How to Prep for Your K-Tip Install: The Week Before, Honestly

The difference between a flawless install and a frustrating one is decided before you sit down — by what your hair arrives in. After years of k-tip installs across Palm Beach, here's the honest prep list I send every client.

Wash timing, the most common question: clean hair, washed the day of or the night before, with a clarifying or residue-free shampoo and no conditioner near the roots — no masks, no leave-ins, no oils anywhere. Bonds grip clean, dry, product-free hair; silicone and conditioning agents coat the strand and the bond has to see through a film. The "too clean, too slippery" worry is a myth — clean is exactly what we want.

The color calendar, the part that needs planning: your color should be done five to ten days before the install, never the same week and never after — the extension hair is matched to your color as it exists at consultation, and a fresh color job on install day means the set was matched to yesterday's you. This coordination between your colorist and your extension artist is precisely why one artist for both is the calmest arrangement.

The pause list, the week before: heavy masks pause (bonding hair wants normal condition, not super-conditioned), oils pause entirely, and any keratin or protein treatments pause — protein films and bonds argue with each other. Normal, gentle care is the goal; a "perfect" hair week is actually the wrong week.

The state of the cut, the detail that decides the blend: your ends need to be freshly trimmed — the extension hair will meet your hair at its healthiest length, and dead ends meet the new hair like a frayed rope meets silk. A trim the week before is the cheapest blend-improver there is.

Arrive dry, arrive caffeinated, arrive with your phone charged — installs run a few hours and the chair time is your own. The consultation and custom color-matching that lead here start at majesticextensions.com, and for the wedding morning your install is building toward, send your date through the inquiry form — rates in the investment guide.