How To Put In Hair Tinsel

What Is Hair Tinsel?

According to celebrity extensionist Priscilla Valles, hair tinsel is made from the same material as the tinsel you’d find wrapped around a Christmas tree, except the kind that’s made for your hair will have a bonding method that allows you to attach the tinsel to your roots. “It's incorporated into the hair by tying a piece around a section of hair, using a special tool that loops around the tinsel,” she explains. Sometimes, tinsel can also be applied using hair extension glue, while other brands of hair tinsel can be clipped in, similar to traditional clip-in hair extensions.

How to Put in Hair Tinsel at Home

Below, editor Mary Honkus shares her experience with putting in hair tinsel for the first time, plus tips on how to make the process easier the next time.

I found a TikTok tutorial from hairstylist Quiozel Alcantara on how to easily put in hair tinsel. According to Alcantara, you only need two to three strands of tinsel per section of hair. To begin, hold the tinsel from the middle and create a small loop. “The tinsel is going to try to go everywhere, so try to keep the loop clean and organized so they’re not all over the place,” she says.

From there, she recommends grabbing a tiny section of hair (no more than 10 strands of hair) from the underlayer of hair. The finished look will appear more streamlined if you don’t attach the tinsel directly on the top of your head — so choose a section to the side of your part or under it.

Once you have a section of hair, place the tinsel loop on one side of the hair section. Then, thread the end of the tinsel through the loop. Tighten the loop around the hair and push it up towards the root to secure it.