How To Make A Loose Synthetic Hairfall

I like big hair, but it's a pain in the behind to back-comb and then comb out the tangles the next day. That's why I came up with a great way to have the big, back-combed look with less hassle, a loose synthetic hairfall! I made one in purple when I had my previous haircolour, but needed another one now with the turquoise. Here's how to do it.

You need

• 2 packets or more of synthetic hair
• Matching colour stretch lace or fabric coated elastic band, about 40 cm or 20 inches (if you can't find a matching shade, you can use black if you hair is dark and beige for light hair)
• Something to suspend the elastic/lace on or between when you work on the fall
• Two chairs to lay your hair on while you work

1. Find matching loose synthetic hair

If you have a shop selling synthetic hair close to you, you can go and match your hair easily. If you order online, finding a shade that matches can be harder. I suggest looking at colour charts at more than one shop and googling user pictures if any can be found. For a more natural finish, you should use more than one colour of hair. My fall has petrol green, blue and black. For a big, fluffy style you should use crinkly textures hair like most jumbo braid varieties. Steer away from very smooth hair types.

I ordered my synth hair from Diversity Hair, the shades used are Petrol Green and Blue Teal, the brand is Divesity Hair's own jumbo braid.

How much hair do you need? My fall has 1,5 packs of the base colour, Petrol Green, and about half a packet of Blue teal, and a few strands of black as accents. For a fuller fall you need more, but two packets should be enough when you finish the fall with back-combing.

2. Setup

I took a large basket with handles and tied my elastic to the handles. It's easiest to work when the band is suspended. Open the hair packages and put them on the backrest of a chair, with the middle of the hair bundle on the top of the backrest. Reserve another chair for separating sections of hair from the bundles.

I ended up not using the purple after all. The black I used is not in the picture.

3. Separate sections of hair

Take small sections of hair (half the thickness of a finger of a little bit more) of the colour you want to be the base of the fall. Spread them on the backrest of another chair. Add small strands of a second colour if you want to use one for a more interesting look. I used a more blue-ish teal to make the the shade match my hair better.

How much of the complimenting blue I used per section of teal.

4. Tie the sections on the hair on the elastic

Grab a hair section and fold it gently at the middle. Take the ends of the section and pull them through the loop so that it wraps around the elastic band. The pictures explain it a lot better ;P

Gently fold but make sure to hold on to the loop.

Put the loop next to the elastic band.

Pull the ends through the loop so the elastic is wrapped in the hair.

Pull all the way through...

And tighten!

This is what two sections on the band look.

Here's only one section.

Use up the sections you have made, then separate a new batch of sections from the hair bundles, add some accent colour and tie them to the band. The sections tend to loosen a bit once you have tied then, but don't worry, you will tighten them in a later step.

If you want to use small accents sections on top of mixing two tones, you can add them once you have all the base colour on the fall. Just pick a spot for the accent, find the place where two tied section are side by side, gently pull them apart a bit and tie the accent in the space just like all the other sections.

You should have about 10 cm of loose elastic band on both ends of the fall when you finish. Keep tying sections until the 20 cm in the middle are covered.

This is what my fall looks when there's enough hair on it.

5. Optional: Braid the sections

Some people like to braid the hair sections for a centimeter or two to keep the hair in place better. You can also heat seal the braids with a small straight iron. I don't personally do this step, I think the hair is well enough in place without braiding.

6. Secure the hair in place

If used a sewing machine and a zig-zag stitch to secure the hair on to the elastic. The foot wants to snag on hair, so instead of doing it like I did, I can recommend putting a sheet of paper on top of the hair and sewing on top of that to avoid getting the hair caught in the machine.

7. Back-comb, cut, style!

You are almost finished! Now you can cut the fall and back-comb. I recommend using some sort of styling product to give the hair some texture, I used spray-on gel. If you cut the fall to have layers, it's easier to back-comb to a big, high style.

8. Put it on

This is basically what you have now. A large mass of hair on an elastic band.

Put your hair on a bun, bend from the waist and grab the fall.

Wrap the fall around your bun. Ideally, the width of the fall should be the same as
the circumference of your bun.

Tie the ends.

Tighten, use hair clips for extra security if you know you'll be dancing your ass off!

Flip the hair over the bun, tousle it with your fingers, add some hairspray to keep it in place if needed, and you are done!

This is how mine looks, I didn't cut it yet but I think it's a bit too long right now. It's back-combed lightly. I think the colour match is quite good!

Super easy big hair! You'll be so happy when you come home in the middle of the night dead tired, and instead of trying to comb the hair you can just untie the band and let your natural hair down. No more tedious untangling and damaging your hair! For shorter falls, you can cut the loose fiber bundles in two before starting to make sections or tie them. Or you could make two smaller falls to have cute puffy pigtails :)

Here's a picture of my previous loose fall. It's shorter and more layered. The flowers clipped
at the base are a great way to hide the transition between the fall and your natural hair!