Tried the steam thing but the real kicker was putting a tray of ice cubes in the bottom of my Dutch oven instead of water, since it creates steam slower and doesn't wreck my crust. Give that a shot if you're getting too much blistering on the bottom.

That $6 IPA at 9am is the detail that gets me because the acid and the alcohol are doing two totally different things to that hair at the same time. Beer sits around pH 4, so it closes the cuticle down and makes the strand grip the solution tighter right from the jump, plus the alcohol thins things out so it soaks in faster and more even. I tried a splash of flat lager on a test weft last month just to see and the processing time dropped by about a third, though it felt a little drier going in. The catch is you can't just pour any beer on any head because a hoppy IPA and a light pilsner are working with different acid levels, so what grabbed on her 3 inch strands could easily fry someone with finer or more damaged hair. If you ever want to mess with it on purpose, flat and room temp is the move, and keep a fresh batch mixed just in case it grabs faster than you planned.