This type of extension also gets a lot of flack; if
the seams aren’t tight enough it can cause a lot of
shedding. If they’re too tight they can pierce the
hair and cause breakage and eventually shedding.
There is also an issue of thickness at the seam
which can be caused by either the amount of hair
at the edge of the amount of thread holding the hair
together. If the weft is too thick it can hold water
when washed and can cause bacteria growth; it
also adds unnecessary bulk.
Another place where bulk can accumulate is in
short- er hairs. To prevent shedding, hair is folded
and then sewn; the shorter ends left over from the
fold can vary from half the length of the hair to
just beneath the weft. While there is no true magic
number where the length of these short hairs
minimizes shedding there are aspects to look at.
When the hair is long enough, and in most cases,
this can only be done with synthetic, the hair can
be folded in half so there are no short hairs at all.
That method is the best for preventing shedding;
however, with real hair, it’s often not possible to
get a length that would facilitate that. While if the
hair is folded too short it will shed easier; if it’s too
long the ends will poke up through the rest of the
hair.
Aside from sewing, there are several other common
methods including the looped weft. Looped wefts
are very thin, very time consuming, and as it
follows, often very expensive. To create a looped
weft, each hair is individually looped and tied to a
thin strand of thread. The time and effort involved
means this style is fairly rare. Hand-tied wefts
are another fairly rare method. Again the hair is
attached manually in this method it’s done a few
strands at a time. The hair is tied in bunches to
the bunch next to it forming a thin strand of weft.
The advantages of both of these methods are that
they are often thinner and more flexible than the
others. They can also be more fragile and aren’t
as easy to put in as machine sewn wefts where
the end can be cut without much worry. Ventilation,
or hand knotting, is also done onto nets or onto
silicone sheets which is the most common way of
creating tape-in extensions. In this method, each
hair is individually attached making it very secure.
One of the newest methods of creating a weft is to
attach the hair to a thin strip of silicone tape. It was
piloted by Amekor, with their Smart Weft in their
Vivica Fox Hair Collection. This method allows the
weft to be very secure and very thin. It’s advertised
as perfect for those who work out frequently
because it puts up with frequent washing. Thanks
to the silicone, water is unable to penetrate the
weft, meaning wearers no longer have to worry
about bacteria or discomfort. This advancement
also allows wefts to lay flatter, making the overall
look less noticeable. Unlike with sewn wefts there
is no need for the shed preventing fold and resulting
short hairs, meaning there is no added bulk in that
regard either.
Perfecting the weft is no easy task; it has to be
thick enough to hold the hair tightly, not so tight
that it breaks, not so loose that hair sheds, so
when you see a good weft, know that it took
someone a hefty amount of time and effort to make
it. The right weft can make all the difference when
it comes to convenience and its ability to look real.
With that in mind, it’s important to note the age-old
saying, “You pay for what you get,” good extensions
are going to be more expensive because of the
time put into them.
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