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With all of the extensions on the market, it is really important that you are able to determine a little bit about the quality before you purchase your extensions.
The first thing that you want to look at is your brand.
You want to make sure that you are buying from a reputable source
and that you know exactly what you're getting in terms of processing.
The processing becomes really important because there are two main ways of processing hair in the market.
One is cuticle intact and the other is cuticle stripped.
Cuticle on your hair means that you have this protective layer.
It's a clear, shingle type layer that goes on the outside of your hair.
The cheaper brands of extension hair will actually have that cuticle removed.
So what you will find is that once that cuticle is removed the hair is a smaller diameter.
You lose the properties of moisture retention and you lose the property of sheen
and it becomes a much more dull and brittle product.
The reason that they would do that though is that it actually takes a thicker Chinese hair and makes it into a finer, more pliable diameter.
Then, because the cuticle properties are stripped, the hair extension companies will actually put a moisture layer back in
so it has some of that retention. That is going to be a laminate or a sheen layer.
Once that hair is installed, over time, that will degrade.
So if you wash your hair every day it is actually going to come off faster.
That is why when you install cheaper extension hair, that your hair actually becomes a lot more difficult to manage very quickly
versus when you install a more expensive product. Typically.
What we have in contrast is the cuticle intact hair.
So again, you are actually going to retain all the natural properties of moisture retention and sheen
and it becomes much easier to work with.
So, the way that you determine whether or not you are dealing with a cuticle stripped hair,
presumably if you are not familiar with the brand,
because that should tell you.
What you are going to do is pick up a few strands of hair
and you are going to run your fingers down and then you are going to run them back up.
Now when you have cuticle intact, because it is put in like layers, when you run your fingers back up the strand
you should feel some resistance. It's a very fine feeling.
But you should be able to tell when you go down and when you go back up that it is actually different.
Because what you are feeling is the resistance of those shingles pushing down.
Now this is a cuticle free product from Sensationnel, it is their Premium Now line, and we do carry this.
The reason why you would carry or you would use a cuticle free hair is that it's not necessary to always use the most expensive hair or the most durable hair.
So let's say you have a weekend event or you just want something fun, you don't need to buy the most expensive hair on the market.
Anything that is going to be cuticle stripped or get you by is going to be just fine.
But if you want something that is going to be more longer lasting and take a lot more of that abuse,
you are going to want something that is going to have that cuticle intact.
The other one that I have here, this is our Boyhme line and it is a very good, very high cuticle content.
It is really, really nice to work with.
The second thing that you are going to look for is what I call a breaking point.
So what you are going to do to determine that is you are going to hold your bundle and you are going to run your hand down the bundle.
And you are just going to look for the breaking points of any of those hairs that start to stick off this bundle.
Okay, I'm starting to see a little bit of breakage in through here.
And it looks like most of the hair is kind of thinning out right about here. That is actually really good.
All hair extension bundles are going to taper down to a natural kind of fineness at the end
and that is good because when you install it, you never see the blunt lines between layer to layer.
Natural hair always has a little bit of that gradual fade out to the ends which is where then you typically see your cuts.
So you will always have that with extensions, but you don't want to see,
you don't want to see your bundles, like say if you have a 22 inch bundle, you never want to see your breaking points in your upper portions.
Because the lesser expensive hairs, what they do is most of the hair will be in your shorter lengths,
and only a few of the strands will actually make it to the longest lengths.
What that looks like when you install it, is that you will see most of the hair stopping at about 12 or 14 inches
and then you will have little stragglers down for the rest of your length.
Then in order to make that hair look good, you have to remove most of that length that you have just installed in your final cut,
so that it doesn't look all straggly.
Hopefully that tells you a little bit about what to look for in terms of quality, and will help you make the right determinations for your clients.