About the Hair

Hair Origins

There is a wide variety of hair, sourced from around the world, that is used in the making of hair extensions. The hair represents many ethnicities and textures and colors, depending on where it is sourced from

The main exporters of human hair are India and China. Hair also comes from a variety of other countries as well. European and Russian hair is known for its soft, fine quality that matches fine thin hair well. This hair is usually the hardest to come by and the most expensive. Also take into account that each country has a variety of different ethnic backgrounds, so Russian hair is not always the finest, and Chinese hair is not always the thickest. Super fine Indian or Chinese hair can be categorized as "European" hair because of fine texture. Hair is often bought in India and processed in China, or bought in China, and processed in Europe. The hair trade is very expansive world wide.

Indian Temple Hair

This is the hair that comes from the Indian Temples. At Hindu Temples across India, woman will offer their hair to the temple deity as a sign of devotion. Their hair is usually virgin hair that has been untouched by chemical processes. Indian hair texture can be very fine and soft, more fine that Asian hair. It grows long and thick and comes in a variety of textures from natural straight to natural wavy and curly. The temples auction their hair to bring money to the community. It is the processing of this hair that will determine the quality further. There can be good or poorly processed Indian hair. I'll get the processing further down the page.

Asian Hair

The controversy about the quality of Asian hair not being fit to use as hair extensions is wrong. I just read what they wrote about it on Great Lengths web site. Asian hair happens to be the strongest, most naturally shiny hair of all. The problem is that some Asian manufacturers do not process it well. But there are many more who do a fantastic job of producing quality product. Asian hair, because it is thicker and stronger will look too stiff and wig-like as extensions on the wrong person. It is important to have the option for the client with the thick texture that matches.

Russian Hair

This is the most expensive hair and hard to come by. It is more rare worldwide. Russian hair has the finest quality. It is soft, natural, and light. Some Russian hair can be thick and course, but the select hair that is considered to be of Russian quality is what I'm referring too. This hair is usually not processed through the same channels as Indian and Asian hair.

European Hair

This can cover a range of hair from different countries in Europe. It does exist. The texture is fine and strong, somewhere between Russian and Indian, although I have found some European hair softer than the Russian hair. I also believe that some Indian hair that is soft enough is marketed as European hair. There is more than one supplier in each country and each has quality that can differ greatly. It depends on how the hair is processed.

Processing the hair

There are many different ways that the hair is processed during the making of hair extensions. The processing can determine the overall quality of the hair extensions. So, despite the origins of the hair, the way that hair is processed can make the difference with a number of quality factors.

Collecting the hair is the first important step in the hair processing. The hair must be kept in order with the cuticles aligned in the proper direction. The outer or "cuticle" layer of the hair is like fish scales and great care must be taken throughout the entire process from start to finish to ensure the final product remains cuticle correct. If hairs get upside down, the quality can be very bad and cause tangles or dreading. The hair can matt very easily if it is not kept cuticle correct during all parts of the processing.

The hair is first collected as a pony tail. This would be considered virgin hair if no chemical processes are made to it. This hair can still be processed with color after and called virgin hair if the cuticle remains in tact and no chemical process was used to remove the cuticle.

Most of the collected hair is dark and it needs to be made into variety of colors. Coloring hair that has been cut from the head is treated like a textile and the lightening and dyeing processes are different than the kind of color we use on the human scalp.

Lightening is done with an oxidative lightener, which is more gentle than hypochloride, which is the bleach used in salons. An oxidative lightener can takes several days or weeks submerged in a solution to attain lighter colors.

Single drawn or double drawn hair

Some hair extensions are what is likely to be considered "layered." This hair consists of different lengths. It becomes thin at the end and may not be suitable for high quality extensions. However, some people require the layered texture to give soft ends so that it does not look too wig-like or thick on the ends.

Double drawn will be hair that is thick to the ends and has the shorter strands drawn out of it.

Remy Hair

Remy, which may be called "remi" or "remis" hair. Remy hair is hair that is considered to be cuticle correct. Cuticles are the outer layer of hair that lay like scales facing down on every hair shaft. Once the hair is cut, there is a possibility for it to be mixed up during processing. Hair that is not remy tangles easy and will not be considered top quality hair. It is also the practice of some manufacturers to remove the cuticle in a chemical process. This can eliminate tangling, but it may also take away a lot of natural luster of the hair. It can make the hair softer and thinner.

The hair can also be called "remy" if it has a chemical process to remove the cuticle.

Our Hair Quality

From the hair extension salon in Seattle, we manufacture perfectly matched customer blended hair extension set unique for each client. We use virgin or remy, cuticle correct hair that is double drawn. We use hair from different origins so that we have a wide variety of hair to suit each client. We do all the final processing, hair drawing, coloring, and custom color blending in our own lab in the salon.

We also use Great Lengths or Hair Dreams hair extensions. This hair is made with Indian Temple hair with virgin cuticle that is double or triple drawn. This is hair is completely preprocessed and tipped and ready to use.

We do not use budget hair. This can be hair that is not cuticle correct, not remy, not double drawn, or hair with low quality bonding material. Unfortunately, the cheap hair consists of over 80% of the market, or more.

 

 

The consultation appointment is complimentary. This is where we analyze your hair and talk about design and pricing options before we set an appointment for hair extensions. A security deposit is required to secure your appointment day. If you live far away we can do the consultation on the phone and through email with pictures of your hair.