We often get calls from people wanting to know what the difference is between our hair and other brands. There is a lot of confusion out there surrounding hair and the different quality of hair so we though this blog posting would be great to help people understand what what they are buying and decide what is the best value for them.
Low quality human hair:
The hair is not cut hair, it's fallen hair so the cuticle of the hair can be mixed up
The hair is removed from the head and allowed to fall to the floor, allowing the roots and ends to be mixed up, creating cuticles that do not run in the same direction. This causes tangling.
Because of the reverse cuticles the hair goes through a lot of chemical processing to the cuticle to reduce this tangling as much as possible. This processing causes extensive damage to the cuticle. This creates dull, dry hair. To hide this, the hair is covered with a grape seed oil or silicone. This coating slowly washes off as the hair is shampooed. The hair then goes through additional chemical processing to create various textures and colors. Dyes used on low quality hair are often fabric dyes, and because of this, the hair will not react properly if colored later.
Good quality human hair is referred to as "Remi", "Remin", or "Remy."
The cuticle of the hair is facing one direction and should be fairly intact the hair may go through a process to orient the cuticles into the correct direction. This hair is sometimes chemically treated just in case the procerssor missed a hair on two while trying to orient them. Cheaper brands of remi hair can have some damage to the cuticle caused by processing. This hair should not be colored and will still dry out faster over time. It has longer wear than low quality hair but still will need to be replaced on a regular basis. The hair experiences additional chemical processing to create various textures. This hair is sometimes referred to as "European Quality Hair." This is not actually European hair, but hair that has been stripped dowm slightly so that it resembles the feel of a European cuticle strand.
High quality human hair
This hair has a healthy cuticle, if not fully intact. The textures of this hair are natural, not chemically introduced, some hair is straight and some is wavy. High quality hair will wear up to a year if treated properly. Again, natural colors are dark so hair goes through a stripping process to create lighter colors, therefore causing the cuticle to open a little. Try to avoid coloring. If you want to color use the same color process and products that you would use if you were coloring the hair growing form your head.
Very high quality human hair is Remy as well as "Virgin" or "Raw."
It has never been treated with ANY chemical process, and has usually been grown with the intent of selling. The cuticle is completely intact. Even within this category the hair comes in separate grades, with A being that of a young child's suffering little environmental damage, and D being that of an older donor with slightly more coarseness to the hair, If you are ordering longer lengths chances are the client is older. It can safely be colored or permed, and is extremely expensive and rare. Many companies try to pass their hair off as this fraudulently. This hair can be worn for years with proper care.
Miss MyMy Specializes in this type of hair. www.missmymy.com/virgin_cuticle.html
Next time you are trying to figure out the difference between the 300 dollar wig and the $1200 dollar wig or $70 dollar extensions versus $300 extensions think about the above information.
Here's to happy hair days...
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