The importance of ethically sourced Hair Extensions
Today the Daily Mail highlighted the potential horrors of the booming global hair extensions trade. It's a great reminder for those who use hair extensions (like myself) to consider how important it is that you know how and where your hair extensions are coming from. You may have heard of nightmare hair extension stories where hair extensions have damaged hair and potentially left bald patches and yes this can be true for those who go to unreputable back street salons but doesn't have to be the case if you find a reputable hair salon who uses ethically sourced hair.
Meet Inanch Emir my incredibly talented, award wining hairdresser at Inanch London. I have been going to Inanch for over 6 years and my hair is now in the best condition its ever been, I trust her and her team completely with my locks, as they have transformed my hair from unhealthy and broken (before I met her) to strong and the healthiest its ever been.
Inanch Emir, 3-times winner of the Best UK Hair Extensionist accolade, is one of the UK’s leading hair extensions experts and a multi-award winning celebrity extensionist. She has been practicing in multiple hair extension applications for over 15 years. As a fully qualified NVQ level 3 State Registered Senior Hairdresser with over 25 years experience in Central London hairdressing, Inanch Emir is passionate about promoting ‘healthy hair’ as part of the whole hair extension experience. Her belief is that “a great set of hair extensions can only be achieved by having healthy hair and a healthy scalp and maintaining this throughout the duration of having extensions and thereafter”.
As part of their hair extensions service, they carry out strict and comprehensive consultations with clients who would like to have hair extensions in their salon on Great Portland Street (Inanch London). As an approved stockist of Philip Kingsley, they carry out a “hair heath” analysis and advise accordingly with any appropriate treatments using Philip Kingsley products prior to any hair extension applications. For more serious hair & scalp conditions, they refer the clients to the PK clinic for a course of treatments and advise them to return to their salon once they have completed the prescribed treatment.
SO WHERE DOES GOLD CLASS HAIR COME FROM?
It all begins here: Inanch herself regularly visits the factory in India where the hair extensions are ethically sourced from local Indian Temples and processed by the dedicated staff over a 20-30 day production period in order to achieve premium quality hair extensions in a range of 30 colours.
Gold Class hair is ethically sourced from Indian Temples where the hair is donated by Hindu pilgrims as part of their 'tonsuring' tradition. The donor selflessly gives up the hair as thanks to their God and to reject vanity by shaving the hair off their head. The hair is then tied in to a ponytail to remain remi (cuticle in tact). Their sources use brushed hair, collecting the hair that has fallen out during brushing, which is not remi and will cause tangling. Some also go as far as using 'unethical' hair which is sourced from unidentifiable origins. They exclusively utilise Temple hair. The temples then sell the hair to raise funds for their upkeep, community projects and charitable schemes. Indian hair is the finest quality to work with; this is because it has not been chemically treated and its structure is most suitable for European hair. Their hair selection process (carried out in India) is quite time-consuming but essential as each bundle of hair is hand-picked and checked for its condition which must be healthy and strong (using their hair elasticity test) and must be virgin hair (not prone to any chemical treatments such as colouring).
Once the hair is selected, it then arrives to their hair factory in India where the hair is processed. Quality is paramount throughout the processing of the hair extensions. The hair is cleaned before starting a gentle processing to remove the natural colour pigments in the hair, before being able to replace them to create the desired base shades. The osmosis treatment, pioneered for the cashmere industry, is so gentle as not to effect the structure of the hair and create reliably colour-fast extensions. Such care is taken that some colours may take up to 6 weeks to process. Hair is secured to guarantee the strands remain remi until it is hand colour blended by skilled artisans to create the full Gold Class colour range. The final stage is for the hairs to be tipped with pre-bonded polymer tips which are then ready to be applied to the client's hair by a professional and certified Gold Class extensionist.
For more info contact GOLD CLASS