Can Hair Extensions Help Thinning Hair? I Tested Them to Find Out
Jessica Hartshorn
One of my best friends, Victoria, posted a video of herself on Instagram with, suddenly, long hair, and I did a double take. It took me a minute to realize she was wearing hair extensions. They looked great.
In the battle against midlife hair thinning, extensions are a valid, if temporary, solution — one anyone in perimenopause or menopause might consider. I hit menopause about four years ago, which makes me postmenopausal. I have the increasingly thin, limp hair to prove it!
Six months ago, I decided to try to rehab my hair. I went on the daily supplement Nutrafol and I now have new baby hair growing in. I’ve been using thickening shampoos and scalp serums. I am three months into giving up highlights (help!), which is the hard one. Honestly, hair rehab is a glacially slow process. Extensions looked like a quick fix.
Luxy Hair is a Flow Space sponsor, however, all products in this article were independently selected by our editors. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.
Is Luxy Hair Good for Thinning Hair?
Luxy hair extensions are real locks of human hair on clips. They’re DIY extensions you can put in at home, and there are fill-ins and fuller-coverage hair toppers designed specifically as thinning hair solutions. Luxy mails the “Luxies” to you in a pretty, round box. The clip on the top half of the box is the tester — if you immediately realize it’s not going to match your color, you should not open the box any further and initiate an exchange within 60 days. If it is a color match and you feel good to go, you can open the bottom of the box to access the full set of clip-in pieces.
Luxies can be brushed and styled, but the brand does not recommend sleeping in them or showering with them. You’re meant to put them on at the beginning of your day, when your hair is clean and dry, then take them off at the end of the day.
Obviously, clip-ins are different than expensive salon procedures where semi-permanent extensions might be sewn in, for instance. And because Luxies are a product to use at home, I had a lot of questions.
How to Choose the Right Luxy Hair Extensions
Staring at the web site, I had no idea what I should order, or in what color. Thank goodness Luxy offers a free video consultation. That was clutch for me. I filled out a survey about what I was hoping to achieve (volume, fullness), and was told I could appear on-camera with a Luxy rep, named Mikayla, with just good lighting, no special makeup or outfit needed — just the bare truth of me and my hair.
Mikayla was smart and fast. She recommended the dirty-blonde shade right away. But length was an issue. My hair just barely touches my shoulder, and the shortest Luxies are 12 inches long. If I were looking to add volume rather than length, she said, whoever cuts my hair should also cut my Luxies. “Take them to your stylist and she can blend them into your natural hair for you,” Mikayla said. “You can place them all around your perimeter and get some volume at your ends. There’s a placement guide in the package.”
She paused, trying to decide whether to recommend the 12″ Thinning Fill ins in Dirty Blonde Highlights ($130 for six small clips) or the 12″ Seamless Clip Ins in Dirty Blonde Highlights ($240 for ten large clips). In the end, we decided I should try both, for the purpose of this story.
I told Mikayla that I am not good with my hair. I don’t even blow-dry it. And as I said, she told me I should bring them to my stylist. Unfortunately, I am traveling and that wasn’t an option, so my solo attempts to wear the Luxies were lame.
Mikayla absolutely nailed the color, but not only were the Luxies too long for me, they were stick-straight and shiny. They contrasted with my wavy, air-dried hair. When I tucked them underneath my real hair, they hung too low, and were too obvious.
It was immediately clear that I would need a salon to first blow-dry my hair straight, then put in the Luxies, then trim them. I texted a salon near my hotel in Houston, and they quoted me a little less than $200 to give me a blowout, put the Luxies in, and cut them to the right length.
It was fair, but also I’d rather have my own stylist back in Brooklyn do it, and I’d rather spend the money for an event or special occasion. The next time I attend something special, like a wedding, it will be totally worth it. So for now, I am saving a full installation for when I have something major that calls for fancy hair.
How to Style Luxy Hair Extensions at Home
The best I came up with on the fly, in my hotel room, was a messy bun that included one seamless clip extension (one of the larger ones). The bun was a lot thicker and more wild than what I can do with just my own hair. But my messy bun is really a messy bun, so don’t laugh too hard!
I was also able to put three of the long clips on the top of my head and pull them back through a hat—a total cheat, but one that worked. You can tell what is an extension versus my hair if you look closely, but I wore them out to lunch and felt good about it. My husband did not notice I was wearing them. They didn’t shift around, and I couldn’t even feel them.
Luxy Thinning Hair Extensions Review
In hindsight, I realize that the attractive Luxy Instagram feed is almost entirely young women with great hair who look even better with extensions. And most of them start with long hair! My short, thin, 54-year-old wavy hair will never look like theirs, and getting extensions in will take salon assistance because there’s not a lot of room for sloppy placement when you don’t have a lot of hair to start with.
All that said, I am excited to own the Luxies and will pay to have them put in for real as soon as I have a good excuse. In the meantime, I’m going to continue playing around with them during my travels. Soon I’ll be with my grown niece, who is a decent amateur hair stylist, and I’ll see if she can give me a fancier ponytail.
It’s nice to get some immediate gratification with home hair extensions, which is not what I can get with my slow, steady attempts to make my hair healthier on a daily basis. Doing all the things, hair extensions included, gives me some confidence that I don’t have to accept my hair looking steadily worse. These days, there’s lots of ways to make it look better!
