Relating to hair-care terminology, the meaning behind the phrase “hair filler” is not so cut and dry. What began as a term utilized by colorists is now often regarded as a product, enhancement, or treatment that helps to make your hair appear fuller — or in some cases, actually grow to be fuller. 

The origins of the term start with how colorists “fill” hair with appropriate colours after they wish to deepen a client’s tone. As Brendan O’Brien, a colorist at Lamb & Wolves in Red Bank, Latest Jersey explains, “For those who dyed your dark hair to a level 10 (or platinum) blonde and need to return to brunette, you might want to fill your hair with the colour molecules which were stripped away.” The method is a science that only an expert colorist can truly accomplish.

Nevertheless, today we’re seeing a slew of recent products marketed as hair fillers due to their bond-building ingredients, and the term is tossed around by hairstylists and dermatologists alike. From strategic extension placement and keratin-infused treatments to everlasting solutions for baldness, hair fillers today are about all things fullness. 

Whether you might have positive or damaged hair, a receding hairline, or simply want added thickness, there is a hair filler solution for you. “Whenever you really break it down, there is a hair filler technique or product on the market for everybody in search of added fullness,” says Jan Marie Arteca, a colorist at Sally Hershberger. “The proper one for you actually relies on your needs, budget, and lifestyle.” 

With that said, we found the very best sort of hair filler in your specific need. 

• Brendan O’Brien, a stylist at Lamb & Wolves in Red Bank, Latest Jersey
• Jan Marie Arteca, an Latest York City-based colorist at Sally Hershberger
• Ron Robinson, a cosmetic chemist and founding father of skin-care brand BeautyStat
• Adriana Lombardi, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based at The Skin Cancer and Cosmetic Surgery Center of Latest Jersey
• Neil Sadick, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Latest York City

To spice up volume, try extensions

Stylists have long used keratin bond extensions as a semi-permanent option to add volume to positive or thin hair. Extensions are applied strand by strand, after which heat is used to fuse the bond to your hair at the foundation; it lasts about three months. Arteca can be an extension specialist and explains that the important thing to using extensions as hair filler is to strategically place them where the hair is finest. For instance, most of her clients need just a few by their temples — or if she’s doing a full head, she places more in that area than elsewhere to assist fill out the face frame.