HUMAN HAIR INDUSTRY – DECEPTION/FRAUD/DISHONESTY AS THE MARKET BECOMES SATURATED SO DOES THIEVERY!!
Who can you Trust?
For most black women, our hair is a matter of priority and manufacturers in China, India and now Central Asia (Uzbekistan) know that we spend far too many dollars on so call “good hair”. In a recent study, black women spent $HALF-A-TRILLION dollars on hair and weaves!! As a result of this the hair industry is getting quite saturated and has become very cutthroat and consequently has led to many human hair manufactures cutting corners, slashing prices and sacrificing quality.
I recently read that manufacturing plants are starting to mix animal hair with human hair and unethically calling it 100% human hair” in order to meet the demand. Being in the business as long as I have, this is not news to me because synthetic fibers and animal hair can be processed so well most consumers cannot detect the difference! The article goes on to say, “After a few weeks of wear and tear all the lovely characteristics like the shine, bounce, elasticity, and overall quality of the hair deteriorates”. The human hair industry is rampant with manufacturers that will sell you heavily coated low-grade, bottom tier hair at prices so high you are fooled into believing you are purchasing virgin hair.
I am an expert human hair processor and human hair wefter so I am not as vulnerable as most people who are trying to get into this business. I have seen the prices of so call good “virgin hair” on the web so low that it has permanently restructured the industry. At the moment, there are consumers of human hair who believe that they are actually getting virgin hair for $55.00. I have seen lengths as long as 26 inches for $90.00, boldly advertise as “virgin hair”. The term “VIRGIN HAIR” has taken on a new meaning just as the term “REMY” did years ago. Now, in order to really prove that the hair is pure the term “RAW” is now being used. “RAW VIRGIN” is accepted by most as the real thing. This is very disturbing to me as an industry insider with many years as a processor because “raw hair” is not wearable.
RETAIL TRICKERY: WHY ARE YOU SPENDING HUNDREDS FOR DIRTY RAW HAIR??
There is a company that came up with a very creative way of doing less work and selling dirty hair at a very high price by using the term “RAW”. This company sells wefted “Raw Virgin” hair to women for $$hundred$$ per bundle. The hair is dirty so they came up with a brilliant way of making you the consumer pay higher prices for this dirty hair. They are marketing this hair as “RAW” so they do less work, (they don’t have to clean, sanitize, or make NIT-FREE) and you pay more! …….you do all that work yourself….. COME ON LADIES, REALLY…
WHOLESALE TRICKERY: DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE PURCHASING??
The “not knowing” what it is you are selling to your clients/customers can be quite stressful and if you are a novice who is putting your trust and livelihood into the hands of someone you have never met and the only form of communication is on the internet you are taking a huge financial risk!
Indian hair in my opinion, completely changed the market, and brought with it a renewed awareness of dishonesty, deceptiveness, and unethical practices. I am absolutely not saying these fraudulent practices were non-existent, but with the sudden saturation of so many people now selling hair it became so easy to take advantage of these inexperienced start-up businesses. Most of these small human hair businesses see an opportunity to make a lot of money effortlessly and in most cases are willing to overlook quality and the most basic industry standards.
So many small human hair retail businesses are saturating the market under the premise of selling the finest quality Virgin:
Indian Brazilian, Mongolian, Malaysian, Peruvian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Chinese, and
Russian hair, when in fact most of the hair they are actually selling has been compromised in some way and falls under (2) categories CHINESE OR INDIAN. A wholesale vendor candidly informed me that the reason his hair was always sold out was because it was all shipped to Brazil and then sold as overpriced Brazilian hair! His Chinese hair, when professionally processed, easily passes as European hair and is sold for thousands. Will this practice continue, of course, it always been this way.
TAG WORD TRICKERY
Tag words and labels such as grades A, AA, AAA, AAAA, AAAAA, AAAAAA and lately AAAAAAA (7A)…..Really!!! How many more grades can you attribute to hair?? If anyone can show me the difference between a strand of virgin hair that is graded A as oppose to 7A, please send it to me
I am “old school” my business sells 4 oz. bundle quality hair! We have no tag words or grading system, just good old fashion clean nit-free grade “Q” for QUALITY 100% human hair.
