by Nicole Petty, Haircare Expert at Milk + Blush

“Every day millions of TikTok videos are shared, with the platform becoming increasingly more influential.

But just because someone online does it does not mean it’s the hack you have to try.

For example, a video has come to our attention recently, showing one TikTok user drying her hair extensions in the tumble dryer, which was then repeated by a YouTube influencer. I would strongly advise against this for many reasons.

While your hair extensions may not be on your head, that does not mean we should treat them any different than your actual hair.

A tumble dryer is designed to remove moisture by spinning clothes at extremely high speeds and temperatures, so placing your extensions in there will result in them becoming dry, tangled, matted and even unusable.

While you may be drawn to try out these kinds of hacks, doing so could waste you more time and money in the long run.

If you’re looking for a safer alternative, let them dry naturally. Hair extensions don’t receive the nourishing oils your natural hair gets from the scalp so they’re more prone to getting dry.

In fact, we really recommend not to wash clip-in extensions at all. Washing in the wrong way can actually damage the tops of the wefts and cleansing will only dry them out, resulting in lacklustre hair extensions.

If your extensions have too much product build-up to brush out and need to be washed, only use a sulphate-free shampoo. Sulphates will strip moisture from your extensions, making them brittle and dull in colour.

And we strongly advise against using dry shampoo on your hair extensions, too; it can result in product build-up and will dry out your extensions. Alternatively, you can revive your extensions by using products such as the Silicone Spritz which is specially designed to maintain the softness of your extensions whilst encouraging them to last longer.”