There’s numerous methods of attachment for hair extensions, as well as a variety of brands that sell extensions, all of which vary in quality, safety and ethics. The most popular methods of attachment in recent years have been:

Individual Strand-By-Strand Extensions
These come in various forms: I-tip, bead, K-tip, u or nail tip, flat tip, micro links, nano-rings, shrink-links, Brazilian knots and Keratin pre-tipped extensions. All these forms have various tools for application – from laser to glue guns – as well as various heat temperature methods.

Tape-in Extensions / Skin Weft
This category is pretty straight forward, but the major variations are in the size (height, width and thickness) of the top portion of each section of extension, and the quality of the adhesive used to “sandwich” your hair in-between the tapes.

Hand Tied Wefts / Natural Beaded Rows / Sew-in / Braided / Glued-in Tracks / Waved Wefts
The weft method of hair extensions is the oldest method by far, and was developed and perfected with incredible braiding skills in Black and ethnic hair salons over the years. More recently, there have been a few innovators who have tweaked and renamed this old school method, and now you can see it all over your Instagram news feed.

Clip-in Extensions
Like the name suggests, this method uses metal clips that attach to natural hair by bending and crimping the strands in the clip. These extensions come in various sizes and lengths as well as various styles (bangs, pony tails, etc.).