Haircare

Your extensions are an investment. Here's how to protect it.

EXTENSION HOMECARE

READING A LABEL

Extension-safe products are easy to spot once you know what you're looking for.

Look for: hydrating · moisturizing · nourishing · smoothing · sulfate-free · protein-free

Avoid: bonding · repairing · strengthening · restructuring · fortifying · sulfates · clarifying (except as directed below)

THE WHY

BONDING & REPAIR PRODUCTS ARE OFF-LIMITS

Products like bond builders, protein treatments, and repair masks are designed for hair that is still attached to your head and still growing. Extensions are not. These products are protein-based, and protein has nowhere to go on an extension — so it deposits, layer after layer, until the hair becomes over-proteinized.

Over-proteinized hair doesn't look repaired. It looks brittle. It snaps at the ends, dries out prematurely, tangles at the root, and loses its shine. It is one of the most common causes of extension failure we see, and it is completely preventable.

The same goes for sulfates. Sulfates are aggressive detergents that strip moisture and lift the cuticle. On your natural hair, your scalp compensates. On extensions, nothing does — so the damage is cumulative and permanent.

THE NON-NEGOTIABLES

If you remember nothing else, remember these five.

Sulfate-free only. Every wash, every time.

No bonding, repairing, or strengthening products. Ever. (More on why below.)

Brush from the ends up, holding the hair above where you're brushing.

THE FIRST 48 HOURS

This window matters more than any other, and it's the one most often missed.

For keratin tips and tape-ins: no shampooing, no swimming, no hot yoga, no workouts that cause heavy sweating — for a full 48 hours after installation. The bond or adhesive is still curing during this time. Moisture introduced too early interferes with the cure and leads to slipping, shedding, and premature loss.

For all methods: Micro-wefts & hand-tied hair can be shampooed on day 1 if needed,

Discover more

CLEANSE

2–3 times per week is ideal. Washing daily strips moisture; washing too rarely allows buildup at the root, which is the leading cause of tangling and matting.

Lukewarm to cool. Hot water lifts the cuticle and accelerates color fading.

Brush before you shower. Always. Getting in the shower with tangles is how tangles become mats.
Shampoo the scalp only, using the pads of your fingers — not your nails. Work gently in between rows and around bonds. Let the suds rinse down the lengths; that's enough cleansing for the mid-lengths and ends.
Rinse thoroughly. Residual shampoo left sitting at the root is a common cause of buildup and irritation.
Apply conditioner from mid-lengths to ends only. Keep conditioner away from the root, seams, bonds, and tape tabs. Conditioner at the attachment point causes slipping.
Rinse completely — conditioner left behind will weigh the hair down.
Once a week, use a hydrating mask in place of conditioner. This is your extensions' single best defense against dryness.
Once a month, use a gentle clarifying shampoo to reset the hair and remove buildup. We love Davines SOLU, it’s a gentle clarifying shampoo that works on removing product buildup. (SHOP SOLU BUTTON) ***Will give you the link next week.

BRUSH

Proper brushing is what separates extensions that last from extensions thatdon't.

Use your Muse HairPro Detangle Brush (LINK TO THIS BRUSH) — it's designed for extensions specifically.
Brush a minimum of twice a day, morning and before bed. Every time you take your hair down, brush it.
Section your hair and expose the bottom row first. Hold the hair above the seam or bond firmly with one hand to take the tension off the attachment point.
Start at the ends and work your way up. Never start at the root and pull down through a tangle.
Work your way up row by row, repeating the same process.
Never brush directly across a seam, bond, or tape tab with your detangle brush.
Brush over your keratin tip bonds with the Muse Boar Bristle Brush (LINK TO BRUSH)
If you hit a knot, stop pulling. Hold above it and work it out gently from the bottom.

DRY & STYLE

Your extensions must be dried. Always.

Air-drying traps moisture at the scalp and against the attachment point. Depending on your method, this causes chafing, matting, bacterial buildup at the root, and with tape-ins and keratin tips — breakdown of the adhesive or bond itself. This is not a preference. It's a requirement.

Squeeze excess water out with a towel. Don't rub or twist.
Dry the root and attachment points first, while the hair is still wet. This is the part that matters most.
Rough-dry to about 80% using your hands and a blow dryer, pointing the nozzle down toward the ends to keep the cuticle smooth and reduce tangling.
Once you're at 80%, finish with a round brush and minimal tension.

Always use a heat protectant. Extensions can't repair heat damage. Prevention is your only option.
Keep hot tools at or below 350°F (175°C). Extensions are pre-colored and processed; they don't need and can't tolerate it at the temperatures you might use on virgin hair.
Never place a hot tool directly on a seam, bond, or tape tab. Direct heat compromises the attachment and causes shedding over time. Stay at least an inch below.
Less heat, less often.

SLEEP

Never go to bed with wet hair. Ever.
Brush thoroughly before bed.
Secure your hair in a loose braid, two loose braids, or a low, loose ponytail with a soft scrunchie. Nothing tight — tension at the root during sleep causes damage and discomfort.
Sleep on a silk or satin pillowcase for extra care. Cotton creates friction, and friction creates tangles and dryness.

SUN, SAND & WATER

Chlorine and salt water are extremely damaging to extensions. Both strip moisture, alter tone, and can cause irreversible dryness and matting.

If you're heading to the pool or ocean:

Wear your hair up and out of the water whenever possible.
Saturate your hair with clean water and apply a leave-in conditioner before getting in. Hair that's already full of clean water absorbs less chlorine and salt.
Rinse thoroughly and wash immediately afterward.

Sunscreen will stain your extensions. Chemical sunscreens contain avobenzone and octocrylene, which cause a pinky-orange discoloration in hair extensions. Blondes are the most vulnerable, but brunettes will see a shift too — and once it happens, it's very difficult to correct.

Use mineral-based sunscreen only. We love Bare Republic.

Also worth knowing: self-tanner, sweat, and hard water all contribute to discoloration over time. A sunhat during long sun exposure protects both your color and your investment.

CARE BY METHOD

The fundamentals above apply to every method. These are the specifics.

Micro-Wefts

Our micro-wefts are built with a reinforced seam and can be cut anywhere along the weft without shedding — that's the whole point of them.

Keep direct flat iron heat off the seam itself. The seam is reinforced, but repeated direct heat will compromise it over time.
Brush below the seam, holding above it.

Hand-Tied Wefts

Hand-tied wefts have a knot at either end of the seam. These knots hold the entire weft together and must remain completely undisturbed.

Hand-tied wefts cannot be cut anywhere along the seam. Cutting will release the knots and cause the weft to shed.
Never brush across the seam. The bristles can damage the delicate hand-tied construction.
Dry the seams fully. Hand-tied wefts left to air-dry will cause the seams to swell and can cause scalp chafing and irritation.

Keratin Tips

48 hours before your first wash. No exceptions. No sweating, no swimming.
Keep conditioner, oils, masks, and leave-ins away from the bonds entirely. Anything oily at the bond will cause it to slip.
Matting and Tangling at the Bond
If two or more bonds start tangling together above the keratin bond, gently separate them with your fingers before it spreads. If they won’t come apart easily, see your stylist to have it assessed.
You naturally shed 100 to 150 hairs a day, and that doesn’t stop with extensions in. That shed hair just can’t fall into your brush the way it normally would, so it stays behind and wraps around neighboring bonds.
Brushing twice daily with your detangling brush keeps that shed hair moving downward instead of getting tangled with neighboring bonds shed. Expect to need more diligence after the two month mark, when more shed hair has built up. Staying consistent from day one is what prevents matting later.
Brush above the bonds twice a day with your Muse Boar Bristle Brush (LINK)
Some shedding is normal. Up to about 10% across the full wear cycle is expected, with most of it occurring in the first day or two while the bonds finish curing.
Dry the bond area completely after every wash.

Tape-Ins

48 hours before your first wash. The adhesive is still curing.
Absolutely no conditioner, oil, mask, or leave-in at the root. Tape adhesive and oil are incompatible — this is the number one cause of tape-ins slipping early.
Never air-dry. Moisture trapped between the tape tabs breaks the adhesive down. Dry the root thoroughly, every single time.
No direct heat on the tape tabs.

Clip-Ins

Remove your clip-ins before sleeping, showering, and swimming. Always.
Brush from the ends up before and after each wear.
Wash only every 10-15 wears — clip-ins aren't exposed to scalp oil, so they need far less cleansing than installed hair.
Store them flat or hanging, never crumpled in a drawer.

Extensions are not a set-it-and-forget-it service. Your natural hair grows, and as it does, your attachment points move away from the scalp — which creates tension, tangling, and matting if left too long.

Book your move-up appointment on schedule and don't stretch it. Your stylist will give you a timeline based on your method and your growth rate. Following it is one of the biggest factors in how long your hair lasts.

Between appointments, if something feels off — tightness, a loose bond, tangling you can't brush out — call your stylist. Don't wait for your next appointment and don't try to fix it yourself.

With proper care, Muse HairPro extensions are designed to last up to nine months of wear.

That number assumes the guidelines on this page are being followed. Sulfates, bonding products, air-drying, high heat, chlorine, and skipped move-up appointments all shorten it — sometimes dramatically. Consistent, correct homecare is the difference between replacing your hair once a year and replacing it twice.

Knowing the difference will save you a lot of worry.

WHAT'S NORMAL ( & WHAT ISN'T)

Normal:

A small amount of shedding, particularly in the first few days
Slightly less density at the very ends over time
Needing a gloss or toner refresh every few months
Your natural hair shedding during re-install appointments — you lose 50–100 strands a day naturally, and with extensions they have nowhere to fall out to

Not normal — reach out to your stylist:

Shedding coming directly from a seam
A bond or tape tab releasing entirely
Sudden matting at the root
Rapid, dramatic dryness or breakage

A quick way to tell if its your hair shedding or the extension hair: look at the root end of a shed strand. If there's a small white bulb, that's your own natural hair completing its normal cycle. No bulb means it came from the extension.

HARD WATER

If your water is hard or you're on a well, mineral deposits will build up on your extensions and cause dullness, brassiness, dryness, and accelerated fading — no matter how perfect your product routine is.

A shower filter solves this. We recommend the AquaBliss Shower Filter, available on Amazon. It's an inexpensive fix for a problem that's otherwise very difficult to work around.

WHAT WE RECOMMEND

Davines OI

Sulfate-free, protein-free, deeply moisturizing. Our go-to line for extensions.

OI Shampoo
OI Conditioner
OI All-in-One Milk
OI Leave-In Oil

Davines SOLU

Gentle clarifying shampoo, once a month maximum

AquaBliss Shower Filter

For hard or well water

Bare Republic Sunscreen

Mineral sunscreen that won't discolor your hair

Muse HairPro Detangle Brush

Built specifically for the mids to ends of your extensions.