Remy hair and virgin hair extensions are often confused with each other and that understandable considering how similar these two types of hair are. Both are very valuable types of natural human hair for hair extensions and the term “remy hair”, in particular, is often used for virgin hair, hence the confusion.
So, let’s go over the remy hair meaning and virgin hair meaning, and then compare the two.
What is remy human hair?
So, what does remy hair mean? Remy hair is high-quality natural human hair used for hair extensions. What’s specific about it is that all its hair cuticles are facing in the same direction. This is crucial because it’s what gives remy hair its natural look. It also prevents entanglements and prolongs the life of the hair extension.
Remy hair’s cuticles all face in the same direction because this type of hair is always sourced from a single person. Non-remy hair is usually gathered from multiple people’s brushed off hair and that’s why its cuticles are going in different directions. This makes remy hair not only valuable but rare too.
Also, keep in mind that some hair extension brands pass their remy hair through harsh and rushed manufacturing processes that ruin the cuticles of remy hair and make it more or less pointless.
What is virgin hair?
Virgin hair is also sourced from a single donor and its cuticles also flow in the same direction. This essentially makes virgin hair a type of remy hair. The difference is that virgin hair is also 100% chemically unprocessed – it hasn’t received any chemical makeover neither while it was still on the donor’s head nor afterward – no perms, no bleaches, no dyes, no harsh washes.
In other words, virgin hair is even more valuable than other remy hair extensions. Of course, technically non-remy hair can also be virgin hair, if it also has never gone through such treatments. However, non-remy hair is never referred to as virgin hair even when it is because it’s still of a lower quality than standard remy or virgin remy hair.
Remy hair vs virgin hair
Now that we know the virgin and remy hair definitions, the difference between the two is pretty clear – virgin hair is a type of remy hair. The two terms are often confused, however, and virgin hair is still often called just remy hair by a lot of people who think remy is better than virgin.
It’s not. They are both much better than non-remy human hair, however, so going with a non-virgin remy hair is still a great purchase most of the time, as long as it has been properly handled.
