Extension of Lies

Have fun with your hair!

Blog writing is a great source of inspiration. It gives me the ability to inform and entertain readers. For the most part, I have been enjoying writing posts to my blog. Doing the research and writing is everything I dreamed it would be. I dreamed it would be intense, fast paced, exciting and meticulous to detail. 

Through all the information gathering, entertaining thoughts, long intense hours of typing and retyping; blogging has brought me joy until I took on the challenge to investigate and write about...the human hair weave!

Boy oh boy! What was I thinking? I was thinking I could educate readers about the simplicity of human hair weave. I figured I could start by outlining the varying types of hair available, but that was a joke. Because apparently, the only hair that is available is the hair that people want that is nothing like the hair that grows from their scalp. Instead they want Euro, Malaysian, Indian, Peruvian and Brazilian hair. 

Funny, when other people stereotype people with certain physical features they call it racial profiling or stereotyping. In return, we call those people racist or classist. But in the hair weave industry they call it. ethnic hair and the people who sell their hair, "Donors." 

Aside from the popular "ian" types of hair one can purchase, I can start off by letting you know what you already know and that is, if you put anybody else's hair on your head, it IS fake. I just don't see why women are paying so much for the words human and real next to the word "hair." The reality is sometimes caring for your own hair is a drag and what better way to eliminate that stress than buying somebody's hair. But the cost of using the words "human" "virgin" "Brazilian" and so on before the word "hair" is pretty costly.

The artificial and virgin hair business is a very lucrative business. I have been in business for quite some time and I've managed to avoid hair weave until a few weeks ago. A customer was just dying for us to give it a try. So, quite naturally I had to do some investigating before I made the big investment. My investigation led me to my blog.

Brazilian Hair Weave

Since I could not begin my blog with hair types and the facts of it being a multi billion dollar trade, my research took me to a place of ethics. I am certainly in the mind of DJ Quik when it comes to business. "If it don't make dollars; it don't make sense." However, I like making good dollars with the good sense I have. And nothing about the propaganda in hair weave makes much sense in spite of all the dollars it makes. 

Therefore, I am opting to expose the mind, cash and culture washing that is being done with hair weave. I wish I could inform you of some interesting things about hair weave. But, I can't. Hair weave remains something of an enigma in my opinion.  Either, the folks who are in charge of marketing and branding do not know how to write or I do not know how to comprehend what I read when they write. Since, I am thinking too hard about what I am reading about hair weave, I'm going to do the other thing I know how to do best when I write...entertain!    

Lace Front Weave

So here goes it. For starters, in my research I could not find out if there really is a difference between using the term "weave," "artificial," or "extension." Therefore, for entertainment purposes only, I'm going to refer to added hair just like the masses and refer to it as, weave. 


Fake is Real and Real is Fake
The other thing is using the word "fake or artificial." For some reason, they (being the people who sell and write to describe hair weave) don't even refer to weaves, extensions, sew ins, glued in, taped in, snapped in, clipped in and laced in as artificial hair. Nope, they keep insisting, the hair is "real." 

I do not know how they are pulling this off. But, the last time I checked, if it grows out of the follicle (little tiny openings on your scalp and body that hundreds of thousands of strands of hair protrudes from), it's real. If not, it's fake. Rather it is sewn or glued to a net; rather it is sewn or glued to your hair, it is fake hair.

Well, in the hair weave and hair extension business they have millions of men and women sincerely believing that because they are purchasing real hair that has been cut off from a human or animal; they are purchasing "real" hair. While the hair may be coming off of a real person, make no mistake the minute they cut if off someone else's head and you glue, sew, snap or clip it into yours; it's fake hair. Bur for a minimum of $200.00 per quality bulk to write the words human, virgin, Brazilian and so in in front of the word "hair" to make you feel good about your purchase? Hey, it could happen. It is most certainly legal. In the world of marketing and branding, they call it the "emotion quotient."

Remy versus Virgin Hair

The Remy PROCESS.

Next is this whole thing about Remy Hair versus Virgin Hair. Now, this time, they (you know who they are by now!) want you to know that Remy hair refers to a particular process. The Remy process is a method. The Remy method is a way of cutting the hair from the donors head and  "collecting their hair" that ensures the cuticles (outer layer of hair that looks like fish scales) are laying in one direction to decrease the likelihood of tangling. Now, I'm not sure what  "Remy process" is, but something tells me the "process" is to literally pick the donor's hair up off the floor. Which is a violation of state board rules here in America in the states that license hair salons. My research goes on to to reveal that the Remy hair is more likely to consist of mixed hair fibers that are collected off the floor from when they cut the hair from the hair donors of varying ethnicities to create a Remy bundle, bulk or weft of hair. Can you say, "Grossburger?" Lastly, to preserve Remy hair, manufacturers often chemcially alter it by dying it and dipping it into silicone to make it look and feel nice. You have to be careful of the quality of Remy, regardless the process.  

Virgin Indian Hair donor process

Next they (yep, here they go again) describe another category of hair weave named "Virgin" hair. Virgin hair is human hair that is collected from one single donor from a certain ethnicity (Brazilian, Peruvian, Malaysian, Indian and the likes). In addition, Virgin hair has never been chemically altered, the cuticle is in one direction to decrease tangling, the life of the hair is longer and of course this type of hair is even more expensive.

So if you are buying Remy hair, you are buying hair that can or can not be mixed with other fibers off the floor with the cuticles in tact or going in one direction. If you are buy Virgin hair, you are buying hair from one human donor of a particular ethnicity whose hair has not fell to the floor with the cuticle in tact and their ethnicity will be placed before the word "hair" (i.e Brazilian hair). Umm, yeah right!

BBS Hair and Non Toxic Hair

Hollylujer!

Now they moved on to Non-Toxic Hair versus BSS (Beauty Supply Store) hair. What's the difference? They say non-toxic hair is, again, hair that they harvest and cut from one donor without chemically altering it in any capacity. What is harvest? Harvest in the hair weave business means, the person who is responsible for overseeing the donors who are growing their hair with the intent to cut and sell it. The one website, I visited claimed that their Non-Toxic hair is also Christian hair. "Tank ya Jesus. Praise ta lort!" Gimme a break, will ya?

As for BSS (Beauty Suppy Store) hair. Well they say, this hair is mostly Chinese (really now?) hair, animal hair or even a mixture of both Chinese and animal hair that is processed to make it look like virgin hair. Now the Chinese people shouldn't take that...LOL They also say, the cost is the determining factor in the quality or authenticity of every kind of hair. Bu, the BSS hair also commonly called YAK (yep from the the animal Yak) is the cheapest of all human hair weave. My research reveals that this BSS hair looks and feels great until it is shampooed or heat styled. My research also reveals that BSS hair typically can not be heat styled. If so, use very low heat.  Afterwards, the BSS hair becomes a tangled mess. They also report that BSS hair causes more skin allergies than other hair due to the stringent chemical processing done to make it appear real. I don't know about you; but, I'm not buyin any hair termed "BSS." Those initials alone would make me change my mind...ijs

Artificial Hair

Hair for Braiding

My research stopped at artificial hair. They say artificial hair is hair that is made from old tires and plastics that are cleansed, steamed and shredded into micro fibers for sale. They also say this hair is best for braiding, twisting and creating faux locs. No wonder folk's skin breaks out. Can you say, "Tox-ick?" All I'm going to say about this stuff is be careful. Purchase your hair weave like you do your meats. Know your source, know your seller, know your animal, understand how the meat is being prepared for sale, know your body, know the cost, know what dish the meat will be used for. When in doubt; go vegan!

Root and cuticles in tact; lying in one direction

Winding this blog down to the root of the problem. Now, I watched many videos and read many articles that claim the root and the follicles are attached and is on one end of the hair and the cuticles are in tact lying in one direction. "Listen Honey listen," follicles can never be attached to hair because follicles are ograns. Organs that each hair grows from. As for the root, well that is up under your skin, located under the sratus granulosum or sumthin' like that. The root of anybody's hair, dead or alive, will never be seen by the naked eye or felt with human hands (unless they are doing an autopsy or disection of some sorts). So as for ther root and follicle being part of quality hair weave anatomy; forgeddaboudit.  Next, them that darned cuticles in tact and laying smooth in one direction claim? Well that is true that hair will not tangle when they are lying flat and........ NEVER combed, colored, braided, twisted, flipped, rolled, set, dipped in hot water, tucked, wrapped or brushed. Whew! Imagine if they put that on the packaging...lol

The truth of the matter is any product claiming to repair damaged cuticles or detangle hair will suffice to protect your hair weave just like it will for the hair on your head. Therefore, you don't have to spend thousands of dollars just so you you can buy it new tangle free. I mean, at the end of the day all hair; good, bad, damaged or healthy, Remy or Virgin will tangle. And tangled hair will benefit from protein treatments and conditioners claiming to seal or smooth the cuticle to help detangle it.

No way can this be attached to any hair weave.

In the end, I dunno. It all sounds fake to me. It, being the branding and marketing of this hair weave stuff. For them to dupe women into thinking that they are buying hair that is real when it is obviously fake, give me a break. Then they put all these names and lables next to the word "hair" by lableing hair according to ethnicities. Then they charge hundreds and thousands of dollars for it? Sign me up, I'm selling hair at my salon right now...lol But with strict purchasing guidelines to ensure a worthwhile investment.

In conclusion, the extension of hair weave lies are just that, lies. An extension of a hoax gone too broad, too costly, too far and too viral. In this world, when we want to dupe people, we simply add a high price to it. People will swear it is real and of excellent quality. Not so in the hair weave business. Buyer beware is my advice. 

Back in the day if you attached any form of hair that was weaved into a net onto your head in any capacity, it was called a wig. Wigs were worn to embellish just about any hair style. A wig was considered a hat in many instances for the varying occasions from a walk to the store to a full-fledged formal black tie event. Both words; wig and weave were synonymous with one word and one word only...FAKE. And if you treated both your wig and natural hair good, it was beneficial to both your natural hair and the wig. I recall my aunts taking good care of their $40.00 wigs. They used oil sheen, cleansed them with special sprays and heck they even had a special styrofoam head to keep the wig in shape. When it comes to these hair weaves, I've seen women spend in excess of $400.00 buying hair and $300.00 to have it installed to their natural hair. Then they have the audacity to spray $3.99 oil sheen on it, smoke in it, and refuse to wash it for at least two weeks. I don't get it. I just don't get it.

Believe it or not; people are ok with that. And that's no lie!