What a keratin capsule actually is.

A bead of protein, not glue

Keratin is the protein your hair is already made of. A capsule is a small pre-tipped bead of it on the end of a strand of extension hair. The stylist takes a section of your own hair — a few dozen strands, no more — and fuses the two together with controlled heat, a few millimetres below the scalp.

What you end up with is a join the size of a grain of rice that flexes when your hair flexes. There is no tape, no thread, no metal ring, and nothing sitting proud of the scalp for a brush to catch on.

Why the size of the section matters more than anything

This is the part that decides whether extensions are safe or damaging, and it is entirely the stylist’s judgement.

A capsule bonded to too small a section concentrates the weight of the extension onto too few strands, and those strands eventually give up. Too large a section and the capsule sits badly, shows through, and tangles at the root as it grows down. The correct size changes across the same head — the crown is not the nape, and fine hair at the temples is not the dense hair behind the ear.

Judging that, several hundred times in one appointment, is the skill. It is not something a machine or a package decides.

Why it disappears

• No rows. Wefts and tapes run in horizontal lines that show when hair is lifted or parted. Capsules are placed individually, so there is no line to hide.
• Placed to a map, not a grid. Density goes where your hair needs it — more through a thin patch, less around a fine hairline.
• Blended after fitting. The cut is what makes it invisible. Fitting without cutting leaves a shelf where the extension length starts.
• Colour-matched in several shades. One flat colour against multi-tonal hair reads as a wig, whatever the fitting quality.

Heat, cold, and the honest version

Capsules are fused with heat. There are cold-fusion systems that use ultrasound instead, and both work in competent hands. What matters far more than the machine is the section size, the placement map and the aftercare — a cold-fusion capsule fitted badly damages hair just as thoroughly as a hot one.

We fit hot-fused keratin capsules because it is the method our team teaches and the one we can stand behind at this standard. That is the honest reason, and it is a better one than a technology claim.

Living with them

Wash and dry as you would normally, but dry the roots properly rather than leaving them damp — hours of damp at the bond is what causes matting, not water itself. Brush from the ends upwards with a loop brush. Keep straighteners and tongs off the capsules themselves. Rinse after the sea or a chlorinated pool.

Then come back every two to three months so the grown-out capsules can be moved up. That appointment is cheaper the sooner you have it.