Can You Get Thicker Hair In an Instant? Introducing the New Split-Second Party Fix

From Gisele’s windswept waves to Solange’s brushed-out natural curls, beautiful hair spans a wide spectrum of striking cuts and color. But generally speaking, it’s rich, full-bodied, and thick. Especially in winter, when humidity drops and hat-head sets in, more is more is more.

So, what’s the secret to envy-inducing body? Some women are born with it, of course, while others swear by fish oil, biotin, or coconut oil. But on a visit with hairstylist Harry Josh, who works with Victoria’s Secret bombshells, he gives it to me straight. “It’s all smoke and mirrors!” he says. “Some girls have a ton of hair—Lily Aldridge has a ponytail like that—but to really create dramatic, glamorous, finished hair, we add even more.” Josh says that a new type of partial extension is sweeping the red carpet: a style that’s hidden beneath existing layers and matched exactly to your head, so that it doesn’t add length—only thickness.

Recently, walk-in bars like RPZL in New York City’s Flatiron District, Los Angeles’s Just Extensions, and Locks & Mane in Toronto have been making extensions more accessible—like blowouts before them. And according to Josh, it’s custom-made, removable lengths that do the trick best. “You literally plop them in, and have instant thick hair for the night, then take them out and you’re good to go,” he says. “It’s a Hollywood secret and an innovative way of doing this type of process.” One insider source for the technique is Kennaland, tucked away on a quiet stretch in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, whose off-menu salon services include a bespoke set of clip-on extensions customized to your cut and color.

“A lot of people want that length for events, but we have started to see more people asking for thickness,” says Kennaland stylist Amy Bradbury. “The clips make it super-easy; a lot of people don’t realize how easy.” After I relax into a plush ‘60s barbershop chair, Bradbury lifts seven extensions that she carefully color-matched, measured, and hand-sewed in-house, a process that took two weeks. “We’ll cut them to the length of your hair and keep the look you have now, but make it look fuller and thicker,” she says, sectioning off my strands, then teasing the roots to give the clips better grip.

As Bradbury begins combing through tangles, I try to remember what it was like to have thick hair. Growing up, it took two hours to trim my locks and razor them thin; I needed three strong elastics for ponytails. Then, last year, I noticed that I’d shed roughly two-thirds of it, and panic set in. I started to pop Viviscal twice a day, which I learned helps not only with length, but with fullness. I visited hairstylist Tim Rogers, who sheared a few inches to craft a blunt edge, and used Living Proof‘s Full product line, formulated with special thickening molecules by MIT scientists. I obsessively pored over stray patches of scalp. Extensions, though, had seemed too high-maintenance, too intimidating—but these clip-ons were different.

After trimming the ends to blend them, Bradbury stands back and hands me a mirror. Unexpectedly, I see myself at 16—only better. “It’s subtle, but makes a huge impact,” Bradbury says. I leave Kennaland with a spring in my step—it’s a reverse 13 Going on 30. A few hours later, at a friend’s holiday party, my hair becomes the night’s hot topic. “It looks different, but I can’t say how,” one says. “Tell me your secrets.”

Later, I head out to meet my boyfriend for dinner, and he whispers three little words I’ve been dying to hear: “You look younger.” I’m sold. After all, why have less hair, when you can have more?

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