Hey Beauty Dolls,

The next part of our “Weave Been Wondering” series is all about virgin hair extensions, more commonly referred to as bundles. Shopping for virgin hair can be very difficult. There are so many types, textures, and places to shop from. Before investing in some not so cheap hair, let me help you find what you’re looking for. To start there are some common terms you’ll see when purchasing that need to be defined. Some of this information I have acquired over months of research and some I have recently updated based of off other sites (I will include those sites for further personal research).  Virgin hair is human hair that has not been chemically processed. They are actual hair fibers as opposed to synthetic fibers. However, you may still see some hair that is passed off as virgin that may have a few colored fibers in them. This is likely to appear in hair of a lower quality. The hair strands still may be human but you can expect to run into some bad hair with these cotton pieces.

One thing you’ll see a lot when looking for virgin hair is labeling such as 6A or higher grade hair. Grade hair, as defined by simplyhair.co.uk, isn’t about hair quality. In fact, it actually has more to do with the collective length of hair strands per bundle. I used this site as reference because it best clearly states the difference between the different grades and why they’re used. To break it down, the higher the grade of hair, the more collective strands will measure to be the same length, meaning you’ll have fuller ends the higher up you go in grades. Keeping this in mind, higher quality hair will tend to be full from root to tip. Virgin hair that has thin and straggly ends will often times require more bundles for a full look and not last as long as hair that is of a higher grade.

Moving on to hair origins. You can be Brazilian one day and Cambodian the next. But why are there so many hair origins on the market? The origin has a lot to do with the texture and activity of the hair. When I say the activity, I’m referring to how the hair will react in certain conditions. For example, Indian hair tends to frizz in humidity because the strands are receptive to moisture. Honestly, based on my experience, Indian hair is the best option for medium coarse or relaxed African-American hair textures because Indian hair has fine yet coarse strands that react similarly to African-American hair. Pure virgin Indian hair has a natural wave to it. The wave can range from slight to almost curly.

Brazilian hair is also a good option if you are relaxed or natural because it is dense, has a medium coarseness, and a natural shine that doesn’t appear wiggy. It’s more durable than Indian hair and a little more versatile due to its thickness. It holds styles better too because you don’t have to worry about much frizziness during the day as opposed to Indian hair. Peruvian hair was one of my first purchases and I loved it. At the time I was still relaxing my hair and my hair was veryyyy coarse and stubborn. Peruvian hair has such a nice texture. It’s relatively lightweight but it holds styles well and it’s also much more coarse than Indian and Brazilian. Of course this depends on where the hair is being purchased from (we’ll go into trusted companies later). You can use more than three bundles and it won’t feel heavy on your head. Malaysian hair from my understanding is shiny, silky, and comes in very dark brown to almost black colors. Eurasian hair is similar to Brazilian hair and is a combination of European and Asian hair. It has a texture of its own. It is durable and silky smooth, less coarse than Brazilian. Filipino hair is veryyyy thick. I won three bundles from a company I had been in love with for a while on Instagram and it was some very luxurious hair. I think because it was so thick, styles often times didn’t last long enough during the day for me.  I also had long hair installed too so that plus the actual weight of the hair caused my curls to drop a little faster than normal.

I currently have some Burmese hair installed and I am in love with the versatility. I’m transitioning right now  but my leave out is natural and when it’s flat ironed, it’s pretty silky. Burmese is a cross between Chinese hair, which is heavy and thick, and Indian hair. This hair doesn’t swell like Indian hair would and it holds a curl really well. It’s not super thick, sleek, and easy to maintain. I’ve currently dyed this hair a total of six times over the last six months and it’s BOMB! I’ll give you company details later dolls because the hair is priced pretty well too 😉 . Mongolian hair is of an Asian decent and is relatively coarser and denser than most hair textures. Cambodian hair has a low to medium coarseness and a relatively normal thickness to it (not too thin, not too thick).

I’ll briefly go into actual wave patterns and how some patterns are better for different styles. For the most part you have straight, body wave, loose wave, deep wave, curly, and kinky curly. Straight hair is super low maintenance and best if you’re doing short looks or just love the look of extremely sleek hair. Body wave has a slight S-shaped wave to it and is better for versatility if you want to achieve a curl that’ll hold a little bit in comparison to straight hair. Straight hair tends to not hold a curl well because it is naturally straight and therefore will want to revert back to being straight once styled. Body wave is a better option if you want to style your hair more often. Loose wave is a slightly deeper wave than body wave and my favorite texture. It’s the most versatile in my opinion and you can get away with wearing it in its natural curl pattern. In my experience, after you color treat body wave hair, the waves are pretty much gone. With loose wave hair, you can still keep a nice wave pattern and straighten it out bone straight with ease when needed. Deep wave hair is a step up from loose wave and has a more defined wave pattern. It can come in more of a Z wave pattern and due to the wave tends to be more coarse. The tighter the wave, the more coarse the hair will be. Curly hair and Kinky curly have more of a C curl shape throughout their strands and range from 3A-4C hair types. These hair types are beautiful but require a lot of maintenance. Curly hair has to stay moisturized and when not properly moisturized, it becomes a tangled mess. Curly hair can be pressed out bone straight but it takes a lot more effort and because it is naturally curly, you may experience swelling while straight because the hair wants to revert back to its natural state. For hair  with actual wave patterns, the longer the hair the more prominent the wave pattern will be in most cases.

Virgin hair can be purchased in bundle form (wefts), closures, lace and silk frontals, and in bulk to be used as braiding hair. Wefts are commonly used for your regular sew in and can be sewn or glued on for convenience. They can also be used to make wigs and other hair pieces. Machine sewed wefts are sturdier than hand tied wefts because hand tied are literally tied by hand onto a weft and are way more costly. Closures, frontals, 360 frontals, and full lace wigs provide you with more versatility and require little to no hair out all if you choose. You can also use virgin hair for braided styles for a softer and more natural look.

Phew! I know that was a lot of information dolls but hopefully that’ll clear some things up for you guys going forward. We don’t want to have to waste our money if we can help it. If you have any further questions tag #AskAri below and ask away.  See you next time Beauty Dolls!

XOXO,

Beauty by Ari