Where does all the hair for
hair extensions really come from?

Yet, have you ever wondered where all this hair comes from?

This booklet is intended to provide answers and facts to the often misleading information publicised about the sources of hair. It is designed to help you ask the right questions about your new hair extensions...
...so that you are given the correct answers.

You have the right to know what makes the difference in making the correct choice for your hair extensions. Your new hairstyle must not only look, but more importantly must become part of your everyday lifestyle without causing the problems so often associated with this type of service!

 The next few pages will really take you behind the scenes...

Yet, have you ever wondered where all this hair comes from?

This booklet is intended to provide answers and facts to the often misleading information publicised about the sources of hair. It is designed to help you ask the right questions about your new hair extensions...
...so that you are given the correct answers.

You have the right to know what makes the difference in making the correct choice for your hair extensions. Your new hairstyle must not only look, but more importantly must become part of your everyday lifestyle without causing the problems so often associated with this type of service!

 The next few pages will really take you behind the scenes...

Mother Nature provided hair with a scaly coating known as the "cuticle". The cuticle acts as a natural protection and is responsible for the shine and resilience of your hair, locking in essential moisture and protecting the hair against the harsh elements (wind, sun, pollution, etc.) to which it is exposed. Hair without cuticle would rapidly dry out, become brittle and break, and appear lifeless and dull. (For reasons which are explained later, cuticles are removed from an available source of inferior quality hair.)

In your own natural growth, the individual cuticle scales are naturally aligned in the same direction. Hairs next to each other are easy to comb because of this. But what would happen if the cuticle scales where not all facing the same direction? imagine a velcro fastening. The reason the fastening grips so well is because the burrs which interlock with each other are all aligned in different directions. This is clearly the opposite of what is required for hair exrensions because, in this case, interlocking would soon lead to completely matted and tangled hair.

When combed wet, natural hair with cuticle will stretch by approximately 10%. Hair in which the cuticle has been removed (later explained) is much more elastic. Because of their different stretch, mixing these two qualities together can produce disasterous results, especially inthe case where the cuticle has not been fully removed from the inferior quality hair and may be facing in the opposite direction to that of your natural hair.

The hair of typical European women has an oval cross-section and is relatively thin; it is normally between 0,06mm and 0,09mm thick. The hair used for hair extensions must have the same characteristic in order to provide easy maintenance and a lasting natural appearance and feel.

Do you really believe that there are great numbers of European women willing to have their beautiful long hair cut off (coincidentally of the exact colour needed and in continuous supply..!) in order to supply hair extension companies?

If there were these numbers of European women ready to have their hair cut off, could you really believe that their hair had not already had some sort of chemical treatment? (This would automatically make their hair unsuitable for subsequent use in hair extensions.)

If it really were available in all the quantities needed, natural blonde hair is genetically very thin. Could you really believe that this hair would then be suitable for use in hair extensions to provide volume for others?

Chinese hair is "considerably thicker" than European hair; it is dark black and, by contrast with European hair, has a round cross-section. To prepare this hair for use in hair extensions, it must first be made thinner.

To make the hair thinner, it is placed in an acid bath. This almost completely destroys the cuticle making the hair brittle and dull.

The shine must be restored to the hair. So it is coated with a silicon layer.

This gives the hair an impressive sheen. But not for long, because after a few washes, the silicon layer is removed and the hair becomes dull and brittle again.

Chinese hair is suitable for use in wigs and hair pieces because wigs and hair pieces are generaly cleaned with dry shampoo, so the silicon layer re-mains intact and the hair keeps its lovely sheen.

Chinese hair is very suitable for wigs and hair pieces,
but for European women it is certainly not the best solution!

Believe it or not, hundreds of millions of women of all ages collect their hair every day after brushing it. This includes dark hair, grey hair, and hair of all lengths and thicknesses. This hair is extremely cheap to purchase because the result of this method of collection is, of course, a mass of mixed up hair aligned in different directions.

Because of the mixed direction of the cuticles, the hair has to be subjected to an aggressive acid process in order to remove the cuticle in an attempt to prevent subsequent tangling. Hair companies in Korea and Indonesia specialise in purchasing this type of hair and subjecting it to this acidising process.

However, because of the mixture of different hairs in this mass and because some areas are particularly oily or dirty, it is very often impossible to fully remove all the cuticles.

To give this acidised and now damaged hair a healthy appearance once again, the hair is dipped in silicon to make it shine and to cover up any cuticles that were not removed in the acid bath. The silicon also adds weight to the hair which makes it fetch a better price on the market since hair is generally sold by weight.

The standard of this hair is acceptable for the use in wigs and toupets since these items are usually dry-cleaned and are separate to your own hair.

But what happens if hair extensions are made with this type of hair? (where this hair is directly mixed in with your own hair.)

...to begin with the hair is beautiful, shiny and brushable...	...after a few washes, however, the silicon layer starts to wash out... ...slowly the hair becomes duller and loses its sheen. It becomes brittle and starts to break...	...any cuticle originally covered by the silicon will become exposed and present a real threat of tangling and matting with your own hair... ...with every wash this condition will become worse...

Actually, because of its wonderful quality, Indian hair does provide the solution but not with the collection method described before. The solution is based on hair which is collected with all its cuticle perfectly aligned in the same direction. This hair comes in a plait...

Indian women traditionally cut off their long plait of hair either at their wedding – as a symbol of starting a new part of their life – or if they want to ask a special favour or offer thanks to a deity at a religious temple. Collecting and using this hair to produce hair extensions, neatly solves a number of problems:

The cuticle layer of this hair is still perfectly healthy and intact since, as mentioned, Indian girls rarely visit hair salons to get chemical treatments.

Weaving the hair into a plait ensures that it is all aligned in one direction.

The hair is homogeneous in colour and thickness.

This precious and high quality hair provides the best solution for an extremely reliable hair extension service.

However, as we all know, even this wonderful quality hair would be seriously damaged if a traditional bleaching process were used in order to provide all the different colours, including light blondes, needed in hair extensions.

Traditionally in hair salons or hair processing factories, bleaching substances are used to break up the pigment molecules (felamelamine) in the hair and thus lighten its colour. However, it is well known that the substances used (peroxide or ammonium derivatives) are also extremely harmful to the surrounding hair structure. The lighter the bleaching, the more damage to the structure of the hair and the more elastic it will become.

But there is an incredible, although lengthy process, which may be used to lighten the hair whilst keeping its structure intact and healthy and without any damage to its cuticle.

Scientists in the wool and cashmere industry adopt a sophisticated method of removing the pigments in wool fibres rather than breaking them up by bleaching them. Have you ever wondered how wool can become so white and yet maintain its quality and strength?
We have all seen beautiful white or pastel colour cashmere pullovers and yet the only snow white sheep exist in cartoons or in children’s storybooks...!

David Gold, before founding Great Lengths, had connections with this specialised textile sector. He carried out further development work on this scientific wool ”depigmentising” process which he had access to.

The carefully guarded secret is an osmosis process which, as a result of Gold’s research, has now been adapted to work on human hair; the composition of which is very similar to that of wool. The colour pigments are released slowly and carefully from the hair during a process lasting up to 15 days.

Never before has this method been utilised for human hair processing and, coupled with the exceptional integrity of the Indian ”temple hair”, it truly provides a reliable and unsurpassed hair quality – so good that this hair will withstand the most rigorous of lifestyles including subsequent chemical treatments such as perming if so desired.

Colour fastness is also a major achievement as a result of this new process. Similar to the color fastness obtained in the cashmere industry, new color molecules inserted into fibers previously ”de-pigmentised” in this manner find a proper space to occupy rather than having to try to squeeze into a space occupied by fragments of broken "bleached" molecules.

We hope that the information provided will shed light on some of the mystery surrounding the booming world of hair extensions. A correct choice will make an enormous difference between an unhappy or an extremely satisfying experience....