I remember the first time I ever had extensions installed. I knew very little about the process or how to take care of them. With no thoughts to proper maintenance, I found myself in a bit of a crisis.

Picture this. It was summer. I was a radio station intern. An awesome perk of being an intern is backstage access, so of course I took advantage of that situation. I added some curl to my extensions and headed to the show. I proceeded to dance all night. All hot, sweaty, bouncy, thrashy, dancy steamy night. You know, the ideal hair environment, right?

The next morning, I awoke to an awesomely awful rats nests. They were particularly bad at the nape of my neck. Though I tried and tried, I could not for the life of me comb it out! I threw in the towel, defeated. So ended my first set of extensions.

Now that I actually work for a hair extension company, I’m much smarter. The key to removing nests, tangles and snags is the proper extension brush. These aren’t just any ol’ brush neither.

They key to a good extension brush is in the stiff nylon clusters. Wire brushes have the bristles spread too far apart - they serve to detangle in clusters. They nylon is just tight enough to separate individual hair strands. Another factor is the stiffness of the bristles. Wire brushes can pull to severely, where the nylon bristles will bend with and release the hair so they never rip or tear at the hair. And while these brushes may look similar to boars bristles, they are absolutely not interchangeable. Boars bristles are too soft, and will not penetrate deep into knots.

A travel sized extension brush could have prevented my hair disaster. At the first site of unsightly snarls, I could have excused myself to the ladies room, run the brush through my extensions, and avoid a potential hair disaster. If I didn’t catch it until the next morning, still no problem. A bit more work, but starting at the bottom, working diligently into the worst parts it would have come out just fine. After the tangles were out, a little Moroccan oil and a flat iron, I would have been back in business.

I’m glad I know this little guy now. I’ll never throw in the towel over knots and tangles again.

-Nirvana Marie