Here we wanted to give you some information about hair extensions hair so you could be more informed to answer you clients, but also know what your looking for when choosing hair extensions. Types, Terms, What, Where, Why?
Grab a drink and some chocolate as your in for a big read!
Everything in here is because we have been asked these questions by hairdressers.
Hair - Hair extensions can be made with Human Hair, Animal hair and Synthetic Hair.
We do not make our hair extensions with Animal Hair. Animals that grow hair long have hair that is more coarse then Euro grade human hair. This Animal hair comes from Goats, Yaks, Horses and animals like that. Have you felt a horses hair? You can feel the difference. It also doesn't come from sheep, sheep have wool and cannot be turned into human looking hair. We have seen Animal hair used for wefts and manniquin heads before and you can feel and see the difference.
Synthetic Hair - Is made from plastic. Synthetic hair use to be very obvious as it was very shiny and looked like plastic dolls hair. Now the manufacturer's have got very good at making high quality synthetic hair that doesn't look shiny or like plastic. Years ago, we use to say put a hot iron on it and it would melt, but now synthetic hair can be made to tolerate all different heat styling. Another test we use to have was burning it. Human hair burns and smells awful. Synthetic hair, being plastic, would melt, shrink and smell different. Now the synthetic hair can be made to also burn like human hair and it is very difficult to tell through that test. So how can you test it? Colour! Synthetic hair, being plastic will not lighten with bleach, tone, or allow colour to deposit. Synthetic hair can be hard to spot. I have seen quite a few Hair extension brands selling clip in Hair Extensions with a mix of synthetic hair and Human hair claiming they are 100% Human hair. Perhaps they don't know and haven't tested them? But it was obvious when they melted when being curled with a hot iron and when they were coloured darker and only the human hair coloured brown and the synthetic hair stayed platinum blonde and resulted in a perfect salt and pepper effect. If the hair colours patchy, it is still human hair, but would have a coating on it. I have also advised another company who had been developing a hair piece over 6 months and when they showed me their samples, they were unaware they were all made from synthetic hair. On saying that, there is some beautiful synthetic hair pieces that are available, we even have some synthetic clip in pieces, synthetic jumbo hair for braids and festival hair and wigs. But you need to know if you are buying human hair or synthetic hair, not a surprise so they should be labelled correctly. Synthetic hair is much cheaper.
Human Hair - Can be called lots of names and grades. Here is some information to help you to understand the terms.
Grade verses Origin - Hair does in fact come from all over the world, however, there is not a lot of regulation on what people claim. Yes, we can in fact buy hair from Russia, as well as many other places. No you cannot buy 100% virgin #613 blonde Russian extensions for $500 or less. Hair can be brought by Origin - where the person who's hair was cut off, lives and grew it, or by Grade. Grade is the category it falls under - the thickness of 1 hair strand, and the texture curl pattern of the hair. Let's look at Australia as an example, we are a multicultural country. If I brought Australian hair, what would the hair look like? It would have to be graded into different hair types.
Russian Hair - Why does the world believe this is the best hair? Back in the year 1995 when I first started working with Hair Extensions, we brought the hair Virgin. This meant the hair had not been coloured. So when we ordered blonde, it wasn't off a colour chart, it was a surprise when you opened your delivery on what shade of blonde it would be. We would order Black, Dark Brown, Medium Brown, Light Brown, Caramel, Blonde and Platinum Blonde extension Bundles. This was loose hair bundles, that we would custom mix to get the shade we were after. Now Countries that sell hair for Hair extensions most commonly have people who naturally grow very dark coloured hair. Therefore to get lighter colours naturally we would need to buy hair from Northern Europe countries like Russia, where citizens grown naturally lighter coloured hair, including blonde. Hair that did not need to be bleached lighter meant that the hair was healthier and lasted longer therefore the better option. As nearly all hair extensions you buy now are from a colour chart and coloured. This is not as big of a factor as it use to be, unless your buying uncoloured hair. SO what makes the hair Euro or European grade hair? Now it is about the thickness of the hair, the texture of the hair and the quality / heath of the hair. European hair tends to be thinner then Asian Hair. But if you look at the world map, Asia and Europe are the same continent, with many countries included as well as in-between. So we can get hair from places like Jordan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Belarus, Spain, Roumania, and so on. True natural virgin Russian/Slavic (former USSR) blonde hair is rare and therefore more expensive. On average 3x the price of normal priced quality Euro Grade Extensions. Therefore comes with a certificate of authenticity. If not, and the price is too good to be true, its probably not. Hair from other European countries is still Euro grade hair. It is only a few select countries that can claim to be Russian or Slavic. You can also buy hair from places India, Brazil, China, Vietnam, Mongolia etc that comes in different thicknesses and texture and some fit into the Euro Grade.
AAA verses 12A Grade - 16 years ago 3A or Triple A was the highest grading for Hair extensions. It was like marks you would get a school. Multi-grade, then B grade, A grade, AA grade, and AAA grade being the best. Then someone started advertising their hair was 5A grade, then another said 7A, and so it went with their marketing campaigns until we got to 12A grade hair. Now let me say, we didn't all of a sudden get magical people growing 12A hair like unicorns. So don't compare 7A in 1 company to 12A in another. My question would be, what is your grading system and what grade of hair is this in your system? To get a high grading, the hair needs to be consistent in texture, consistent in diameter, and consistent in porosity / cuticle and health. This is extremely important as the full head of hair extensions is usually made up of more then 1 person's ponytail. Therefore if it was not consistent, we would brush it and it would fluff up like Hagrid from HP. The amount of single heads of hair in an extension is increased by the ratio. which we will discuss next.
Ratio - Single, Double, Triple, Super? - Hair that is cut from 1 person's head is called Single Ratio, also called Braid hair, Virgin hair, Donor hair and Remy Hair. This ponytail contains all different lengths of hair, the same as we find on our own heads naturally. Therefore it is thicker on top and thinner on the ends. If this single ponytail is made into 1 hair extension then it will not give much coverage on the lengths of the hair. If some of the shorter hairs are removed, the thickness of the ponytail is less, therefore 1 or more ponytails are added to the bundle to make the ponytail thicker. This is often called double ratio. It is also more expensive. If even more of the shorter and medium length hairs are removed, and more ponytails are added, this is called triple ratio. This results in extensions with quite thick ends. The more shorter hairs removed, the more expensive they are. Now these 3 ratios are not standard from company to company and the reality is we can actually choose the ratio for percentage of lengths in the hair. So from 1 company to the next, the ratio is not the same. I always recommend twisting the hair and looking at how much the ponytail retains thickness along the length of it. Our hair extensions are Super ratio, which is higher then triple ratio, and we design them just to thin out the last 1'-2' depending on method so it will blend on application. So you don't end up with a '3 layer haircut' look and don't need to cut into the ends too much to blend in, rather then cutting off hair you pay extra for.
Remy / Remi / Cuticle Correct Hair - We now use the term Cuticle Correct rather then the original term Remy. This is because over time, the true meaning has been lost. I now see the word Remy on packets of synthetic hair, and on packets of human hair that is not cuticle correct. Some companies also use the word Remy to refer to Single ratio hair. Therefore, by using the term Cuticle Correct, there is no room for miss-communication. Cuticle correct hair means that all of the cuticle layers run in the same direction. The hair is put in a ponytail and cut from the persons head. it is kept in this ponytail and then sold to the manufacturer. The manufacturer will usually make it into a basic machine weft with bright coloured string to keep it all cuticle correct though the colouring process. It is then made into the requested hair extension type. The bright string is easily seen and removed. You can sometimes find the bright string in Manniquin heads that are made cheaper then hair extensions, and very rarely but sometimes in hair extensions if the worker making them missed it that day. Cuticle correct hair is the best type of hair for hair extensions as it will last the longest, and not tangle as easily. It is the most expensive.
Not Cuticle correct hair extensions are cheaper. It is made from fallen hair. Hair that has cuticles going in opposite directions will work like velcro and knot up, especially when the hair is wet, but also with any movement and friction throughout the day. To combat this, Hair extension manufacturers strip some of the cuticle layer off the hair and then coat it with a silicon or similar coating. This makes the hair shiny, slippery and hides what the hair is actually like. Human hair has a cuticle layer for protection and health. When it has been stripped the hair will be weaker, and the coating will seal the hair so moisture can not get in and the hair will dry out and become brittle and break. Hair that has this coating will not colour straight out of the pack. So a good test is to take new blonde hair extensions out of the packet and use purple shampoo on them, if they don't have a coating the hair will accept the colour and tone evenly. Our hair extensions do not contain a coating as they are cuticle correct. Hair with this coating - often Hair Extensionist's that use this no cuticle correct hair, will tell their clients to use certain supermarket shampoos / conditioners to keep the coating on there. This hair can last 3 weeks to 3 months on average. If they do not use a product to keep the coating on, then it will slowly was off and the hair's real condition will be revealed from about 2-6 weeks depending how often the hair is washed. One the coating is removed and the hair velco mattes up, there is not much you can do to save the hair. Hair that does not have a coating, what you feel is what you get, no surprises. If the condition is good or bad you will feel it straight away, especially on the first wash. If it slowly decreases over time, its due to how the hair is being treated. See our previous blog post on how to maintain extensions and what to use. Our hair lasts 6 months - 3 years depending how its looked after. Average replacement by clients is 8-12 months. As most clients do heat styling to their hair, this is not much different to their own natural Bio hair.
Another way to tell if hair is not cuticle correct is to look for the hair bulbs on the ends of the hair. Years ago you could easily see them, I use to find them a lot on other companies clip in hair extensions, especially when I was a guest artist teacher and students would present their extensions to check. We do not lower our quality of hair for our Youshiki Clip in Extensions. Then those other companies got smart and cut the ends. However, you can still find the hair bulbs 1/2 way down the extensions in the shorter hairs where they haven't gone through and made sure they have been cut off. Not all non-cuticle correct hair has the hair bulbs, but it is a good giveaway. What are hair bulbs? If you find one of your natural hairs that have shed, you will often find a bulb on the end where it has come out of your head.
google images of 'Indiamart comb waste hair', if you want to see one place they get non cuticle correct hair from.
Virgin Hair? - No our extensions aren't Virgin hair. Virgin hair by definition is hair that has not been chemically serviced. All of our extensions have been coloured. This is how you are able to buy them matched off a colour ring. Yes the hair is virgin before we have it coloured by our manufacturer. The hair is coloured slowly with dyes different to our hair dyes, therefore it doesn't fade as quick as our hair colour does. It also means that it should not be lightened. Only toned or coloured darker. It also means it can fade with extreme heat, just like clothes do. Especially Pastel colours, Vibrant colours and level #8 or lighter.
Where does the hair come from? - Most hair is brought from people who grow their hair to sell it for extra income. In remote areas there are hair merchants who travel from town to village to collect and buy the hair. This is then sold either at hair auctions or direct to manufacturers. Hair also comes from Temples where people donate their hair for Religious Occasions. Is it ethical? Yes, thankfully majority of these people are now paid fair prices for their hair, thanks to technology and the internet, they know what their hair is worth and aren't being ripped off. Manufacturer's also buy regularly from ethical sellers so they wouldn't just buy it from someone knocking on their door with some stolen ponytails. Manufacturer's and seller's usually deal with large amounts of hair when buying and selling, this also means that they wont just deal with a shady seller with a few ponytails. For an example, we have a seller from Uzbekistan, who only sells hair in 10Kg per colour and 1000kg minimum to purchase his virgin hair. By working with the same suppliers and manufacturers for over 16 years we can ensure where our hair comes from ethically and with consistent quality.
I also get asked if the hair comes from dead people. While I can say ours definitely doesn't, I'm confident to say any quality hair does not. The healthiest hair is generally from healthy 15-40 year olds. If the donor is too young, the hair will be too fine and not last generally, especially with heat tools and colouring. If the donor is too old, their hair will be more coarse and wirey. If they are sick, their hair will not be good quality, as when we are unwell, our hair and skin are the first 2 things to suffer.
Faulty Hair - We don't keep selling hair that is faulty. As our hair doesn't have a silicon coating and you see what you get straight away, we find it faulty very quickly if there is an issue. We recall the batch and either return it or sell it out as training hair, way below cost price. We have hair coloured in batches, 10kg at a time per colour and per length. Each colour in each length and each style of extension is a different batch. Luckily we rarely ever have faulty batches, well its not luck. It's because we buy premium quality hair and only deal with the same manufacture. We won't tell you that your the only one if its a faulty batch, we want to keep you as a customer. So we will endeavour to get to the bottom of why something has happened to your extensions. This way it wont repeat on the next set. Please see our previous blog on how to care for your extensions to avoid most common issues.
Price - Keeping all these factors in mind, to get good quality hair, its not cheap. But Prices in medium to high range are not always an indicator. We are able to keep our costs low for a few reasons. 1 - We don't have fancy packaging that you would have to pay for. You pay for the hair. 2 - We don't have an expensive factory / showroom / office in an expensive area that would also increase the price of our extensions. 3 - We don't do expensive marketing campaigns and have lots of Reps's or staff that would also need to be paid for by the cost of the extensions. 4 - We don't make a lot off 1 sale, you would be surprised how low our markup is. We want you to make the most amount off them and have you promoting them to your clients as a service you offer, and and we rely on your repeat business.
Why Choose us? - We have consistent quality. We have been doing this for a long time, supplying salons since 2009 but working with extensions since 1995. We know what our hair does and does not do. We have qualified educators, and also offer support to you. If you succeed, we succeed, we are in this together. We are also always looking at new technology and testing new products and methods. We won't just jump on the latest trend but will wait until we know that the product / method is at it's best and will deliver consistent results and quality before releasing it. Such as Genius weft, we have waited until Generation 3 before bringing them to you. We did not want to deal with wefts that shed. On saying that, we will bring your the best of things sometimes before others. We released Butterfly Ribbon Wefts after the covid lockdowns. When we worked on developing the size, distance and placement of holes, as well as best method at the time for the wefts so they would last. Now that Gen 3 Genius Wefts are successful, we are bringing your Genius Butterfly wefts. We are also secretly trialling another new type of weft? Maybe it will be good/great/not good. But rest assured we will not release something that has the potential of not being consistently great.
Hopefully you have learnt some valuable information :) thanks for making it this far, Regards Simone