Long strands and volume are possible with hair extensions! We love being able to transform our tresses into the hair we’ve always wanted. Part of having hair extensions means taking proper care of them, but you don’t have to totally change your lifestyle because of it. You should be able to do all of your regular activities with your extensions without any issues.
So, if you’re wondering, can you workout with extensions? Yes, you can! Being active and working out with extensions is fine as long as you prep before and maintain them afterward. Our hair extensions experts at Big Kizzy have all the care tips you need for exercising with hair extensions. Before heading to the gym, use our guide to get ready for a great workout with hair extensions that keep looking their best!
How To Prep Before Working Out with Extensions
First up, it’s time to prep your hair before exercising with hair extensions. This is the most important part of preventing any mishaps or damage to your hair extensions during your workout. Prevention is key when it comes to hair extension damage—once they’re ruined, there’s no choice but to replace them. Let’s avoid that by taking the right steps beforehand!
Follow these tips to prep before working out with extensions:
- Put your hair in protective workout hairstyles like a ponytail, braid, or bun. The goal is to use a hairstyle that puts the least amount of friction on your strands as you’re exercising (which can cause tangles or mats—definitely want to avoid that!).
- Use a silk scrunchie when you put your hair up to help minimize unnecessary friction or damage from traditional hair ties.
- Do not pull your hair extensions too tight into your workout hairstyles. You don’t want to tug on your hair extension attachment points with excessive pressure.
- Wear a headband to absorb extra sweat and prevent your hair extensions from getting too drenched. Excessive sweat can actually end up ruining your hair extensions over time.
- Use UV protection, such as a hat or protective spray, when exercising outdoors. Extended UV exposure can fade and dry your extensions out.
- If your exercise routine involves swimming, wear a swim cap to prevent your extensions from getting tangled or wet with chlorine.
Maintaining Your Extensions After Working Out
After you get a good work out in, the steps after are crucial for maintaining your hair extensions. When exercising with hair extensions, extra sweat and oil will inevitably get into them. There’s also the added movement with exercise that can cause damaging friction to your strands. That’s why the aftercare needs to be a part of your routine after working out with extensions.
Use these tips for your post-workout hair extension care:
- After your workout, dry your hair as much as possible with an absorbent sweat towel. This is especially important if you can’t wash your hair directly after working out.
- Keep a detangling comb or brush in your gym bag to remove tangles from your hair once you remove it from your workout hairstyle.
- Wash your hair with a gentle shampoo to remove any sweat, oil, and dirt that may have built up while you were exercising.
- Don’t use hot water on your extensions, as this can cause them to frizz and dry out. Instead, use lukewarm to cold water for washing and rinsing.
- When washing, focus on cleansing your scalp and avoid the hair extension attachment points.
- Use a nourishing conditioner to add that much-needed moisture back to your strands (use a leave-in conditioner as needed in between washes!).
- After washing your hair, dry your roots and wefts thoroughly with a towel and let them air dry.
- If you want to use a blow dryer instead, use it on the cold or lowest heat setting (excessive heat styling also damages your extensions!).
Take Care of Your Extensions With The Best Products
One of the best parts about having extensions is being able to do all of your regular activities with them. Exercising with hair extensions shouldn’t be something to worry about! With the proper prep and aftercare, your hair extensions will look healthy and fabulous even after working out with them. Keeping these tips in mind when working out with extensions, you’ll also need to stock up on hair care products to maintain them!
At Big Kizzy, we have our signature hair care collection of hair extension-safe products to add to your routine. You’ll find everything you need, like shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, serum, hair oil, dry shampoo, and more! We also carry hair extension tape, remover solvent, and extension tools for applying and removing hair extensions. Visit our website to grab your hair extension essentials in our one-stop shop.