Hair Extension and Wig Glossary

Attachment methods and install

The braid-and-sew method, also called a weave, fixes hair extensions to your own hair. You stitch a weft down onto a braid that lies flat against the scalp, a cornrow, and that base row is sometimes called the track. Once the cornrow braids are finished, the extensions are sewn onto those tracks. A track can also be built with added fiber filler, and to do that the filler and your own hair get braided from the scalp with an underhand motion. The filler grips the hair and makes longer-lasting braids.

How the track is angled decides how the hair falls, so a braid might sit horizontal, run vertical, cut on the diagonal, or curve along lines that trace the shape of the head. Tracks are set about 1 inch behind the hairline so the delicate hair there is not stressed. The stylist sews with a blunt, custom needle, either straight or curved, to avoid nicking the scalp or damaging hair. It is a very safe technique, it needs only a specialized needle and thread, and it can be done quickly. The same method can also attach hairpieces.

Among stylists the method gets shortened to B and S, but many use the fuller name with clients so they appreciate the skill involved.

A track is the base you sew or bond extension hair onto. The word itself just means a path or course laid out. The most basic track is a braided one, made with the micro filler fiber braiding technique. It is braided flat and horizontally across the head rather than down its length, and a weft is then sewn on top of it with a lock stitch. When a client's own hair is long enough to braid, a braided track is one of the most durable ways to attach extensions.

How much hair goes into a track depends on thickness. On thick hair the part is about a quarter inch, on thin hair about half an inch. Tracks are numbered and built from the bottom of the head up. A basic layout uses two U-shaped tracks, the first starting about an inch above the hairline at the nape and the second an inch in from the hairline and above the ear, following the curve of the head. Toward the back of the head, a track is split into two braids so the weight spreads and the braids stay neat rather than forming one bulky bump.

Because a well-placed track is hidden under the client's own hair, she can wear the style down, up in a ponytail, or in an evening look. Tracks are used for the braid-and-sew method and also for bonding a weft in place.

Hair weaving is one of the older ways of adding hair, and the term gets used two ways. The first means making a weft and other hair goods, using tools like the hackle, drawing cards, and weaving poles, with loose hair woven between three threads. The second means making a track on the client's own head, weaving her hair between three threads held on a weaving machine or weaving poles so wefts can be sewn on. It is an advanced technique and hard to do on straight hair.

Weft placement is the plan for where each weft sits when you apply weaves or wefts. The wefts go on in continuous rows, either held with a cold-fusion gum or sewn onto a scalp plait, and each is positioned right at the point the hair naturally falls. A weft is set about a centimetre off the scalp so it does not touch the skin. A weft placement either takes over the existing hairstyle or is tucked into its interior, and solid placement is the only result it can give. It works best on African-Caribbean hairstyles.

Bonding attaches extension hair to your own hair with an adhesive rather than a stitch. It can be done a few ways. One uses a wax-type bond applied to both your hair and the loose extension hair, sometimes warmed with a special tool. The more common method uses a full weft and a latex bonding material. For bonding, the track is simply the parting where the hair meets and is bonded to your own.

The big draw is speed. In a short time a client can have thicker, fuller hair, which makes bonding handy for added volume or a special-occasion style. It is also unpredictable. On some people the bond holds for weeks, but on others it slides off at the first shampoo, so it is worth testing a single strip of weft for a few days and through one wash before committing to a full head. Longer hair puts more stress on your own hair, so bonding is not recommended there.

Bonding is not right for everyone. Anyone sensitive to latex or rubber, who also tends to react to eyelash glues or adhesive bandages, should not have adhesive bonds. Very damaged hair is another caution, since the weight of the weft and taking the bonds out can cost you more of your own hair. An oily scalp can also stop the bond from holding at all.

Fusion bonding was a method that fixed individual extension strands onto a client's natural hair using a keratin bonding material, activated by heat from a special tool. The strands blended in without obvious attachment sites, the bonds were light and comfortable, and the hair moved naturally. It dried faster than the weft method because there was less bulk, and the bonds could last up to four months. It was costly, time consuming, and called for manufacturer-specific certification training. Other attachment methods, like braid-and-sew, use a needle and thread instead of heat and adhesive.

Cold-fusion extension systems attach extension hair to natural hair with cold adhesives instead of heat. These adhesives take the form of toupee tapes or spirit-, latex-, or rubber-based gums, which fuse to hold real or fibre hair in place. Because no heated tools are used, there is no risk of burns, and application is fast. A skin sensitivity test and strand test are done first, since these adhesives can trigger an allergic reaction.

Hot-bond extension systems, also called hot melt, use heated tools to attach extension hair at the root. A dispenser lays hot polymer resin onto the strand, an applicator melts pre-bonded resin, and a heat clamp fuses fibre, each forming a hard bond. The tools run very hot, between 120 and 220 degrees Celsius, so burns are a genuine risk if they are misused. This method lets a practitioner apply individual strands for a free-flowing look, and removal can take one to three hours.

Microbonding was a way of adding weight inside a triangular section of hair. Picture an isosceles triangle: strands were bonded at both ends of its longest point, which loaded density into that part of the style. The bond itself came from a hot melt tool that laid warm resin on the root end of each extension before it was fixed to the natural hair. Worked in rows, the technique tied one patch of extensions to the next across the triangle.

Linking, better known as I-tips or individual tips, is one way to add extensions. A hook lifts a little hair off a parting and threads it through a link, sometimes called a cylinder. The link travels up to the scalp, an extension is slipped in, and a special set of pliers presses it shut. Set slightly off base, it stays mobile and keeps scalp tension down. The natural hair must be at least five inches long, and the extensions can be reused.

The sewing extension system stitches wefts of hair onto cornrows or twists with a curved needle and silk thread. The client's own hair is braided into those cornrows first, and then wefts of real or fibre hair are sewn onto the braids. It is a quick application and a quick removal, which makes it a good fit for clients who change their look often. The curved needle lets the practitioner work close to the scalp safely. Because the wefts add weight, a strand test first checks the natural hair can take the strain.

The braiding, or plaiting, extension system braids fibre or real extension hair into the natural hair using cornbraids or scalp plaits. It gives a strong, highly decorative look and suits African-Caribbean hair and other thick hair types best. Synthetic fibre is the usual choice because it is cheaper and stays put, and a heat clamp seals the braid ends so they do not unravel. Braided too tightly, it can cause scalp tension spots and even traction alopecia. Braids are worn for about three months, then removed.

Brickwork is the pattern extensions are set in, row by row. Each row of extension hair sits directly above the one before, so the strand above falls between two strands below, the way bricks in a wall are staggered. The rows are stacked one on top of the other, spaced about a centimetre apart, with a small section of your own natural hair left out between each row. Offsetting them like this stops the gaps from lining up into a visible split.

The bedding-in period is the first stretch of time right after your extensions go in, when you leave the hair alone. You should not shampoo an extension hairstyle any earlier than 24 hours after application, so the bonds have time to set and harden. Wash within that window and the shampoo and conditioner soften the bonds, and the extensions can slide out.

Weft and cap construction

A weft is hair sewn into a long strip with a threaded edge, so instead of loose strands you have one continuous piece you can attach in a row. By the old dictionary meaning, a weft is simply a weaving, something that has been woven, and in this trade the words weave, braid, and weft slide into each other almost interchangeably. You can buy real human hair or synthetic fibre three ways: as individual strands, in bulk, or made up on a weft.

Making a weft is its own craft. Its tools, the hackle, the drawing cards, and the weaving poles, have been in use for well over two hundred years. To make a hand-tied weft, you weave the loose hair in among three threads, and the finished strip dangles like a little hula skirt. These days most wefts are machine made, but the name still applies.

Once made, a weft gets attached as a whole strip rather than strand by strand. It can be sewn onto a cornrow or twist track with a curved needle and thread, which is the heart of the braid-and-sew method. Wefts also build wigs, fed through a sewing machine for machine-made wigs, or sewn onto lace strips in more open, capless ones.

A hand-tied weft is a strip where loose hair gets woven by hand between three threads, and the finished piece hangs like a little hula skirt. Where it beats a machine-made weft is at the top, which comes out thinner. Against that, it is very delicate, it wears out sooner, and you cannot attach it with the bonding method. Machine-made wefts run thicker and take to bonding better, part of why most wefts these days come off a machine.

To build a machine-made wig, wefts are run through a sewing machine and then joined together, and that sewn framework is what gives the wig its base and shape. They are the least expensive option and are commonly made with synthetic fibers. Their most favorable quality is bounce-back: even after shampooing, the style returns. Because the wefts are sewn in specific directions, though, they offer no brushing or styling versatility, unlike hand-tied wigs.

A hand-tied wig, also called a hand-knotted wig, is put together strand by strand. The maker takes one or two hairs at a time, threads them into a mesh foundation, and ties them off with a needle. All that knotting gives a soft, believable finish that takes styling beautifully. It comes closest to the way hair actually grows from the scalp, loose at the root, so the strands are not locked into one direction. You can part and comb them pretty much wherever you want.

A cap wig is built on a stretchy mesh base, with the hair fixed onto it, so the framework is closed. You can buy them in off-the-shelf sizes or have one made to measure with a fitting. The hair goes on a few ways: fully hand-tied; set on a monofilament cap a single strand at a time, which reads most like real growth; machine-sewn wefts finished by hand along the part and crown; or a lace front. It suits anyone whose own hair is sparse or gone altogether.

Capless wigs, also called open caps, are built by machine from human or synthetic fiber woven into rows of wefts. Those rows are stitched onto elastic bands set in a ring shaped to your head. A cap remains, but the wefts sit less densely along vertical lace strips, leaving lots of open space. The open build lets the scalp breathe, cuts perspiration, and stays light and comfortable. They cost less than cap wigs and suit anyone who changes their look often, is transitioning to natural hair, or has thinner hair.

A wig block is a head-shaped form with a rounded top, and stylists use it to build, service, display, or store a wig. It is often made of cork covered in canvas, and it can sit on a wig tripod stand or clamp to your station, both with a swivel. T-pins hold the wig in place on it. Keep a wig on a block or mannequin head when it is not being worn, and before you colour, perm, or relax a wig on it, wrap the block in plastic first to stop staining.

A hackle is a board studded with fine, upright nails, and you comb human hair extensions through them. It is used for detangling hair or for blending colors and highlights. The hackle is one of the old hair-working tools, along with drawing cards and weaving poles, that date back more than two hundred years and were used to make a hand-tied weft by weaving loose hair between three threads.

A drawing board is a flat leather pad whose fine, tightly set teeth grip human hair extensions between them. It gets weighed down with books so a set amount of hair can be drawn out without loosening or disturbing the rest during braiding. Also called drawing cards, it is one of the hair weaving tools that date back more than two hundred years, alongside the hackle and weaving poles, and it is used to prepare extension fibers before they go into the braid.

Integration hairpieces are one kind of hairpiece. The fibre is chosen to match the texture and colour of the hair you have. What makes them different is the base: it is dotted with small openings, and your own strands get drawn up through them. That anchors the piece and blends it into your hair, natural or synthetic, so nothing looks added. They weigh little yet add a real jump in density, which is why they suit hair that has thinned badly. They will not work for total hair loss.

A hairpiece is a small or partial wig that sits over the crown or the top of the head, or any sort of hair attachment. They run from ready-to-wear clip-in pieces like ponytails, chignons, and bangs to custom toupees for pattern baldness and integration hairpieces for noticeably diffuse thinning. They can address hair loss or simply be fashionable, transforming a style in seconds. Whether they count as temporary or semipermanent depends on their intention and design.

Hair grades, origins and processing

Remy hair is human hair, all of it, with the cuticle layer still whole and intact. You may also hear it called turned hair or cuticle hair. It is prized as the most realistic, top-grade choice for extensions, wigs, and hairpieces, because on the head it behaves like the hair that grows there.

The gathering is what earns the name. Each bundle is taken right at the scalp and tied off on the spot, which keeps it to one donor and keeps every cuticle facing the same way, running down from root to tip. That single shared direction does the real work: it stops the tangling you get when cuticles face each other and rub. Fallen hair is the opposite. It is collected loose, off a brush or after it has shed, never cut, so its cuticles sit every which way.

Most remy is also virgin hair, meaning no hair-altering chemicals had touched it when it was collected. You can safely add colour with deposit-only formulas, the semipermanent, demipermanent, and temporary kind, as long as it has never seen a metallic dye. It is sourced worldwide and comes in every texture, fine through coarse and straight through curly.

Fallen hair is what comes loose on its own, collected from a brush or shed naturally, instead of being cut from the head. Because it was never cut, the cuticles of these strands run in different directions, the opposite of turned or remy hair. It is sold as cuticle-free hair: the misaligned cuticles are stripped away in an acid bath or other chemical process, and then the hair is coated in silicone to keep it shiny. Once that coating wears off, the hair can turn dull and rough and needs replacing.

Turned hair is just another name for remy hair, also called cuticle hair, so see that entry for the full picture. It points to the same thing: 100 percent human hair with the cuticle layer left intact, every strand kept turned the same way so all roots and ends run in one direction and the hair does not snarl the way opposing cuticles do.

Virgin hair means hair that no chemical process has ever touched. No haircolor sits on it, no relaxer, and no perm or other texture service, so it stays exactly as it grew. Within the natural hair and braiding world the bar sometimes goes higher, and some people only call hair virgin when no thermal styling tool has touched it either, which rules out heat straightening or curling.

Virgin is not the same claim as remy, though the two words tend to travel together. Remy is about the cuticle staying intact with all of it running one direction, while virgin is about the hair carrying no altering chemicals. The two overlap a lot, and most remy hair is in fact virgin, since it was free of hair-altering chemicals back when it was collected.

The real payoff is in the upkeep. Since no chemistry has altered it, virgin hair does not ask for the special handling that chemically treated hair needs. The moment real hair does get a chemical treatment, though, you have to care for it from then on the way you would any chemically treated hair. This is also why natural hair gets called virgin hair, meaning hair that no chemical or thermal service has altered.

Processed hair is hair that has been treated so it will not tangle. To process it, the cuticle has to be stripped. That sets it apart from root-turned or cut hair, where the roots and ends still run in the same direction, and which is now in limited supply.

The stripping is done in a solution of muriatic acid. First the ties around each bundle are snipped, the loose hair is loaded into plastic baskets, and from there it goes into the acid. Getting the amount right is tricky. Take off too much and the hair ends up over-processed and damaged. Like any over-processed hair, it will not hold up to further chemical work and it breaks. Strip too little and it will tangle and mat.

The cuticle is the outermost layer of the hair shaft, the surface that protects and seals the cortex underneath. It is made of dead protein cells, called keratin, along with amino acids such as cystine. Those cells are flattened and overlap like shingles on a roof, lying close together to form a tight, flat sheath around the strand. When the cuticle is intact and its scales lie flat, the hair is healthy, the surface looks smooth, and it reflects light and shines.

Each cuticle stacks somewhere between 7 and 10 layers deep. Age and wear take a toll, and chemical processing, styling, sun, and heat can weather it until the outer edges start peeling up and pulling away from the shaft. After that peeling starts, the cuticle flakes off the strand and leaves the cortex and medulla bare, which robs the hair of strength and sets up breakage.

This is what makes cuticle direction matter for extensions. Remy hair keeps an intact cuticle layer, cut at the scalp and bundled right away so every cuticle points the same way, downward from root to end, which stops the snarling that happens when opposing cuticles rub together. On real extension hair, chemical treatment can damage that cuticle, so a pH-balanced solution is used to close the cuticle layers and reduce matting and tangling.

The cortex is the thick inner layer of the hair shaft, the fibrous protein layer that gives hair its strength, elasticity, and color. It holds melanin, the pigment behind natural shade, and it accounts for about 90 percent of the hair's weight. The cuticle that wraps it is what protects it, so hair with an intact cuticle keeps a sound cortex underneath.

At the very center of the hair shaft sits the medulla, its pith or innermost core. Not every strand has one. Coarse hair generally has a medulla and fine hair usually doesn't, and in very thin, light-colored hair it can be hollow or missing altogether. Its role isn't well understood. Unlike the cortex and cuticle, the medulla needs no hair care services.

Keratin is the fibrous protein that hair is mostly made of, and the same protein that forms skin and nails. It gives a strand its structure. As hair grows from the bulb, its cells fill with keratin, lose their nucleus, and die, so the strand you see and wear is fully keratinized. It's also the material some extensions use in a keratin bond at the attachment tip.

Real human extension hair is hair from a human donor, added to your own for length or volume. It moves and behaves like your natural hair, takes warm to moderate heat styling, and can be color-treated with demipermanent, semipermanent, or temporary dyes. Depending on how it was collected, the cuticle may be intact, as in remy hair, or stripped away, as with fallen hair. In sharp contrast, synthetic fibre is plastic.

Synthetic fibre extension hair is a man-made, heat-sensitive acrylic, engineered specifically to build hair extension hairstyles. Because it is a non-porous plastic rather than real human hair, it will not soak up conditioner, and chemical treatments have no effect on it. Its cuticle layer cannot lock together, so unlike real hair the fibre does not have to be placed root-point correct.

For a buyer weighing fibre against human hair, the appeal is cost and colour. Synthetic fibre is less expensive, lightweight, and easy to maintain at home. Its colour is fade-free, though the fibre breaks down faster than remy hair. It is manufactured in natural, tonal, fantasy, and neon shades, some of which glow under ultraviolet light. Kanekalon is the leading synthetic fibre, produced in different types suited to heat styling, to braided looks, and to locs.

The trade-offs show up in styling. Synthetic fibre cannot be coloured or permed to match your own hair, the texture difference often shows, and friction makes it mat and tangle, so its durability falls short of 100% human hair. Lower grades tend to look very shiny, while the best grades carry a luster closer to natural hair. It performs best in braided and integrated styles, where it is cheaper and stays put in the natural hair.

Kanekalon is a synthetic fibre used to make hair extensions. It stands up well to heat and was designed with braided styles in mind. It ranks as the top synthetic fibre, wears hard, and passes for human hair at a glance, and you will find versions of it meant for heat styling, for braids, and for locs. Do a burn test and it gives itself away, since like some synthetics it balls up and melts, throws off a chemical odour, and usually snuffs itself out.

Texture, curl pattern and colour

Hair texture describes how thick a single strand is, its diameter, and it sorts into fine, medium, or coarse. Fine hair has the smallest diameter and coarse hair the largest, so a fine strand feels like thread while a coarse one feels more like yarn. In natural hair care, texture also covers the coil pattern or curl configuration of the fibre. When you are choosing extensions, texture matters: for a natural-looking result, the texture of the extension hair should always match the texture of your own natural hair.

A hair typing system classifies hair textures using a numerical and alphabetical hierarchy, built around whether the hair is straight, wavy, curly, or coily, plus qualities like its elasticity, porosity, and density. You will usually see it written as numbers, sometimes on a scale of 1 to 4 and sometimes 1 to 8. It grew up mostly as a shorthand for talking about natural hair on social media and for picking products, so treat it as a communication tool more than a strict rule.

The version most people know came from André Walker, who built the first consumer-friendly chart for classifying hair. It was introduced in the 1990s and has since been modified to add more subtypes, such as Type 3c and Type 4c. Because so many clients recognize it from social media and consumer magazines, it makes a handy shared language during a consultation, though several product companies and curly-hair websites now run their own versions with extra textures and patterns.

It helps to remember that a type number is only the most basic, general description of a hair fiber. No two heads have exactly the same texture, and one person can carry more than one pattern, so two people who land on the same number can still need very different care.

Hair density counts how many individual strands you have growing in a single square inch of scalp, an area of about 2.5 square centimeters. Stylists usually file it as low, medium, or high, which you may also hear called thin, medium, or thick. The fastest read is how much scalp peeks through: plenty of scalp showing means thin density, a bit of scalp means medium, and none in sight means thick.

Density is its own trait, separate from how fine or coarse the strands are. Someone can have coarse hair texture but low density, while another person has fine hair packed in at high density. Average density runs around 2,200 hairs per square inch, roughly 100,000 hairs on a whole head, and it tends to track with natural color, with blondes usually carrying the most and redheads the least. Because density is one of the things that decides how hair behaves, a stylist checks it before cutting, styling, or planning extensions, and it is a real consideration when the goal is to add volume.

Hair porosity describes how readily a strand takes in water, moisture, or chemicals, drawing them through the cuticle and into the cortex. How porous a strand is comes down to the condition of the cuticle layer and how far its scales are raised. When the scales lie flat and tight, the hair has low porosity and resists absorbing moisture. When they are lifted, the hair is porous and takes moisture in quickly.

You can feel the difference. Slide your thumb and forefinger down a dry strand from the end toward the scalp. Smooth means low porosity. A slight roughness means it is porous. If it feels very rough or dry, it is highly porous, which usually points to overprocessed, damaged hair that is fragile and breaks easily. Different degrees of porosity show up in all textures, and even in different areas of the same head.

Porosity matters when you colour. Porous hair accepts colour faster and can pull a cooler tone, and that colour tends to fade faster too. It also helps to know that synthetic fibre is non-porous, so chemical treatments have no effect on it, the way they would on real hair.

Hair elasticity describes how far a strand can stretch and then bounce back to its starting length without breaking. It comes down to how strong the side bonds are inside the cortex. Wet hair with average elasticity stretches between 30 and 50 percent of its length and springs back. Hair with low elasticity feels brittle and breaks easily. Stylists test it on a wet strand, checking a few areas of the head since elasticity can vary from spot to spot.

In the trade, "structures" just names the texture options hair is sold in, differing for fibre versus real hair. For synthetic fibre, the smooth-to-wavy end covers straight hair, soft wave, and deep wave. The curl-and-coil end runs from curly through spiral, ringlets, and tight Afro curl. Patterned finishes cover crimped, crinkly, and zigzag, and some copy a whole style, namely braided, dreadlocks, relaxed African-Caribbean texture, and Yaki hair. Real extension hair keeps a shorter menu: silky straight, ringlet, spiral curl, soft wave, deep wave, and curly.

Deep wave is a brand name for real hair that carries a strong S-shaped bend along its whole length. It is one of the structures real extension hair is sold in, alongside silky straight, soft wave, curly, spiral curl, and ringlet. To create it, real hair is lightened and then permed into the deep wave pattern.

Soft wave is a brand name for real extension hair whose length carries a gentle S-shaped bend. It is one of the structures offered for both real and fibre extension hair, alongside deep wave and curly. Real hair is permed to create it. The texture keeps its body well once it has been blow-dried or worked with straightening irons.

Curly is real extension hair whose S-shaped bend is so strong that the strand folds over on itself and curls along its length. It is one of the structures available for both real and fibre extension hair, along with soft wave and deep wave. When you section curly or very thick hair for application, rectangular sections condense the root area and reduce bulk so the finished style does not look distorted or misshapen.

Yaki hair is one of the texture structures offered for fibre, or synthetic, extension hair, listed alongside straight, soft wave, deep wave and curly.

A colour ring, also called a colour shade chart, holds small swatches of real or fibre extension hair in the colours a product company supplies. You hold it against the client's natural hair and match to the mid-lengths and ends instead of the darker root, then pick the closest swatch. Each swatch has a number, which is the manufacturer's stock code for ordering and not a standard colour-coding number.

The base or first colour is the extension shade nearest to the client's natural hair colour, and it is the first one you pick when matching. After it you add a major, or second, colour and, if the natural hair shows one, a minor, or third, colour, then blend the three to match. Mixing equal quantities of two shades shifts the base itself, creating a new colour that sits midway between them.

Block blending and bulk blending are the two ways to combine coloured fibre extension hair, and which you choose depends on the effect you want. Bulk blending, also called mega-mixing, brushes the first, second and third colours together until they merge with no stripes showing, giving one blended match to the natural hair. Block blending instead layers a base colour with a contrasting second colour and folds it repeatedly without brushing, so the shades stay in streaks or blocks for a highlighted or streaky effect.

Braiding and locs

Cornrows, sometimes called canerows, are the thin, visible braids that sit tight against the scalp, worked with a three-strand, on-the-scalp technique. The braiding is underhand: each outer strand crosses under the center, and with every revolution you pick up fresh hair from the scalp and add it before crossing under. Traditional cornrows are flat and contoured against the scalp. Even, consistent partings are the foundation, and those partings can be sculpted into designs and patterns.

You can wear cornrows with or without added hair. Braided on the natural hair alone they hold for a few weeks, and with extensions fed in strand by strand they last longer. They work on hair of just about any length and texture.

Cornrows also do a second job. They contain and condense the natural hair into a base, so a weft can be sewn onto the braid. In the braid-and-sew method the cornrow becomes the track the extension hair is stitched to, and the angle of that track decides how the finished hair falls.

Single braids, also called box braids or individual braids, are free-hanging braids worn with or without extensions and made with either an underhand or an overhand technique. Each parting, or subsection, can take a diamond, square, rectangular, or triangular shape, and that parting sets where a braid sits and the direction it travels. Box braids can be worn moving in any direction, so point each braid the way you want that section to fall, and they suit every hair texture.

Casamas braids are extended braids. They are large, single braids finished with a tight stitch, and they are tapered and curved at the ends. Because they are one of the larger braid extension services, they add weight, which makes them a poor choice for someone with hair loss or fragile, thinning hair during a period of regrowth, when the extra tension can stress the scalp.

A micro filler fiber braid is a braided track made with the micro filler fiber braiding technique. It is the track a weft of hair is sewn onto, and it is how stylists build the tracks for the braid-and-sew method, which some call braid and sew for short.

Also known as an inverted or French braid, this one is built by picking hair up overhand as you go. You can work it against the scalp or away from it, with or without extensions. Long hair carries it best, though it will sit nicely on shorter hair cut with long layers. Straight layered hair holds better with a little wax or pomade to keep the short pieces tucked in.

Fibre braids are three- or four-stem braids made from fibre extension hair. You can buy them ready-made or have them made up in the salon, and the fibre gets backcombed to build particular textures. Jumbo fibre is frizzy, so it grips the natural hair and stops the braid sliding down the shaft. This decorative braiding suits African-Caribbean hair best. On straight hair with flat cuticle layers the braids tend to slip and can look scruffy. The same textured fibre can also be made into a dreadlock.

Locs, also written locks and often called dreadlocks, are strands of curly, coily, textured hair that knit and mesh into their own separate networks. In natural hair care the aim is to train the hair into neat, rounded, solid ropes you never comb or brush. Left to interlace, textured hair packs into a firm cylinder, each one its own network. You can begin them at almost any thickness, from extra small through small and medium to large, often starting with a comb coil on curly, coily, or very textured hair.

A loc is a lasting textured style that forms with no chemicals at all. The hair tightens in a run of slow stages, taking somewhere between half a year and a full year, depending on its length, density, and coil pattern. The specialist who does this is usually called a loctician, grooming and maintaining the hair as it matures. Set locs can be picked apart with a comb, but the job is slow and tedious, so many people just cut them off instead.

The term dreadlock also covers an extension look: a long, thin rope of texture made by tangling and matting hair, real or fibre, together. This textured fibre braid or dreadlock turns up in alternative extension styles. You can buy it ready-made or build it at the chair from fibre extension hair, backcombed to rough up the texture. When one goes in as a hair alternative, the stylist takes a bigger square of natural hair, two centimetres across, so it holds the textured piece without strain.

A smooth dreadlock is a dreadlock with a smooth surface. You make one by winding fibre around a four-stem locking braid, and it is sometimes called a stick. Two stylists usually work it together, an operator and an assistant. A heat clamp seals the end, melting the fibre into a hard bond that fixes the dreadlock at its tip rather than its root. Smooth dreadlocks can also be twisted into knots that look like rosebuds, a finish that suits bridal styles as much as strong avant-garde looks.

Nu-locs are a technique that uses yarn fiber to mimic the look of locs. A single-braid method builds each one, and the yarn gives the finished extension a matte finish so it reads like a real loc. Unlike true locs, which are your own natural textured hair intertwined and meshed into a solid cylinder, nu-locs copy that appearance with added fiber.

Faux locs build a loc out of ready-made synthetic hair added onto individual braids or cornrows. The crochet method fixes these extension locs onto base cornrows, and since each synthetic loc ends in an open loop, a latch hook installs them easily. They come in a range of colours and styles. Faux locs give you a loc look as a temporary textured style.

Sisterlocs form locs by interlocking the hair with a specialized tool, starting at the ends and locking each section instantly. The approach works on any texture at all, coily or curly, wavy, straight, relaxed, or highly textured, closing it into one loc. It is one of the four basic methods of locking, alongside the coil comb technique, palm rolling, and braids or extensions.

A flat twist is made from double-strand twists that are interwoven to lie flat against the scalp. You part a row of hair, divide it into two sections, then twist and weave them so the twist sits close to the head. Flat twists can be worked in varying patterns over the whole head, with or without extensions.

A double-strand twist, also called a two-strand twist, is made by dividing a section of hair into two strands and overlapping them over one another. You can start on wet, gelled, or dry hair, which gives a twisted rope effect when dry or a defined textured effect when wet. A twist set like this works on natural or transitional hair, and on extensions, weaves, wigs, and locs. Unravel the twists and you get a twist-out.

A twist-out is what you get when a double-strand twist set is unraveled and opened up. You set the hair in twists, usually wet with gel or cream, let it dry fully, then take each twist apart. Opening them adds fullness and a spirally, crimped effect, and you can set those twists at any size or length you like. It is a natural set worn on natural and transitioning hair.

With a braid-out set, one braid acts as the set, drawing out, lengthening, or sharpening your texture. You braid or cornrow the hair while it is wet or dry, let it dry, then take the braid apart. Opening it leaves a crimped finish, texture worked over texture, with extra volume. It belongs to the texture-on-texture sets, which stylists also call outing the hair, and it holds anywhere from several days to a couple of weeks, depending on your texture. Many people reach for it while transitioning.

A Bantu knot-out starts with Bantu knots, where the hair is double-strand twisted or coil twisted and wrapped around itself into a knot, then secured with bobby pins or elastic bands. Bantu knots can be worn as a style on their own or used to set the hair. For the knot-out, you open and release the knots once they are set, which gives you wavy, fuller, loose spiral curls.

Care, safety and scalp

Traction alopecia is hair loss that comes from traction, which is the stress or pull placed on the hair over time. It shows up as a bald patch wherever the hair has been dragged on, and you tend to see it with ponytails, braids, and any style that holds the scalp under steady tension. For girls and young women with highly textured hair, this is the balding disorder that shows up most often, and many first notice it in early adolescence. Do not confuse it with everyday shedding.

It happens when the hair is pulled too tight, day after day, with no let-up in the tension. The strand can be dragged right out of the follicle, root and bulb with it, and the loss usually appears at the frontal and temporal areas of the hairline, though the nape can go too. The real danger is that it does not always reverse. When the pulling stays tight for long enough, the damage can set in as permanent scarring or balding.

Prevention comes down to easing tension. Heavy or thick braid extensions and extreme tension from cornrows or weaves strain already fragile strands and speed the problem up, and even too much wig wearing can erode the hairline. The steady guidance is simple. Keep braids loose at the hairline, avoid wearing a braided look nonstop, and let the natural hair recover and grow out before you put the style back in.

Scalp tension is the amount of pulling at the scalp. Some pulling is part of how extensions and braids hold, but when a style is put in too tight, that tension turns into a problem. You feel it as tension spots and discomfort, and it can be painful.

Too much tension does real damage. Applied with too much pull, extensions can damage the hair you already have. Heavy braids or extreme tension from cornrows and weaves weaken strands that are already fragile, and placing large amounts of extension hair on small amounts of thin hair puts stress on the hair shaft. It can be painful, and over time that constant pulling on the follicle can lead to traction alopecia. In any fragile area like the hairline, a style should never pull on the follicle or sit under excessive tension. Wound or wrapped too tightly, hair can also end up with breakage.

The takeaway for anyone choosing a style is that too much pull can be painful and it damages the hair, so a fresh install should never sit under excessive tension, least of all along the fragile hairline.

Breakage is when your natural hair has been broken off, the strand snapping somewhere along its length. That is different from shedding, so the two are worth telling apart. Hair is most brittle when dry and breaks easily then. When the cuticle lifts and chips away, the shaft weakens and becomes prone to breakage, which is why keeping the cuticle smooth and intact is the best guard against it. Extensions worn or installed under too much scalp tension can cause breakage as well.

Shedding, also called hair fall, is hair that falls off or falls out. It is a natural part of the growth cycle: at the end of a strand's life it is shed, then replaced by new hair growing in. Everyone loses hair this way daily, commonly 50 to 100 strands, with natural hair fall often put at 80 to 100. This is the whole hair leaving the follicle, which makes it different from breakage. While you wear extensions, shed hair cannot fall away freely and gets trapped at the root.

Matting is when extension hair tangles and mats together, the cuticle layers locking into each other like velcro so the strands will not pull apart. It strikes real and fibre extension hair alike, usually when aftercare gets neglected. Because extension hair does not get your scalp's natural oils, it needs regular conditioning, and smooth or wavy extension hair takes daily brushing with a soft bristle brush to lift out loose hairs. Rubbing the strands together during washing makes it worse, and braiding your hair before sleep helps prevent it.

A protective style shields the hair from the handling of everyday styling and gives it a rest while a client transitions to a new look. These are extension styles you can wear while growing a relaxer out, and they work beautifully on natural textured hair. Twist extensions, weaves, wigs, and braid extensions all qualify. They tuck away, dress up, and protect the fragile, weakened strands, keeping the two textures safe from more damage or breakage as the hair is handled. Even hair that is not transitioning benefits, because the style lets the natural tresses rest from daily styling.

The point is relief. Protective styles help preserve natural hair health, and they are usually braided, though they can also be twists, updos, or wigs. The ends get tucked away and protected, and the hair gets a break from daily brushing, thermal appliances, and chemical services, as well as from the elements. Done right, a protective style is worn with gentle tension on the hair, not pulled tight. That gentle tension is the difference between a style that shields the hair and one that stresses it.

Transitioning, also called going natural, means letting chemically relaxed hair grow out until the length is fully natural again. It is a deliberate choice to stop relaxing and to avoid the harsh chemicals or extreme heat that reduce or modify your natural, virgin texture. During the grow-out, one strand carries two textures, the new natural growth at the root and the relaxed length below, and the demarcation line where they meet is fragile. Many clients lean on protective styling to get through it.

The big chop is cutting off all the relaxed, heat-damaged, or chemically treated hair in one haircut, leaving only the naturally curly texture behind. It is the alternative to growing the relaxer out slowly through transitioning. What is left is usually a TWA, a teeny weeny Afro, and the change is immediate and dramatic. Some clients find it refreshing and uplifting, but others find it intimidating, so the consultation beforehand matters.

TWA stands for teeny weeny Afro. It is the very short, naturally curly hair left on the head after the big chop cuts off all the relaxed strands. In short, it is the starting length once every chemically treated piece is gone.

Co-washing means cleansing with conditioner instead of shampoo. You work a cleansing conditioner and water through the hair to refresh it and add moisture between weekly shampoos. It detangles and restyles without drying the hair out, which is why curly and coily textures often reach for it. Co-washing on its own is not recommended, though. It does not replace regular shampooing, because cleansing the scalp matters for a healthy scalp and hair.

A clarifying shampoo is a deep-cleansing formula with a pH of 7 or higher, so neutral to alkaline. It strips away excess oil, built-up product, and the mineral residue that clings to hair, helped by a chelating agent that grabs metals such as iron and copper and pulls them out. Reach for it when buildup is obvious, after swimming, or before a chemical service. It is effective but harsh, so it can leave hair dry and brittle. A sulfate-free shampoo will not clear that buildup.

SLS stands for sodium laurel sulfate. It is a surfactant, meaning a cleansing agent and detergent, and it can be irritating and drying to the hair and scalp. That is why so many textured-hair routines reach for a sulfate-free shampoo instead. Sulfate- and surfactant-free moisturizing shampoos matter for keeping wavy, curly, and coily hair healthy.

Cones is shorthand for silicones, the ingredients found in many conditioners and serums. They are not water soluble, so plain water will not rinse them away. Silicone reflects light, which makes hair look shiny. Because it also coats the strand, some curly and coily wearers prefer to skip it. Regular shampoos often contain silicones, and clients with those textures may avoid them due to possible dryness and heavy coating of the hair.

A skin sensitivity test tells you if the products used to bond extensions will trigger an allergy in a given client. It is a skin test, and it is not the same thing as a strand test, which checks whether the natural hair is strong enough to hold extensions and that they will not slip out. Both are done before the service, and for extensions they are usually done together, one reading the skin and one reading the hair.

It matters because some clients react badly to one or another of the products that go into an extension service, so confirming they are not allergic to anything in the system you are about to apply is treated as essential. Cold-fusion systems in particular may cause allergic reactions, so a skin sensitivity test and a strand test are done before that system goes on. For chemical work like colour, a patch test done a day or two ahead helps show whether a client has allergies or sensitivities to the mixture.

A reaction can range from mild to serious. Someone with an extreme allergy to a substance can go into anaphylactic shock, which can be fatal, and that is exactly why this test is a safety step and never a formality.

A contraindication is a reason a treatment should not go ahead because it may be inadvisable or harmful, or a condition that requires avoiding certain products or procedures to prevent unwanted side effects. Before extensions, a stylist checks for them during the consultation. Some scalp and hair conditions, like being under treatment for hair fall, psoriasis, eczema, or alopecia, or an infestation such as head lice, mean the service should not go ahead.

Lashes

A strip lash is a row of eyelash hairs attached to a band. You apply the band along the natural lash line with adhesive, so the whole row goes on as a single piece. That band is what makes it a strip, rather than individual lashes or flare lashes, the other styles a person might wear.

Individual lashes are separate artificial eyelashes, applied to the base of the lashes one at a time. That one-at-a-time approach is what sets them apart from strip lashes, where a whole row of hairs sits on a single band. They are one of the styles a person might wear, alongside flare and strip lashes.

Eyelash adhesive is the product that makes artificial eyelashes stick to the natural lash line. These adhesives are cyanoacrylate glues, the same strong glues used in household repairs. They do not really dry so much as cure, and how fast they set depends on the temperature and humidity around them. Water sets the glue, so long stretches in wet or hot conditions can break the bond down.

Cyanoacrylate is a class of compounds, cyanide derivatives of acrylates, that polymerize easily to make quick-setting adhesives. It is the same component that gives super glue its instant bonding power, and most eyelash adhesive is made from it. All eyelash glue made this way is toxic to tissue, and its vapor is an irritant. A hypersensitivity to cyanoacrylate is a listed contraindication for wearing lashes.

Every lash grows on a cycle of three phases, easy to remember because they run in alphabetical order. Anagen is the active growth phase. Catagen is the transition phase, when the lash stops growing and the follicle shrinks. Telogen is the resting phase, and it may run past 100 days before the lash falls out on its own and a new one begins. Each lash sits at its own point in this cycle, so shedding a few on most days is normal.