How to choose your hair extension shade at home

Picking extensions is easy. Picking the right shade is the part that keeps people staring at their screen at eleven at night, holding a strand of hair up to the light, wondering whether it counts as brown or bronde.

Here is how to get it right, in the order that actually matters.

Match your mid lengths, not your roots

Almost everyone matches to the hair at the top of their head. It is the part you see in the mirror, so it feels like the right reference. It is not.

Extensions sit from the mid lengths down. That is where they have to disappear, and your mid lengths are almost always lighter than your roots, especially if you have ever had them coloured or spent a summer outdoors. Hold the weft halfway down your hair, not against your part.

If the weft disappears against your ends, you have your shade. If it disappears against your roots, it will be too dark everywhere else.

Work out your undertone

Two people can both have medium brown hair and need completely different extensions, because one runs warm and the other runs cool. Undertone is what makes a shade blend or sit on top of your hair looking like a wig.

Stand near a window, not under a bathroom light, and look at your mid lengths.

• Warm. You see gold, copper or red coming through. Warm browns, honey and caramel blondes, and the auburn family will blend.
• Cool. You see ash, grey or a slightly blue cast. Ash blondes, neutral browns and the darker chocolates will blend.
• Neutral. You cannot decide. Most people land here, and most of our shades are built to sit comfortably in the middle.

When you are between two shades, go slightly darker

This is the one rule people break most often, and it is the rule that saves the most orders.

Hair extensions that are slightly darker than your own hair read as depth. They look like the hair underneath, which is exactly what you want. Extensions that are slightly lighter read as a stripe, because light catches them first and your eye goes straight to the join.

If you are hovering between two shades, take the darker one. If you are hovering between two shades and you also colour your hair at home, take the darker one and send us a photo first.

The shade families

Every Muse shade is 100% Remy human hair, so the colour behaves like hair rather than like a synthetic fibre. Here is how the range breaks down.

Black and brunette

• Jet Black #1: True black, no warmth
• Darkest Brown #1A: Black with a brown base, softer than #1
• Dark Chocolate Brown #1B: Deep cool brown
• Deep Chocolate #2D: Rich brown, neutral
• Milk Chocolate #3: Mid brown with warmth
• Medium Brown #4: Classic mid brown
• Cocoa Brown #4D: Mid brown, cooler than #4
• Neutral Brown #5: Light to mid brown, neither warm nor ash

Browse them all in Black & Brunettes.

Blonde

• Platinum Blonde: The lightest, cool and bright
• Pearl Blonde #1003: Cool blonde with a soft pearl tone
• Creamy Vanilla 8A/613: Dimensional, a darker base through light ends
• Medium Ash Blonde 24A: Ash blonde, no gold
• Sunkissed #P18/60: Warmer blonde with lighter pieces through it

Browse them all in Blondes.

Reds and auburn

Red is the shade family people assume they cannot buy ready made, so they book a salon appointment instead. You do not need to.

• Light Auburn #30: Warm copper auburn
• Dark Auburn #33: Deeper red brown
• Plum #99J: Red with a cool violet base

Browse them all in Reds.

Highlighted and dimensional

If your hair has been foiled or balayaged, a single flat colour will never match it. Your hair is two or three tones at once, so your extensions need to be as well.

• Warm Bronde Highlights #P6/18A/4: Brown base, bronde through the lengths
• Medium Brown Highlights #6/10: Mid brown with soft lighter pieces
• Cinnamon Sugar 18A/5: Warm light brown with blonde running through

Browse them all in Highlights.

The mixes, for hair that is two colours at once

If you have dark roots growing into blonde lengths, one solid shade will always give you away. The mixes blend both tones in a single weft.

• Dark Brown & Blonde Mix #BM: Dark brown with blonde pieces
• Dark Brown & Dirty Blonde Mix #DU: Dark brown through a softer, cooler blonde

Still not sure? Order a sample first

You can order a sample swatch of any shade and hold it against your own hair in your own bathroom light, which is where you will actually be wearing it. It is the closest thing to trying before buying, and it settles the argument between two shades faster than any photo will.

Or send us a photo and we will match it for you

Our free colour match is a real person looking at a real photo of your hair, not an app guessing. To get a match you can trust, photograph your hair like this:

• Daylight only. Stand near a window or step outside. Bathroom and kitchen lights change the colour completely.
• No filters, no flash. A filter will get you the wrong shade, and you will not know until it arrives.
• Hair dry and down. Wet hair reads two shades darker than it is.
• Show the mid lengths and ends, and take one from the back if you can.
• Tell us what you have done to it, including box dye, and when.

Common questions

What if the shade arrives and it is not right?

Get in touch before you open the tabs and wear them. Send a photo in daylight and our team will work out whether it is a shade issue or a placement issue, because more often than it sounds it is placement.

Will they fade?

They are real hair, so they respond to the same things your own hair does. Sun, chlorine, salt water and heat all pull colour out over time. A sulphate free shampoo and heat protection keep a shade true for far longer.

How long does a set last?

An application sits for up to four weeks. After that you remove the tapes, re-tape the wefts and put them back in, and the same hair can be reused for up to nine months with proper care.

How long does it take to put in?

About twenty minutes once you have done it once, using the reverse sandwich method in the instructions included with every kit.

Can I dye or tone them?

We do not recommend it. The hair has already been professionally processed, and colouring it again dries it out and shortens how long a set lasts. If you absolutely have to adjust the shade, go no more than two shades darker using a semi permanent colour, and have a hairdresser test it on a small piece first so you can see the result before the whole set is treated. Never bleach or lighten them. That is the one thing that will ruin them for good. If you are unsure about the shade, send us a photo before you order and we will match it for you.

Can I put them in on the same day I colour my hair?

No. Wait at least forty eight hours after colouring. Freshly coloured hair carries residue from the colour formula, and the tape will not bond to it properly.