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From bouncy curls to sleek straight locks, fake it ’til you make it with these authentic-looking sets
These are the sets worth investing in
While this set doesn’t come cheap, it’s the easiest to install, care for, style and fit out of all the clip-in extensions we tried. There’s 21 shades to choose spanning both solid colours and highlighted styles in black, brunette and blonde hair colours. And all are available as 150g of hair that are 16in long.
Our tester colour-matched their own hair to the photos on the website and managed to find a perfect shade for their highlighted blonde hair. This set contains four large strips with three clips on each, two medium strips with two clips and four small strips with one clip each, so there’s plenty of hair to add in if you want both thickness and length.
This clip-on human hair ponytail is the fastest and easiest to install, and is a great option if you want to utilise extensions to create an updo. It’s thick and luxurious, available in four different lengths – 12in, 16in, 22in and 26in and 24 different shades across ombre, singular colours, highlights, balayage and reds.
Hair Rehab London was created by Lauren Pope, who you may recognise from ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex. In this 18in set comes six pieces, one large, one medium, one small and four mini, so you can alternate between adding volume and length. In the pack, there’s a sample piece at the top that allows you to check the shade, quality and length before removing the hygiene seal on the rest of the clear packaging, in case you need to return it.
This set arrived in a cute heart-shaped box with two sections. It includes a tester piece of hair to help you check if you’ve got an accurate colour match before opening the whole set, which is very helpful when ordering extensions online. If you’re unhappy with it, you can then return the whole set. It contains nine wefts, two 6in, five 4in and two 1.5in with flat silicone base strips so they sit discreetly in your hair without any tracks being visible.
Created in collaboration with Easilocks and Towie star Megan McKenna, this two-piece set is great for adding voluminous bounce to short hair or tousled lengthened styles. The shorter piece is 14in, falling just below the shoulder and the longer piece is 22in, giving you luscious-looking locks. They’re great for giving that freshly blowdried look without the legwork, and it’s a style of curl/wave that we often find quite hard to achieve ourselves with heated styling tools.
Beauty Works is well known for its collaborations with influencer and Love Island star Molly Mae Hague, having launched collections of heated styling tools and luxury hair extensions. We tried the 18in set in the colour “sunset boulevard”, weighing 140g and designed for fine or medium hair types. The colour matching process on the brand’s website is easy to navigate and the colour we chose was a perfect match for our reviewer’s blonde highlighted hair.
If you’re looking to add length, body and volume to your hair, clip-in extensions are the fastest way to achieve it. The pre-clipped strips snap onto sections of your own hair at the root and can easily be installed and removed for special occasions, holidays, weddings and whenever you want to switch up your hairstyle.
There’s plenty of options to shop from too, ranging from 100 per cent real human hair to synthetic styles, and ready-made curls to sleek, straight strands that can be clipped in and styled with the rest of your hair. You can also find clip-on ponytails which easily clip on with welts that are simple to conceal, and take just seconds to perfect.
Typically, clip-in extensions are available from 16in all the way up to 28in, weighing anything from 70g to 200g, with each strip often being called a weft. The width of each clip-in extension is also varied, from 1.5in to 6in, 7in or 8in.
These are some of the clip-in extensions we’ve tried for our round-up
Designed for temporary use, they’re ideal as a short-term, quick fix that can allow you to experiment with different hairstyles that will last longer and hold a curl better than your hair may do on its own. Maintenance is fairly fuss-free too, as unless you’ve been somewhere with a strong odour, such as a smoking area, you don’t need to wash them after every use. Just remember to always apply a heat protection spray if you style them with a curling tong or straightener.
If you’re new to wearing clip-in extensions, it’s best to install them in clean hair – any grease will cause them to lose grip and slide out – and section hair, then backcomb the top of where you’re placing them to ensure a better and more secure grip. Styling them should always be done once they’re installed to guarantee a seamless finish with your own hair.
We’ve spent the past few weeks putting a range of hair extensions to the test and have found the sets worth investing in. They span different lengths, weights and budgets, and we’ve rated each on how easy they are to clip in, care for and style.
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While this set doesn’t come cheap, it’s the easiest to install, care for, style and fit out of all the clip-in extensions we tried. There’s 21 shades to choose spanning both solid colours and highlighted styles in black, brunette and blonde hair colours. And all are available as 150g of hair that are 16in long.
We loved that instead of multiple wefts to grapple with, there’s just two large sections of hair that have four clips on each, and can easily be attached to the sections of your hair for a seamless finish. Ideal for beginners and anyone short of time, they couldn’t be easier to install. They come layered too, so they’re easy to blend in with your hair by adding a gentle wave or curl with a tong. They don’t feel heavy, nor do the clips show through your own hair and their quality mimics the feel of real hair.
Our tester colour-matched their own hair to the photos on the website and managed to find a perfect shade for their highlighted blonde hair. This set contains four large strips with three clips on each, two medium strips with two clips and four small strips with one clip each, so there’s plenty of hair to add in if you want both thickness and length.
Each piece feels high quality too as it’s a 100 per cent human hair set. If you opt to wear all 10 clip-ins, it can feel a little heavy, so we’d recommend sticking to just the larger pieces if you plan to wear them for longer than a few hours.
This clip-on human hair ponytail is the fastest and easiest to install, and is a great option if you want to utilise extensions to create an updo. It’s thick and luxurious, available in four different lengths – 12in, 16in, 22in and 26in and 24 different shades across ombre, singular colours, highlights, balayage and reds.
We tried the 12in length and found it suited our hair perfectly. It comes as one piece, with a larger section for the main ponytail attached to a smaller strand with a slim velcro patch, which is designed to be wrapped around where your ponytail is tied to conceal the clips. It comes in a sleek black box, and has, in our case, two blond hair ties and gold clips inside, so all you need to complete your look is a hairbrush.
Easy to store and apply, it feels silky soft and is perfect for beginners or anyone seeking a clip-on ponytail that takes just seconds to install.
Hair Rehab London was created by Lauren Pope, who you may recognise from ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex. In this 18in set comes six pieces, one large, one medium, one small and four mini, so you can alternate between adding volume and length. In the pack, there’s a sample piece at the top that allows you to check the shade, quality and length before removing the hygiene seal on the rest of the clear packaging, in case you need to return it.
We’d recommend laying them all out and brushing them through before you decide how many pieces to apply, and regular brushing will also keep them less knotty and healthier looking. If you’re using heat on these extensions to style them, make sure your tool doesn’t reach any higher than 180C, and always use a heat protectant spray to prevent damage.
The clips are thicker along each welt than any others we tried, but we found this to be very helpful when gripping onto thinner strands. They feel secure when clipped in, making a satisfying snap to let you know they’re in place, but can easily be removed without snagging. There are 17 shades to choose from too, whether you have the same colour all over or highlights. The brand claims that this set can last up to a year with the correct care.
This set arrived in a cute heart-shaped box with two sections. It includes a tester piece of hair to help you check if you’ve got an accurate colour match before opening the whole set, which is very helpful when ordering extensions online. If you’re unhappy with it, you can then return the whole set. It contains nine wefts, two 6in, five 4in and two 1.5in with flat silicone base strips so they sit discreetly in your hair without any tracks being visible.
We loved the varying lengths that made it easy to customise where you wanted to add length. We also found we didn’t need to wear every weft, but instead could pick and choose when and where to add volume. There are 24 shades to choose from, ranging from icy blonde to caramel highlighted brunette to glossy jet black.
Created in collaboration with Easilocks and Towie star Megan McKenna, this two-piece set is great for adding voluminous bounce to short hair or tousled lengthened styles. The shorter piece is 14in, falling just below the shoulder and the longer piece is 22in, giving you luscious-looking locks. They’re great for giving that freshly blowdried look without the legwork, and it’s a style of curl/wave that we often find quite hard to achieve ourselves with heated styling tools.
You can use the two pieces separately or together too as they easily attach to add oodles of volume. The clips are nice and sturdy and because they are fibre hair extensions, they will return to their original shape after washing, making them very easy to maintain.
The colour matching system offered by Easilocks is very simple too, it can be done over a Facetime appointment with a consultation, Instagram DM or by ordering swatches via the brand’s website. This is fantastic customer service for extensions that won’t break the bank but are still good quality and blend well with your natural hair.
Beauty Works is well known for its collaborations with influencer and Love Island star Molly Mae Hague, having launched collections of heated styling tools and luxury hair extensions. We tried the 18in set in the colour “sunset boulevard”, weighing 140g and designed for fine or medium hair types. The colour matching process on the brand’s website is easy to navigate and the colour we chose was a perfect match for our reviewer’s blonde highlighted hair.
The box is neat and compact, making it easy to store when not being used and prevents the hair from becoming tangled. This pack contained two 11in wefts and one 8in weft as well as a helpful instruction booklet with a diagram to demonstrate where each one should be placed and a step by step guide to application, making this a great option for first-time users. They couldn’t have been easier to apply, with sturdy clips that clicked open and shut with ease, and felt secure for hours. Removing them took seconds too and didn’t pull or tug on our natural hair.
Clip-in extensions are a temporary way to add length and volume and can be worn across a day, whether that’s as a wedding guest, to a party or any evening plans. However, you should always remove your clip-in extensions before you go to bed and never sleep in them overnight. They’re designed as a quick fix rather than a permanent solution to lengthening your hair.
Yes, in fact, it’s recommended to straighten and style them with heat so they blend with your own hair. However, whenever you apply heat to them and your hair, make sure to use heat protectant spray to prevent any damage and ensure any styling tools don’t reach any higher than 180C.
Clip-in extensions can last up to a year if properly cared for. If you wear them regularly, make sure you wash them and hang them up to completely dry before installing them and always use heat protection sprays when styling them.
Yes, but clip-in hair extensions do not need to be washed as regularly as your own hair, as they’re not attached to oil glands on your scalp, they simply clip into the hair at your root. You should instead wash them when they start to become tangled often, lose their softness or if you’ve noticed a build-up of styling products.
However, if you’re somewhere such as a smoking area on a night out or at a BBQ, clip-in hair can pick up smells that will linger, in which case you should wash them with your regular shampoo and brush through to avoid any knotting.
Before installing any clip-in extensions, make sure to brush them through with a wide-tooth comb to remove any knots and ensure they’re as smooth as possible. Not only will this make it easier to clip in, but they’ll be easier to style with your own hair too.
When washing them, your usual shampoo will work fine. Once completely rinsed out, brush out any tangles and leave to dry naturally or use a hair dryer if you want a voluminous blow-dry look next time you wear them. The best way to let them dry is to use a clamp trouser hanger, attached to the welts, so you can hang them up vertically.
If you plan to style your hair with heat, a heat protectant spray is a must for your clip-in extensions to prevent any damage. You can also use shampoo to wash them, and conditioner on the mid-lengths to ends as this will also work well as a detangling aid. It’s possible to finish off your clip-in extensions with a shine spray once they’re installed too, which is typically a light mist that adds a shine to hair to make it look glossy and healthy.
We loved everything about the Extension Professional clip-in hair extensions, from how easy it was to install just two large welts, how well it matched our own hair, and how well it held a curled style. They also felt the most secure, were the easiest to remove and are ideal for a beginner or those short of time. While expensive, we believe they’re worth the investment if you’re keen to add instant and fuss-free length and volume.
Looking to curl your locks? Take a look at our best hair-roller round-up
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