Wig Hair Fibers

Human Hair   Human Hair Synthetic Blends Synthetic Hair Fibers  Differences

Today, wig hair is made of many materials.  In addition to human hair, advanced synthetic fibers or a combination of human hair and synthetic fibers are used. Naturally, any of these fibers can be of superior, good, of poor quality. The following paragraphs describe the differences between the various kinds of hair fibers.   

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Human Hair
Human Hair wigs are normally fashioned from the finest human hair available. Generally speaking, the finest texture in wigs continues to be human hair. The major advantage is that you can usually style them the way you want and often change that style very easily. They are like your own hair in responding to complete styling changes, accepting perms, or even changing the color.  The down side is, especially if you don't like taking good care of your wigs, just like your hair, all human hair wigs require some styling after they are washed - it goes straight when wet. You can blow-dry it and use hot rollers or a curling iron, or you may wet-set it and dry it under a hairdryer. If you want something easier to take care of,  We recommend a 50/50 human-synthetic blend. It gives you the best of both worlds--the look, feel, and longevity of human hair along with the synthetic's ability to hold its shape after washing. Human hair wigs will give you 3-4 years of wear with proper care,  provided they are of good quality. If you are looking for high quality human hair wigs you can go to our Human Hair Pages to find a supplier.  

(Caution: some human hair wigs can be made from human hair with poor texture or quality.  Just because the label says Human Hair does not mean it is "good quality" hair.)

The categories of human hair are Chinese, Indonesian and European. Asian human hair is the most popular human hair because it is the least expensive. Chinese hair is the most common but it is very coarse and is often damaged by over processing. Indonesian hair if finer to start with and does not need to be processed quite as much. Both are versatile in styling but will require coloring by a professional stylist every once in a while.

European human hair is the finest hair available for wigs.

Virgin European hair  has not been processed, only sanitized and blended. Therefore, it is strong and natural in appearance.  (If you ever wonder if it is Virgin European hair put it to this test - rub 10-20 strands of hair between your thumb and forefinger. If the hair bunches up, it is virgin. If the hair slides it it may be European hair but, has had the cuticles removed and is processed so it is no longer virgin hair.)  Virgin human hair wigs are the most natural looking and the most comfortable but just like human they tend to tangle. This is a good choice if you want the finest wig, and a poor choice if you don't like taking care of your hair.  

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Human Hair Blends
Human hair and synthetics blends offer the easy care of synthetics with exceptional flexibility and styling versatility. Like human hair, these blends  can be permed for extra body wave, or curl. A high percentage of human hair creates rich tonal dimensions of color play most like natural hair, particularly in colors with natural highlights. Blends like this will give you 2 -3 years of wear depending on proper wear and the quality.

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Elura
Synthetic wigs are more natural looking than ever before. Synthetics can be shampooed and dried naturally with minimal care. Less costly than human hair wigs, they retain their style very well but are less responsive to major styling changes than Human Hair or Human Hair / Synthetic  blends. Synthetics will not accept a perm nor can they be colored properly. Remember, synthetic wigs were designed to stay and look the way you originally bought them. Trying to change or restyle them can cause poor or even drastic results.  Synthetic wigs will give you 1 year or more wear depending on care and quality. Synthetic wigs are sold by most every retailer in our directory.

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Differences in texture between synthetic and human hair

Yes.  Synthetic hair is simply very fine plastic filaments.  The structure is different from human hair.  Synthetics are easier to handle, due to their ability to hold the basic curl after washing.  Depending on the simplicity of the style, some of them require very little styling. The life of a good synthetic wig is about 1 year, but can last longer with proper care.    

As a rule, human hair is heavier in weight than synthetic fiber, but human hair is the longest wearing of all fiber.  However, there are different qualities of human hair, depending on where it comes from. Some European hair is the best hair in the world because of it's strength and texture.  This type of hair is the rarest of all, and is very expensive. Wigs made from this hair run into the thousands of dollars.  Next is Asian hair, which is not as fine in texture as European, and even can be very coarse. These wigs sell cheap, and if you think you're saving money by purchasing one of these, you'll probably wish you hadn't later.

There is also higher quality Asian hair that has been used in the manufacture of quality wigs for many years, and this type can be chemically treated to resemble the texture of European.  High quality Asian hair is the type of hair that Jacquelyn uses to make their wigs. They look very nice and are relatively inexpensive for the quality. Then there is Indo hair, which comes from India and  Indonesia.  This type of hair is soft and fine in texture like good European, and is the hair of choice for most cranial prostheses and hair replacement companies today.  This type of hair is more expensive than Asian, but if one if one is wearing a partial piece, it will blend very well with finer textured hair.

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