What is Remy Hair?

Frequently, I am asked for "Remy", sometimes spelled "remi", hair wigs or hairpieces. This always gets a reaction from me that ranges from amused to angry. Hair replacement retailers will often use this term to indicate that the hair is a higher quality. This is not always true. Some people even think it is a racial term, and honestly, I've never seen someone who is a Remian, have you? Hair used in wigs and hairpieces can come from virtually any race, even animals called Yaks. What the term "remy" really means is that, in the processing of hair to make a wig or hairpiece, the cuticle of the hair has not been stripped completely away and the hair is kept in the direction as it grew on the head of the person from whom the hair is collected. This may or may not be a good thing.

Seen under a microscope, the hair shaft has cuticles on it that resemble how shingles lay on a roof, one after the other, down the length of the hair. When hair is being colored or permed, the cuticle must lift up to allow the color or waving solution to penetrate into hair shaft and effect the change desired. Once the color or wave has been done, the cuticle lays back down on the hair shaft, but not always completely flat, and this is where problems can arise. The cuticle layer of the hair protects the hair shaft from damage due to sun exposure, heat and pollutants in the environment.

Wig manufacturers know this to be a significant problem, and most of the hair used in the industry comes from Asian and Oriental people. The hair is commonly black or very dark brown. So what do the manufacturers do to make it blond? They remove the cuticle, and sometimes the entire cuticle is not removed. Then the batch of "stripped" hair is processed to remove the color, then processed again to become various colors. After the hair is colored, it's made into a wig or hairpiece, and conditioned so that in the store, it is soft, shiny, silky to the touch and beautiful... until it's shampooed a few times and that conditioning done at the factory has been washed away. Without that protective cuticle layer the hair can become brittle and break easily.

There are significant differences in the quality of hair used in the wig industry. The best advice I can give you is to educate yourself. Do not let yourself be intimidated by pushy salespeople who are not willing to discuss your questions or concerns with you. You have the right to know everything you want to know before you make an investment in hair replacement options.

My next posts will discuss how you can tell the difference between human and synthetic hair and how a poorly constructed "Remy" hair wig is not worth the trouble or the cost!

Blessings!
Kimberly
www.belkwigs.com