Beauty Ideas That Save Time, Money, and Sanity

The Issue: Hair That’s Too Short or Too Flat

The Solution: Extensions

Whether your concern is slight thinning post-childbirth or a regrettable cut, or if you simply want to go all-out for a special event, extensions can do for your hair what no amount of styling or product can: instantly render your woes null and void for months.

How they work: A stylist attaches hair to the underlayers of your own (typically with glue, tape, or heat) to give it extra inches or fullness.

Where and how much: Extensions are available in salons everywhere. Human-hair add-ons (which most stylists consider the best choice because they look so, well, real) can run into the thousands—yes, thousands. A less expensive option is to do just small areas, like the crown, for added volume.

Results last: About four months. After that, the extensions should be removed and reapplied, because as your real hair grows, the point of attachment will begin to show, says Labrecque. Tangling is also an issue.

A word to the wise: Great Lengths, one of the premier extension companies, now offers Fastrack Gels (greatlengthsusa.com), lower-priced extensions with tapelike gel adhesive strips. Some stylists (such as Labrecque) are also open to creating reusable clip-in extensions made from real hair, which will set you back hundreds rather than thousands.

Try this at home: For a quick one-night solution, the HairDo line by Jessica Simpson and Ken Paves makes synthetic clip-ins (prices vary, but all are less than $100) that can be inserted at home to amazing effect.