Bombay Hair Tape-in Hair Extensions review (pros and cons)

Bombay hair tape-in extensions review: ***If you purchased tape-in hair extensions from Bombay Hair, please leave your review at the bottom of this page!***

Bombay Hair tape-in extensions reviews

BombayHair.com Reviews: Did you buy tape-in hair extensions from Bombay Hair? If so, please leave your Bombay Hair’s tape-in extension review below. In this review, I will be reviewing Bombay Hair. I purchased Bombay Hair extensions with my own money. This is an unbiased review.

Table of content

• Introduction
• Bombay Hair tape-in extensions review
• Bombay Hair reviews
• Testing Bombay Hair extensions
• Weight of the hair
• Quality of the tapes
• After installation
• General experience shopping on Bombay Hair
• Bombay Hair prices
• The final verdict
• Pros and Cons

Introduction

For more than ten years now, I have been a professional hairdresser along with my mother. Together, we have handled our customers’ many different hair related challenges and requests, but my personal favorite has always been installing hair extensions. Lately, hair extensions have become quite popular, especially on the internet. Some use it as a necessity while others use them just because they want to look differently.

Either way, as a hairdresser and a certified hair extension technician, I regularly install hair extensions. On top of this, I have also used hair extensions myself.

I have experience with literally all sorts of hair extensions purchased from all the major retailers in the industry, as well as some of the less common retailers.

I like clip in hair extensions but of course, there are many people who do not share this opinion and prefer other types of hair extensions. I had one particular client who wanted me to install tape in hair extensions for her. Now, as I have already said, I usually do not recommend tape in extensions, because they are considerably more expensive when compared to clip in extensions or microbeads extensions. And I definitely don’t want to be that person who tries to upsell expensive products and services to my customers, when a cheaper one would do the job just as well.

But of course, this is only a matter of personal preference. And I know that many of my customers prefer tape in extensions because they are comfortable and easy to take care of. All they need to do is get them installed by a certified hair extensions technician like me and they are sorted for a considerably long time. This is why tape in hair extensions fall under the semi-permanent hair extensions category.

Regardless, I had a customer who wanted me to install tape in hair extensions for her and could afford it too. So, that’s why I bought tape ins this time. The hair company I chose to purchase from this time was Bombay Hair. Read on to find out more about my experience with them.

Bombay Hair tape-in extensions review

I searched for tape in hair extensions on Google and found the company, Bombay Hair.

It’s a hair extensions website that is simple to use with easy to follow payment instructions and offers good communication in terms of confirming your order and delivery. They are one of the more common hair extension retailers that are based in Canada. Over the years, I have found that there aren’t that many local vendors in Canada in the hair extension industry. I hope this will change soon, but for now, Bombay Hair looked like a good addition to the ranks of Canada based hair product retailers.

You can read my complete Bombay Hair review in general by clicking here, where I review their customer service and general pricing. So, if you are looking for some more information about Bombay Hair as a company, then that general review would give you a much more complete picture.

But if you wish to learn more about the hair quality that Bombay Hair sells, then continue reading. In particular, I will be talking about my experience with the tape in hair extensions I purchased from Bombay Hair.

Bombay Hair reviews

However, before I went on to make my purchase, I tried to find out as much as I could about the company. During my research, I found out that the company had supplied hair products to many people and had many happy customers. At least that is what all the happy customer reviews, positive blog posts and video reviews on YouTube seemed to suggest.

However, there is one thing really alarming with Bombay Hair Reviews.

There is a customer testimonial video featuring… one of their employees…

That video review is supposed to be impartial. But it was published by a Bombay Hair employee. And there was never any mention in the video that the reviewer is an actual employee.

I discovered this when watching a video review published by “Miss Chrissy”. In the comment section, someone said that the reviewer “Miss Chrissy” was doing a fake video reviewer since she is employed by Bombay Hair.

And that turned out to be true. Here is a screencast showing exactly what I mean:

I wasn’t happy to see this at all. Honest reviews are important, and seeing that a Bombay Hair employee did a “customer testimonial” type of video was very disappointing. Not only it’s dishonest, but it may actually be illegal. There is no mention anywhere in the video “review” that the reviewer is a Bombay Hair employee.

Additionally, another thing that worried me about Bombay Hair is that their BBB page has lot of bad reviews:

Regardless, it was too late and I’ve already placed my order.

Although in the past, I have often purchased hair extensions from international vendors, usually those based in the US, I found that the duty fees were usually too much. On top of this, the shipping takes way too long, sometimes even a month.

And if you ever need to make a return or get your product refunded or replaced, then it will take just as much time again! So, because of these reasons, I was determined to purchase from a company that would ship from Canada. This is why I gave a chance to Bombay Hair.

Testing Bombay Hair tape-in extensions

Hair extension companies obviously make lots of claims about their products. These include claims about superior hair quality, highly adhesive tapes in case of tape in extensions or clips with a strong grip in case of the clip in extensions etc. Other common claims are about whether the hair used is virgin hair or not, and about how long the hair extensions would typically remain in good condition.

Bombay Hair was no different. I saw on the website and on their social media pages that they claimed to use virgin hair in their hair extensions. I had my doubts about this but there was no way I could test this. They also claimed that their hair quality was really good, and the tapes would stick well. They also claimed that with proper care and handling, the tape in extensions I had purchased should last for a whole year.

So, when I received my parcel, I got down to the task of testing these claims. The quality of the hair seemed good in the sense that the texture was good and smooth, and the hair looked strong. But after the heat test and testing the adhesive tapes, it seemed that the company’s claims of the extensions life of one year might be a little too far-fetched. Read on for more details about the hair quality and the tapes on the hair extensions. I have made sure that I discussed all the positive and negative aspects I encountered during my experience with Bombay Hair so that you can get as unbiased a picture as possible.

However, one thing that is worth mentioning here is that Bombay Hair does not provide any sort of tester strand of hair so that customers can easily test the products before they open the main package. As the company has rather strict conditions that the package should be unopened if you want the product returned, then I don’t see how someone would test the product and then return the product if the test results aren’t up to their expectations. In such a case, a test strand in a separate package can help solve this problem. I know a few companies that offer this service and it would be great of Bombay Hair would consider his too.

The quality of the hair used in these tape in extensions looked quite good at the first glance. The extensions were silky and the blonde color I had purchased was amazing. It was just the shade I was looking for.

However, Bombay Hair had claimed that their hair extensions are made using virgin hair. I really doubt the authenticity of this statement because they offer a wide range of shades and it is almost impossible to find all those shades of hair naturally. Plus, taking into account their affordability, the claim that the hair is virgin hair seemed even more doubtful.

For those who might not know, virgin hair means that the hair wasn’t processed or altered chemically in any way. In other words, the hair manufacturer received the hair from the donor and did not change the color, texture, or do any other changes to the original hair. The manufacturer only assembled the hair to make them usable for hair extensions. This type of hair is really expensive, rare, and is available only in natural hair colors such as black, brown and blonde. So how can Bombay Hair offer colors such as Amber #108, Auburn #33, and Ombre Espresso #1C and still claim that they are using virgin hair? As far as I know, nobody can have naturally ombre hair. Therefore, Bombay hair extensions have been processed chemically (example: dyeing the extensions to make them ombre) and consequently are not virgin hair. To claim that they are virgin hair as they do in their product descriptions and on the packaging is misleading, in my opinion.

Despite the questionability of whether the hair used was virgin hair or not, the quality of the hair looked good initially.

So, I decided to test them out a little more. I tried to straighten out the hair using a straightener to see how the hair quality would hold up when exposed to high temperatures. The hair seemed to dry out after being straightened just once. This was a big turn off. Using hair styling tools is something that is almost unavoidable. Good hair extensions shouldn’t be ruined by it. You can see the pictures below and a video of the Bombay Hair extensions being straightened with a hot tool.

As far as the tapes used on the hair extensions are concerned, these can last you for some time, but definitely not for 1 year as is advertised on Bombay Hair’s website. But to be fair, I highly doubt that any hair extensions can last for that long, especially taking into account the price, regardless of where they are purchased from. The only exception, I feel, is a clip in hair extensions. They can last longer depending on how often you wear them and how you handle them. Nonetheless, I find it very irresponsible from Bombay Hair to claim that their extensions can last up to 1 year… because I assure this will not be the case with the hair quality they offer.

Weight of the Hair

1 set of tape in hair extensions was clearly not enough for a full head, which is why I would recommend you go for 3 to 4 sets depending on how thin or thick your hair is naturally. If you’re buying long hair such as 22 inches, be sure to buy more sets than if you’d buy shorter lengths such as 16 inches. It is a good thing though that Bombay Hair offers hair extensions in a number of weights and lengths and you can easily decide which one you want. The weight of the extensions I received was roughly somewhere between 40 and 50 grams pet set.

Apart from this, I quite liked the way the thickness was distributed from the top to the bottom of the extensions, but it was certainly not the best I have seen. Good top to the bottom distribution of hair extensions helps ensure that you get an even distribution on your head and that the final look of your hair is proportional.

Quality of the Tapes

On the initial inspection, the tapes used in the hair extensions had looked solid enough and seemed to have been made using good quality materials. You can see that in the pictures below. However, I later discovered that this wasn’t the case.

I’m a certified hair extension technician and I’ve been installing tape in extensions for many years. Although Bombay Hair’s tape ins were made using somewhat good quality hair, the problem is in the tapes. They don’t stick well to the hair. The adhesive tapes are not strong enough. This should certainly be improved because there’s nothing more embarrassing than tape in extensions falling out in public. And that is precisely what happened to my colleague and me. My colleague has been installing tape ins for a long time as well and is also a hair extension certified technician, so the problem wasn’t that they hadn’t been installed properly.

The customer returned to the salon soon after I had installed them and complained that her tape ins were not sticking to her hair and were falling out. She had come to me to get them fixed again. To do that, I had to use some of the bonding glue I had in my hair salon. I had purchased that from Sally’s Beauty. Along with that, I also had to use a new roll of adhesive tape that I had purchased from ebay.com so that I could reinstall the tape in extensions. I did it free of charge and thankfully I was able to have a happy customer at the end, but this was only possible because of the glue and extra adhesive tape roll I had available in my hair salon at the time, because without that, Bombay Hair’s adhesive tapes don’t stick that well to the hair. If you’re looking for really strong tape in extensions that will hold firmly, I’d suggest Babe Things tape-in extensions. What really bothered me is that the company ignored me when I complained about the adhesiveness of the tape ins. I sent an email and received an automatic reply from Bombay Hair confirming that they received my email. However, no one got back to me for now over a month. So the company simply decided to ignore me!

The extensions also seemed to be shedding a lot more than is normal. This problem combined with the weak adhesive tapes would mean that the tape ins from Bombay Hair probably won’t last for too long a time, and definitely not for a year as the company claims.

Additionally, as I have already mentioned, I noticed that the extensions become dry when you straighten them with a hot tool. I tried to straighten the extensions as soon as I got them out of the package, since they were a bit wavy, and immediately the extensions were dry. You can see that in the video below too.

After installation

I am happy to report that as far as my customer is concerned, she had a great experience with the quality of the hair and the extensions in general. This made me think that maybe the company had recently improved their hair quality, whereas the negative BBB reviews might be from before they did that. Which might be why we didn’t have the issue that others seemed to be facing in regards to excessive tangling. Another alternative could be that my customer is really experienced in wearing, handling, and maintaining hair extensions. This could be why she had a positive experience with the tape ins from Bombay Hair. She knew how to use them properly so that they would last her for a good time with fewer complaints.

Regardless of the reason though, in her experience, the hair extensions didn’t tangle too much, according to my customer. One thing I have noticed from my experience with extensions is that when using hair extensions, it is important to keep in mind that the key to a positive experience wearing tape ins is to brush them regularly. Remember to brush your hair extensions at least twice a day. It is really easy for extensions to get tangled up regardless of where you buy them from. There really isn’t any type of ‘tangle-free’ extensions.

One drawback that I did experience though was that the extensions bought from Bombay Hair were shedding a lot more than is normal with hair extensions. It was still more or less manageable, but it was still definitely not a good thing taking into account that they weren’t the cheapest tape in extensions providers out there. Given the price I had paid for these tape ins, I had expected them to last longer than this. At this rate, anyone using these extensions would need to get new sets every few months to maintain the same thickness level.

General shopping experience on Bombay Hair

It is not enough to learn about the quality of the extensions offered by a retailer. It is also important to know whether that retailer offer good customer service. I have talked about the company’s website in detail in the company’s review that you can read here. But just a quick recap, the company’s website is nicely built and is user friendly. There are plenty of products available and there are great pictures available for all of these. The website is secure and has all the contact information etc. on it.

My order was delivered by UPS delivery service. There was no option available on the website to switch to a different courier service, which I feel is something that Bombay Hair should reconsider. It took 9 days for my order to be delivered, which is really long in my opinion, especially considering that the order was shipped from within Canada. It should have taken 3 to 4 days only. One of the main reasons I had opted for a Canadian hair product vendor was that I did not want to wait for long shipping times. Although to be fair, international shipping can take much longer than 9 days, but I still can’t understand how local shipping could take that long.

However, keep in mind that I’ve experienced a lot worse. Hair Extension Sale literally scammed me by not shipping the product I paid for… until I opened a PayPal dispute and then I got the product in 30 days.

On the positive side, the package I received was really beautiful. It was probably one of the best packages I have seen used by a hair company. The tape in hair extensions I received was packed in a cute little pink box that had the company’s name and logo on it. The box was made using some good quality materials. This ensured that the products inside do not get damaged in any way during delivery. The hair extensions inside were neatly coiled so that they don’t get tangled. However, because the extensions were coiled, it meant that when I unwrapped them, they were all wavy. So, before I could use them, I had to straighten them. But this wasn’t such a big deal, because I usually do straighten the hair extensions anyway, even if they don’t need to be straightened. I do this just to test out the hair extensions and to see how the hair would hold up when exposed to high temperatures. This test did not go so well, and Bombay Hair did not score high in this. When exposed to heat, the hair extensions started to dry up almost immediately.

Another thing that is important to note is that Bombay Hair advertises to Canadians… but also ship from Canada! I know I have lot of US readers that probably won’t understand this. Let me explain. We Canadians get bombarded by advertisements from US retailers on a daily basis. One thing that is really annoying for us is to see a retailer advertise like crazy and when we finally make a purchase, we learn that the US retailer will ship from the USA so we have to pay duty fees. This is really unfair because it’s not mentioned on the website. And if it is… it’s in the fine prints somewhere. Additionally, the prices automatically convert to Canadian dollars with the Canadian flag next to your cart, so you think you are buying from a Canadian retailer… only to get slapped with long shipping delays and duty fees.

I’ve experienced this from many retailers. Clip Hair Canada mislead you into believing that they are Canadian. But it’s a UK company that ships from the UK!!! And Glam Seamless charged me 50% duty tax. Can you imagine this? I bought 200$ of extensions and had to pay DHL 100$ just to get my order. Same thing with Luxy Hair, they charged me $20 duty fee on a $150 purchase. On the other hand, Bellami didn’t charge me duty fees despite shipping from California.

As a Canadian that buy a lot online, I feel as if I’m playing minesweeper whenever I buy. It’s really hard to know where companies ship from. For instance, Hair Extension Sale plastered the Canadian flag all over their website… and they ship from China!

The good thing about Bombay Hair is that they ship from Canada so it’s fine that they advertise to Canadians. Just like Canada Hair ships from Canada. This is very important to assess how trustworthy the company is.

Bombay Hair prices

My customers usually ask me to purchase the extensions for them since I have experience with it and know how to find the good ones. I had heard of Bombay Hair before but had never purchased any of their products. I decided this was as good a time as any to try their hair extensions. But before I settled for one, I did a quick comparison online for the many retailers available and the prices they offer.

As is usually the case with hair extensions, I found a huge variation in terms of the price range of the hair extensions offered by different retailers out there. Some of the hair companies were offering tape in extensions for as little as $30 per set while other companies like Bombay Hair charged around $110 per set. There were others still like Bellami Hair and Glam Seamless where the hair extensions cost way more than this. So, you can say that Bombay Hair provided a fairly average price range. In short, not too high that they become unaffordable, but not too low that you start doubting the quality they will offer.

The final verdict

No hair company is perfect, just like Bombay Hair wasn’t perfect. The company has its own set of pros and cons, and anyone trying to decide whether they should purchase hair extensions from them should take them into consideration.

But overall, I didn’t like Bombay Hair too much. The website is trustworthy, returns are accepted with conditions of course, so they are not a “scam”. It’s a real company and you don’t have to worry about being blatantly scammed. However, the hair extensions offered by Bombay Hair weren’t that good. As someone who literally installed hundreds of hair extensions, I am very familiar with lot of brands. And Bombay Hair tape-in extensions weren’t great because they shed a lot and the extensions don’t stick well. I complained to the company by sending an email. I received an automatic reply from Bombay Hair confirming that they’ve received my email. However, the company never got back to me. It’s been 1 month now so it’s pretty safe to say that the company decided to ignore me. As mentioned in my general bombay hair review, it seems the company has a pattern of ignoring customers’ complaints. In short, you get what you pay for. Since the hair extensions are not the most expensive ones available, the quality isn’t the best either. But they still do the job nicely and would last you for a long enough time if they are used with proper care.

If you have purchased hair extensions from Bombay Hair, please leave your Bombay Hair review below. I would love to read about your experiences too!

Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons

Now, to quickly recap all the good, bad, and ugly of the tape in hair extensions I bought from Bombay Hair, I have listed the pros and the cons below. These will help you get a clear idea about whether you want to purchase hair extensions from them or not. Also, do read the full review of the company so that you can have all the information in front of you.