Raw Indian hair vs. virgin hair | Do you know the difference? — Jasx Aigner

Who is Rocky?

My name is Rocky Singh Kandola and I take the trip at least 2 times each year back and forth to India to my factory to maintain the quality and consistency that you need to run your business efficiently.

I’ve been in LA for 4 years now. I was born in New York, but I am from India and my family is all Indian.

Raw Indian hair (unprocessed) vs. virgin hair (processed)

There are different methods for getting textures. All our hair comes from natural women who donate their hair at the temples, and natural women have very certain styles. In India, there is not as many deep curly hair, so the super curly hair we sell we have to steam-process.

As for processing hair, there are two different ways: steam processing and chemically processing. In our factory in India, we only do steam processing and we are not allowed to have those chemicals inside the factory. There are two big reasons and benefits for this. First is the environmental impact and second is the dangers to your body, such as chemical burns and rashes that you can get from chemically-processed hair. This is why we only use steam and we use a safe 3-day steam process.

Since our curly hair is steam-processed, the curls will not stay forever. This doesn’t mean that the hair is bad as this is just how steam works on our hair. This happens to natural hair, too. If we used chemicals they might stay longer, however the hair quality would suffer, so we use NO chemicals in our hair extensions.

Red strands on your hair bundles: filler or natural?

If you find red or orange strands on hair from other hair manufacturers, many times these are fillers. Fillers are usually red strands used in the manufacturing process to hold the lines while doing wefting. And a lot of times, manufacturers leave that in there because it adds a couple of extra grams, thinking they can get away with it. Sometimes companies will even add in strands of synthetic hair or fibers to add weight.

In North India, what’s common is henna. It’s a traditional dye that women in India use on their hair. Men use it too when they get married, during times of deep remorse, or during different kinds of religious or traditional times. Henna is very commonly found in North Indian hair as a lot of women dye their entire hairs with it during certain religious festivals and traditions. It is different from the dyes we have here in America that contain bleaches. Henna is made from more traditional earth substances in India so it’s not as damaging to the hair, since it is also natural.

When you notice those reddish tints, look at it really closely. First of all, make sure it is not fabric, like a string. If it is, then you really know it’s a filler.

If you see extreme amounts of henna, most large Indian companies will pass that off as “okay” hair. For us, when we buy huge amounts of hair from the temples, about 30-40% of that automatically goes to waste and not sold due to the large amount of henna or other various reasons. And that’s actually what makes for good quality hair. The more hair you “waste” from the temples meaning the less hair we use from our bulk raw hair orders, the less chances you have of giving your customers a bad quality product. At the end of the day, it’s all about quality and not quantity.

The difference between North Indian and South Indian hair

For the aesthetics of it, meaning the touch and the feel, North Indian hair will feel a little silkier, much less textured hair, and has less waves and curls. The biggest difference between North and South Indian hair is that at the very bottom of North Indian hair, you will find that it evens out a little bit and gets a little bit thinner. With the South Indian hair, you’re going to have a little bit more fullness and thickness from root to tip. This is because the girls in the South generally put a lot of coconut and natural oils on their hair and does not apply any kind of chemicals, shampoo chemicals, or color it throughout their life, so they’re a lot healthier. The girls in the south also practice very different and healthy diets, which provides for better hair. They also keep their hair protected from the harsh sun.

Our highest quality is our young donor hair. The way we judge quality is by knowing what the cuticle health life is. Like for younger people who didn’t process their hair vs. older people who did process their hair. Younger donor hair is sourced direct by Rocky Singh via his temple connections, so it’s very exclusive and rare.

Our North Indian hair is still amazing hair, but not as cuticle healthy. There’s more pollution in the North, the girls are using colors on their hair, and styling it a lot throughout their lives. So North Indian is our “entry-level” hair, which sell fast and does very well since it’s all natural and priced very well.

Moving up from there is our South Indian hair which is basically the top of the line in hair extensions. Women in the South are more from remote villages, they’re covering their hair and protecting it. They are using good oils that are all natural from the ground. They actually wash their hair with a natural egg-based shampoo from India. Also, genetically, the hair from the South are very cuticle healthy.

Indian hair factory tour

Out there I’m going to show you the business side: the factory, the temples. I will show you what it’s like to be from India, what it’s like to do business with Indian men and women, and how the culture, traditions, customs, and lifestyle are.

If you care about this business, if you care about the hair, and if you want to make a company and a life out of it, then this trip is something, in my opinion, that is super important – to actually go out there and understand the lifestyle and the culture as well as the business. When you do that, you will understand and can give that value to your clients.

We have two options for our Indian hair factory tour: a 4-night tour and a 7-night tour. With the 4-night tour, we will be going to North India where you will see my factory, meet some suppliers, and also go to marketing centers and packaging centers. You will have the chance to meet these people directly so you can form connections. In addition to this, the 7-night tour also includes South India. Here we will go to the actual temples. There’s a lot of value we provide on our tours, not just hair.

In order to source Indian hair, you must have an Indian ID, a tax ID which we call the PAN card, and land. I’m an Indian dual citizen so I have all of those things covered and I speak the languages as well. Not knowing one or two of these things or not having a really good solid partner who does would put you at a disadvantaged position as far as working on the market or trying to procure a better deal out there. With our Indian hair factory tours, I will be going with you to India directly.

For more details, please visit our Indian Human Hair Tour page.

Wholesale

We only provide quality Indian hair from the source. Our minimum wholesale price starts at around 10 bundles, that’s about 1 kg. We have a sliding scale where the more volume you purchase, the better the prices you will get. We can work with you if you want something lower than that, just reach out to a representative or Rocky Singh directly. Watch the video above where we show you real samples of hair from our showroom.

Signing up as a wholesaler with us is free and gives you access to our wholesale pricelist. Register now through our Wholesale Registration page. I hope to see you on the inside!

Find more of our videos on our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbp2UesWGRO27mbKCqXvCRg