WHY DO BLOND HAIR EXTENSIONS COST MORE?

Blonde or brunette?

 

Pretty much since the beginning of time men and women have been forming opinions on what the most desirable hair color is and how it characterizes a woman. We've all heard the saying “Men prefer blondes” and maybe even think it's true but consider that only 2% of the world population is naturally blond. Now, we don't want to influence your opinion but think that this post could be interesting to read.

On the contrary to what many people think it's quite difficult to find premium quality blond or fair hair in the field of hair extensions, especially with longer lengths.....why? Simply because there aren't enough northern European women willing to cut their hair to make us become “a sexy blond bomb-shell”.

Where does this hair come from?

The truth is that...

All light brown or (light, dark, platinum) blond hair extensions on the market are originally Asian dark hair (black or dark brown), specifically from India or China or neighboring countries such as Kazakistan, Mongolia or Uzbekistan.

This is the plain truth! Light blond virgin European hair extensions don't exist on the market...or at least, are very hard to find...even among high quality hair. Unless your name is Britney and you want to spend thousands on a complete extension do-over.

Therefore... how do we get light or fair hair from hair that was originally dark without damaging its quality?

The only way to do so is by bleaching the hair.

Bleaching

Bleaching is an irreversible process of depigmentation of the hair.

Depigmentation is a process that weakens the melanin in your skin or hair making it lighter. This process is used to remove the pigments that give color to your hair. It can be carried out with various products, but the most widely used is hydrogen peroxide. These products penetrate the structure of the hairs, consequently destroying the melanin. The hairs, which no longer contain pigments of melanin, tend to get lighter (yellowish color) just as they would with aging.

At this point the hairs become extremely porous and tend to easily absorb any substance they come in contact with. The hair's structure can be completely damaged if your hair is bleached much too often or if “aggressive” methods are used, which leads to your hair drying up and breaking.

Please note: that not all hair is suitable for bleaching.

Vanessa wearing Rooted color #5RTD101 and Ombre color #7SH101 tape-in hair extensions. Find out more about Vanessa on her Before & After page.

What kind of hair can be bleached?

Now that you've learned a little more about hair extensions you're probably asking yourself which hair is suitable for your platinum blond hair extensions...and especially...how much do they cost? Let's find out...

In order to have different shades of blond and top quality hair at the same time...

1. The hair needs to be virgin hair

...meaning, it has never been dyed or bleached before.

2. The hair used for the extensions has to be cut and carefully sorted after collecting it from the hair donor so that the cuticles, which make up the outer layer of each hair, are all aligned in the same direction from root to ends (Remy hair)

Did you know that the outer layer of our hairs is made up of cuticles? Check out this article to learn more.

3. The hair should be full-bodied hair

If it's too thin it might not be suitable for bleaching.

4. The donor's age

The hair donor has to be younger than 30 because after that age we tend to have gray hair.

5. The donor's health

The donor and...especially his/her hair has to be healthy so it can be bleached.

And last but not least...

Price

If you've read this article you're probably starting to understand why blond hair extensions are more expensive. The process used to obtain these light colors takes longer than for darker colors. Therefore, not only does the cost of labor influence the final price but also the hair has to be of the upmost top quality if we want our extensions to stay beautiful, soft and tangle-free as long as possible. This is also true for darker colored hair extensions but the hair used to achieve platinum hair extensions has undergone an even longer and more aggressive treatment. For this reason hair used for light colored hair extensions has slightly higher prices.

Cristina wearing color #28 Caramel Blond tape-in hair extensions. Find out more about Cristina on her Before & After page. Want the same result? Check this page out!

To Sum up

If you surf the net you can find many different types of extensions in all colors at the same price but you should remember that this could mean that:

• the quality of the hair is not as good as you're made to believe;
• the dark color hair extensions have been priced higher than their actual quality;
• the cost of the platinum and blond hair extensions has also been added to the darker colored hair extensions.

If you've liked this article, please let us know! We'd like to receive any comments you might have.