Hair extensions - a few hours in the Salon and you have long hair that looks like a dream. It is the notion that women can achieve an instantaneous transformation that has seen demand for high-quality hair extensions hit an all time high. This increase in demand has been aptly met with an increase in supply as salons realise that hair extensions is one of the most lucrative services to offer. With so many options flooding the marketplace it can be challenging to select a hair extension salon that will be best for you.

In recent year hair extensions have become big business. So much so that there has been an explosion of what I will call the “do-it-at-homers”. These are people that know someone in the hair extension business and think it is a quick and easy way to make money. They set up a website by copying other peoples information and portfolio work, advertise heavily on Google pay-per-click and “poof” they magically have become hair extension experts.

Call a leading salon and ask about cost of extensions and you are likely to get an answer like it depends.  It depends on the length. It depends on the quality of hair.  It depends on the method for attaching the extension hair.  No one seems willing to offer a straightforward answer.  If you are lucky you will get a range depending on the salon of a few hundred pounds to a few thousand.  Not exactly helpful.
 

Client’s often ask why a lot of the hair they buy appears shiny, which imparts a feeling of quality, compared to normal scalp hair. Most salons which claim they sell virgin or cuticle hair are ethical but a small percentage are verified as non-cuticle processed hair under the microscope. Now why does it look shiny compared to normal hair? The answer is a simple matter of light reflection.

The most obvious way to determine if hair is real or fake is to conduct a microscopic test to find out the chemical composition of the extension hair.  However, since most of us do not a microscope readily available or have a degree in forensic science this is probably not a suitable option.

The textile industry conducts what is called a “fiber burn” test to identify the content. The same test can be done on hair.

All human hair has a cuticle layer similar to fish scales. When some hairs become turned in the opposite direction they will catch with each another, lock up, and cause the hair to mat.
A majority of the cheap hair on the market can trace its roots back a factory in China or India where is it mass-processed. The incoming hair is a dire state with it already being tangled and matted.  In order to correct this the hair the hair must be "processed" for cuticle stripping.