, place or “lock” the tape-in directly underneath the section of hair that is popped up. Then drop the hair down, smoothing it over the tape-in.
• Tune at 23:00 to see the technique in action!

Remember: When applying the tape-ins, stand on the side of the head as opposed to standing directly behind the client. This will help your arm positioning and help keep the extension straight when applying to the head. Watch Alicia explain at 23:00!

Use Texturizing Shears To Create Dimension Around The Face

• Adding more than one color when applying extensions can create a more natural, more blended outcome.
• To do this, use one color on the bottom of the tape-in sandwich and one color on the top.
• Alicia used this technique throughout the entire head, applying the hairtalk® Naturals number 5 on bottom and mixing it with the number 4 on top.
• To create more color around the face, Alicia suggests taking texturizing shears and thinning the top tape-in. This allows the bottom color to peek through a little bit more. Think of this as a custom, face-framing highlight or lowlight that should only be used on a couple tape-in strands.
• Don’t use this technique throughout the entire head because then the extensions won’t match the client’s actual hair density when the application is complete. 

Remember: hairtalk® extensions come in all different sizes—original/original plus, petite/petite plus, mini strands/mini strands plus—which means when working around the face, or in other finer/thinner sections, you can use the smaller tape-ins to create a better blend and a more seamless outcome!

Want more? Watch the full video below and find out things like how to remove the tape-ins (8:00) and how to avoid a stringy-looking end result (37:00)!

Products Used

Hair Extensions

Original, Petite and Mini Extensions

Hairtalk

Hair Extensions

Hair Extension Removal & Reapplication Board

Hairtalk

Hair Extensions

Essential Haircare Set

Hairtalk