Another common concern we receive from new stylists making the switch from other hair extension companies to Donna Bella is, “when I buy hair from other companies, the extensions are so smooth and silky when pulled out of the package, but then after a few washes, the hair becomes a dry, tangled mess.”
Here’s why that happens: A little manufacturing trick that has become very popular within the last 5 years is what we call “coating” or “dipping”. After the human hair has been hackled and sorted, it then moves onto the coloring process. After the hair has dried, some companies will “dip” their hair in a silicone solution. What this does is put a slippery, shiny protective layer on the outside of each hair strand, making it look and feel very high quality.
Unfortunately, this silicone solution doesn’t last very long. What happens is the client goes home extremely happy with a new beautiful look. After a few days of wear and a couple of washes, that silicone comes right off, conveying the true quality of hair.
This “dipping” process is very common for manufacturers and hair extension companies to use especially with non-remy human hair. Non-remy human hair is a much lesser quality human hair because of the way it was collected. Non-remy human hair is collected from the floors of salons and homes after it was cut from the person’s head.
The problem with this is that once that hair hits the floors, it’s impossible to tell which direction the cuticle is facing. In other words, which end is the root or top and which end is the tail or bottom? The collector carelessly puts it all into a bag which is taken to market for resale. Why is the cuticle so important? I’ll tackle that topic in another blog entry.
Let’s get back to my original point, the reason why hair may have been beautiful right out of the package, but quickly becomes a dry tangled mess. Remember a lot of the new hair extension companies popping up don’t even know why this is happening to the hair they sell.
The reason is, they have no participation in the manufacturing process. They just get online, locate a “hair manufacturer” and start buying. As we say at Donna Bella, the test of time is our best friend. This is how you, the stylist, can determine the difference between Donna Bella and our competition.