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MyFitnessPal Community

Deducting the Hair Extensions weight gain! 💇

phatShaming

Doh! Wow, how insane is this? I was so close to my weight loss goal. I ate a big meal the night before so I chose not to weigh in the next morning, Saturday. Well, I had an appointment to get 18-22 inches long extensions without thinking to weigh it or myself first. Immediately afterwards I thought, uh-oh!!!! So, I'm stuck trying to figure out how much I weigh vs the extra hair. 😂 I calculate maybe 1.5 or 2lbs???

I plan to work on ignoring the hair and just acting as though this is the actual weight and still aiming for my 150lbs or less. This way whenever I do lose the hair extensions, I'll still be well under my target goal.

I also hate weighing in the next morning after a swim, and my extensions still haven't fully dried, Ugh… I'm honestly trying to avoid every ounce y'all.

Have you guys run into this problem?

Replies

cmriverside

LOL, no, but I get it.

You could always call the salon, I'm sure this has been an issue for a lot of people! They would know the weight.

Lietchi

Try putting it on some kitchen scales?

1.5 to 2lbs sounds incredibly heavy though, I'm getting a sore neck just thinking about that kind of weight hanging from my head 🙂

I once weighed myself with dry and then wet hair, it barely made a difference on the scale, surprisingly (I have long hair, but quite thin).

DiscusTank5

No idea, but I hope you'll report back and tell us. :)

sollyn23l2

I get the worry, but dry hair weighs next to nothing. Just weigh yourself as normal.

ddsb1111

18-inch extensions: 150-180 grams (5.3 - 6.3 ounces).

22-inch extensions: 180-220 grams (6.3 - 7.8 ounces).

AnnPT77

To be honest, when something like that happens, I just consider it sort of a "reset my head" moment. I haven't gotten hair extensions, but a similar thing happens when getting a new bodyweight scale: It will give a different reading.

Mostly, I don't care about my weight as much as I care about my weight trend over a few weeks, i.e., whether my weight is heading up, down, or hovering around the same weight. In all cases, there will be day to day ups and downs, so I figure results in weight management are about how the multi-week averages look.

So, in the new scale scenario, I weigh in on the new scale, assume it's going to be a little different, put it in my weight trending app in the usual way, and don't worry about it. Then I keep going from there. In a small number of weeks, I'll start seeing whether my weight is behaving as I'm intending.

It's like there's a small time period where I kind of don't know, but if I'm mostly on-plan with eating and activity, I know there are no big surprises coming when it comes to gaining, losing, or holding steady with body fat levels.

If I got heavy hair extensions, I'd look at it that same way: A short period of uncertainty in the data from the scale, reasonable expectations based on experience and how I've been eating and moving during that uncertain time period, then clearer answers from the scale trend after those few weeks.

I understand that wouldn't work for everyone, though.

elisa123gal

you're obsessing over a small detail. You're losing weight and have your hair done. Be happy!

Merkavar

I am not familiar with hair extensions but I very much doubt they are 2lb

They would weight next to nothing, to the point you should 100% ignore them.

Thats like worrying about cut or uncut nail weight or clean shave vs a big bushy beard. its a little odd

DiscusTank5

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48720010#Comment_48720010

So the longer extensions add almost half a pound?

When someone is close to their goal weight that's significant.

sollyn23l2

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48720983#Comment_48720983

It seems like a lot, but when you factor in that the amount of water weight you hold can vary up to 5 pounds day to day, a .5 pound blip is nothing, as long as it doesn't keep going up (which, hair extensions won't continue to get heavier each day).

springlering62

Haven’t you ever heard people say how lightheaded they feel, when they cut off long hair? Imagine going in the opposite direction, in a matter of hours!

I could see being really curious about that. And I bet if it’s the synthetic versus real, I bet the synthetic weighs more dry. No idea wet. Seems like human hair would absorb more.

Don’t they sell it by weight?

I’ve often wondered what an advantage I had in that regard versus women with longer hair, because my hair got shorter and shorter with weight loss. Turns out I didn’t need as much to offset my fat cheeks and hide my triple chin. So now it’s almost a crew cut. Shake and go. I’m lazy like that.

I’ve got some friends in aquafit with long, elaborate extensions and weaves. I’m going to ask them if their hair bothers them after the pool. Not all of them use swim caps since they’re not actually swimming, but I know from experience your head still gets soaked with all the thrashing and splashing.

Same with hot yoga. We sweat like faucets in there. The very nice young woman next to me this morning had a whole head of very tiny fine braids pulled back in a fashionable ponytail. My head and shoulders are the worst for sweating. I leave with a wet head. Do extensions get heavy? Hold sweat?

I’ve also wondered, since mine feels like artificial hair after chlorine exposure, how does the chlorine affect extensions?

I’ve also wondered about artificial eyelashes. How do you keep them on? Does the chlorine affect them? Make them brittle? Stiff? Make the glue or whatever holds them on melt? What if you lose one in the water What if it stuck to someone else? My first instinct would be spider! and I’d clear the pool with the subsequent fit

For that matter, I stopped fretting over shaving legs. I figure, heck, most the people in the pool are over 60, and can’t see a tap anyway, so it’s not like they can see my legs clear enough to be horrified if I skip a day or two or three. It is very liberating to not have to do it every day or two.

Who keeps taking my baby shampoo in the dressing room? I don’t mind if someone borrows it, but put it back so I can defog my goggles with them

If I dyed my hair pink again, how long would it last in the chlorine? Or what color might it turn to? I miss the pink and purple. How does the lady with the snazzy red hair and blonde bangs keep hers from turning?

I think about a lot of really crazy hairy related stuff when I swim. I guess it’s because you either see butts and swim shoes underneath, or heads when you come up for breath. You very seldom see anything in between!

Alatariel75

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48720983#Comment_48720983

Given the way that a body can vary over the course of the day, it really isn't significant at all. Your weight will fluctuate by multiple pounds depending on hormones, digestion, intake, sodium, weather, medication etc etc. I "lost" a lb (400g) going for a half hour walk this morning and using the bathroom.

Stressing over less than a pound is stress no one needs to spend energy on.

DiscusTank5

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48721486#Comment_48721486

I'm smiling as I write this: yes, .5 of a lb isn't significant given a person's weight fluctuations in any given day or the state of the nation we live in or anything else under the sun.

BUT . . . if I've lost 50 lbs and I'm now two lbs away from my goal I darn well want to know if 1/4 of the weight comes from the extensions I just got, or if I still have two lbs of fat to work off.

Alatariel75

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48721516#Comment_48721516

I get that, but I still think it's a spend of energy that's totally unneeded. You might be 2lbs from 'goal' right this minute, but in an hour you might be 1.5lbs from goal, or 2.5lbs from goal, or 1lb closer, or 1 lb further away.

It might be hair extensions, or water retention, or 50g more carbs consumed today compared to yesterday, or the weather being a few degrees warmer or more humid… I just think that if you're going to start stressing about half a lb being added to your hair, you're going to stress yourself about a whole lot of other unnecessary things. Are you going to drop your goal by half a lb if you have a big haircut because the goal you set included the hair you no longer have?

DiscusTank5

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48721528#Comment_48721528

I just might stress about all those things. LOL.

I lost 70 pounds, 50 of them in the last year, by weighing my food in grams and logging every BLT and minute of exercise. If that isn't obsessive I don't know what is.

I have gained weight in the past by having a laissez faire attitude about what I ate. But that's me. Maybe other people have found relaxed ways to "do" weight loss. That's great if so.

nossmf

When my daughter enlisted in the Navy, she lopped her hair off to prepare for basic training, going from hair past her waist to a pixie cut. She said it felt almost like she was walking on her toes, as high and light as her head felt in comparison.

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48722216#Comment_48722216

I think there's a line - whose exact location almost certainly varies from one person to the next - between letting reasonably controllable things go (like how much we eat or how active we are) and spending energy stressing about things that are pretty much uncontrollable (which "weight gain" from hair extensions is an example of, IMO).

"Too relaxed to achieve health goals" is an extreme; "too stressed about factors we can't control" is a different extreme. Both physical and mental health are important. I'd say either of those extremes isn't ideal for best mental health . . . and maybe even physical health, since chronic stress has physical consequences, as does chronic obesity.

Just my opinion, as always.

ddsb1111

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48720983#Comment_48720983

Yes, that’s correct. I’ve had extensions many times. They’re shockingly heavy (and expensive). I accounted for it and moved on, you’re totally fine! People are blowing your question out of proportion. And it’s a perfectly fair question.

I see you. I get it.

ddsb1111

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48720959#Comment_48720959

For someone with zero knowledge or experience, why comment? Now, that’s odd.

It’s nothing like nails or a beard. They’re very heavy, enough to be painful. There’s nothing wrong with adjusting for the weight.

springlering62

gosh, I’m just sad at the lack of curiosity.

Don’t you just ever wonder about random stuff?

I’d be bored out of my mind without side trips like that.

OP gets brownie points for imagination, and creative thinking in my book

ddsb1111

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48722434#Comment_48722434

Haha! Yes! She can’t help it that she’s clever and has style!

DiscusTank5

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48722249#Comment_48722249

Thanks Ann! Always the voice of reason on MFP.

So this isn't about hair extensions and maybe it's hijacking the OP's post, but I have realized that my obsessiveness in weight loss (laser focus would be the positive spin) is something I need to watch. Does it make me more anxious? Sometimes, and that's not good (multiple weigh-ins in one day, for example). Has it helped me lose a lot of weight, though? Yes. (I have a 206 day streak on MFP and admire the people with 1000+ streaks. THAT'S dedication.)

Will the maintenance phase go better if I can find a balance? Definitely. How to go about prying my (white knuckled) fingers off the steering wheel of the "weight loss" car so that instead of barreling down a mountainside at top speed I can enjoy a leisurely outing? I'm not sure how to make the transition.

Time to haunt the Maintenance boards for inspiration and insight.

One final word on hair extensions: I've never had them, probably never will, but tonight at the high school open house, my daughter's friend was showing us hers and they were heavy. And they took 10 hours to put in. Impressive!

Alatariel75

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48722590#Comment_48722590

A lot of what you have said has really resonated with me, because I have been (and sometimes still am) that obsessive, but I recognise now that it's causing me issues, which I'm exploring in therapy. I used to not drink water from 7pm the night before a WW weigh in, no matter what, because what that scale said was SO important to me, and that was only one of my little rituals.

These days it's not that I lack curiosity about different effects on my weight - hell, I frequently weigh myself before and after my morning walk to see what difference there is - but I don't let it affect me or dictate my goals, and that's where I was concerned about OP because of her comments about trying to avoid every extra ounce and seeing this extra weight as a problem, not a curiosity - the takeaway is worrying about ounces and half pounds in the grand scheme isn't healthy and does your mental health zero good. It's the same with people who post on here in distress that they "gained" 2lbs over the course of a day and who don't understand that 440ml of water is a pound whether it's in your water bottle (which you put down to weigh) or your gut.

I 1000% encourage curiosity and educating yourself about how various external factors affect your weight on a day to day basis. The emphasis on the fact that in the grand scheme it doesn't matter comes from concern, and my own journey of trying to detangle the effects of many, many years of 'dieting' and majoring in the minors, which have led to unhealthy and unhelpful thoughts.

I guess I just want to emphasise - is it interesting? Yes! Is it important - No.

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48722434#Comment_48722434

Curiosity about something is distinct from stressing about something.

I'm unnaturally curious, including about things that affect my scale weight. I weigh myself daily and record my weight, and did so for literal years before really trying for weight loss. I learned a lot from doing that, and the things I learned then helped me later, once I did commit to weight loss.

I still weigh myself sometimes after workouts to evaluate my hydration strategies, have weighed myself at various points within one day occasionally to better understand my typical daily weight cycles, and things like that - just curiosity, sometimes with a point, sometimes not.

That's different from being stressed or distressed about some factor that makes my short-term weight trend less obvious, or a weight shift of a few pounds overnight that has no obvious cause. What's on the scale is just one snapshot at a point in time of my body's relationship with gravity. It's not in any way a measure of my self-worth.

Health-wise, it's the general nature of body weight that's important (i.e., is my weight at healthier or less healthy general status recently). Health improvement wise, it's the multi-week trend of my weight that's important: Am I gaining when I should maintain, losing when I plan to lose, and that sort of thing.

Curiosity is healthy, or at least neutral. Avoidable stress or anxiety isn't healthy.

As always, just my opinions.

Merkavar

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48722273#Comment_48722273

my comment was more about not stressing over small things like 500g hair extensions when there are many other things that cause weight fluctuations.

CrazyMermaid1

i had a similar question when I got my knee replacement. How much did the old knee weigh, how much does the new knee weigh, how much fluid retention did I have, etc. I did a post about it and didn’t get much feedback.

springlering62

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48722777#Comment_48722777

sorry, babe. 🤷🏻‍♀️

csplatt

I’d just change my new weight to my new weight and move on. Don’t let it mess with you.

cmriverside

Ya'll can certainly over-think any topic.

I miss the old days when this would have devolved into memes and gifs on page one.

kidding not kidding.

This may be TMI for some of ya'll but hey, page two of a hair extention discussion….

When I was about halfway through my 80 pound weight loss I thought, "Wonder how much my (fairly large still) breasts are adding to my weight?" (like they were separate entities or something) and for a minute I started thinking of ways to hold them up while on the scale. It involved a towel and a towel rack and I may or may not have tried it…

DiscusTank5

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48722777#Comment_48722777

Pretty sure that when I had an ovary removed (with a benign tumor) ten years ago, I asked the surgeon how much it weighed. I mean, FACTS.