Why do companies chemically process hair?
The short answer is it looks nice. Remember the golden ages of “pack hair”- hair that was literally sold in a pack at your local beauty supply store?
Remember how beautiful and shiny the hair was? Well that was because the hair was chemically processed.
Chemical processing gives hair extensions a more uniform and beautiful appearance. It coats the hair with silicone’s that make it shinier and more appealing.
The downside of this type of hair was once you washed it the hair was no longer “good”. It would matte, shed, tangle and even change colors.
Why are we bringing up “pack hair”, you may ask when talking about virgin hair. Well here’s the skinny! The truth is many companies are selling you pack hair at bundle prices.
“Virgin hair” that companies are claiming to be virgin but yet has undergone a color treatment, bleaching or other chemical process.
The Types of Processing
So let’s recap! We`ve already mentioned a few type of processing that hair can undergo including hair that has been color treated, permed, relaxed, bleached or dyed.
This type of processing all falls under the umbrella of chemical processing.
There is another type of processing that hair extensions undergo called steam processing which is a lot less harsh on the hair and if done well improves the quality and longevity of the hair. Not to mention it looks beautiful.
Real virgin hair in today’s market is now defined as hair that has only been steamed processed.
Steam processing or steaming allows for the creating of those hot exotic and unique styles like, body wave, deep wave, mink or silky straight, Italian curl or Spanish wave, kinky curl, tight curl, curly wave, loose wave, kinky straight, 4C Afro kinky, natural wave, Bomb Blonde and so much more.
Industry standards for hair extensions is so much different than what it was just a few years ago.
In fact, the definition of virgin hair in 2016 would automatically imply the hair you were purchasing was single donor unprocessed hair.
The market has changed rapidly since. The beauty industry is an ever evolving industry and the hair market reflects that.
What’s great about virgin hair is that hair weave bundles look identical to one another which make for an effortless sew-in weave or wig.
Also, with a manufacture or trusted hair company that has perfected their steaming process your hair can last you a very long time while preserving the style and pattern you bought it in.
What are some kinds of virgin hair that exist on the market?
The most popular kinds of virgin hair are:
- Peruvian – coarser, thicker, durable
- Brazilian – light, shiny, silky
- Malaysian – heavier, softer, silkier
Please be aware that hair does not originate from the countries and areas they are named after.
These are more so industry created names that help to market hair and sometimes reference a type of quality for that particular company.
Genuine raw hair, on the other hand, originates from its source. So Raw Indian hair comes from India and Vietnamese hair from Vietnam and so on and so forth!
Please also be aware that if a company sells Indian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Burmese and other hair that is typically categorized as raw hair it is your responsibility to find out if that hair is truly raw.
