Seriously thinking of quitting!

[Secrets hair]

Guys, I need some serious advice!

I've just had a message off one of my regulars asking if I do balmain hair extensions, which I do, she said she's messaged another girl who can do a full head of balmain for £130! I said £250 and she's said oh I'll go to the other girl then!

Am I being totally unreasonable here? I can't even buy them for that price!

She's even doing full heads of micro rings and pre bonded, 1gram thickness for £80-£120

I am seriously thinking about quitting as all of my clients are leaving for her!

 

[Fuzion]

One of two things are happening here, either other extensionist is lying about the hair she is providing, or your client is lying to you. To be honest I don't know how you can do them for £250, cheapest I've ever managed is £350. I would tell the client to go to the other girl, she'll so learn, but do you want such a disloyal client? Not worth it, bin her! Xx

 

[theextensionist]

I agree! I do half head for 320 and that's the cheapest!! You can't really do it much cheaper and with Balmain to order you need to be qualified. 130?? Oh my! I dont even do remy that cheap and Balmain is a luxury brand! Those things frustrate me soooo much. Hopefully this client will only go to her once and then realise she made a mistake and choose you instead! Perhaps she is lying and just using cheap hair. Never try to be the cheapest, try to move away from price and offer an unparalleled experience and quality and people will want to pay and come back. It's sad though especially if she is a regular. But probably best to let her go if she doesn't understand that you get what you pay for! Arghhh, the more I think about it the angrier I get. These probably unqualified people who buy cheap **** Chinese hair on eBay are taking our potential clients and are the reason hair extensions have a bad rep of damaging hair or looking ratty. Most girls who go for them are first timers too so they don't know how good it is supposed to be or how quality hair looks!!! Grrrr

www.theextensionist.com

 

[del<3]

the main problem with hair atm is that all the so-called indian hair being sold by various companies online is chinese hair. i tend to laugh when i see descriptions like 'indian temple hair'. all the so-called remy may well be remy, but it's chinese. european (as separate from russian) hair is a con and doesn't exist, it is usually chinese hair that has undergone a better preparation process. balmain hair is the con supreme, as it is also chinese, but with a fancy name tag.
there are companies in the uk that sell 'indian hair' (see above), but you can get the exact same item on ebay for half the price from china. of course many people after a quick buck take advantage of this and are thereby able to offer supercheap hair extensions.
the only solution is to stop buying from online sellers that buy wholesale from china and then sell the hair on at double or triple the price. (on a different note, i wouldn't buy chinese just because of the atrocities being committed every day.) go buy hair from the hair merchant and tip it yourself. most importantly, don't give in to these idiot clients and their bullying tactics!!!!

I think you make a good point here however how can you be sure that the hair from your hair merchant is good quality? The girl doing my extensions sells me them as European hair (which you say doesnt exist) however she buys direct from European countries and also goes over there sometimes 'on business' to check out different sourcers.

How can anyone really be 100% certain of what hair they are buying unless we physically cut it off ourselves? :S lol

 

[theextensionist]

which countries in europe?

i know who i buy from and trust the person because they would be putting lots of nails in their coffin by selling crappy hair.

also, if ever you check an indian client's own hair, you'll see how little it has in common with 'indian hair'.

I second that statement. I know my suppliers and trust them and I have had training in hair textures so I know what I am buying otherwise I would not buy it.

 

[del<3]

To be fair she doesn't say :| but that she gets them from a guy who sources hair for lucinda ellery (a salon in London with celebrity clientele) she's now starting to go to these 'european' countries to cut out the middle man so to speak. She's extremely busy she has literally hundreds of clients because her hair and extensions are so good but it's so difficult to find this!! And obviously to hairdressers like myself who want to be offering extensions and live nearby she wouldn't say exactly who she gets it from as that's her unique-ness and sets her apart!

I guess it's just trial and error with error but expensive trial and error! x

 

[del<3]

Yes exactly! I find folk use the term euro hair loosely I mean it could come from the uk if that were the case?? Ha!

Is it difficult to get good quality Russian hair? Or just more expensive? I'm just not sure what types of hair to offer once I'm trained as I'm not sure Indian hair would be good to pair with a Caucasian client as it's in no way the same texture :| although I know a lot of girls go for this option as it's usually provided cheaper! They don't seem to mind how different it feels to their own! That's the reason I get 'european' hair! Haha

 

[theextensionist]

ok yeah all clear so it's again russian/eastern euro hair. i find the term european to be misleading, because it's used separately from 'russian' when all we mean to say is we want hair from caucasian people, period.

Thats so not true though. Europe is a huge continent and the hair varies greatly from Russia to Spain. European hair and Russian hair is not the same thing at all. European hair is usually sourced from countries like spain, italy and such while Russian is from Slavic countries. The reason Russian is nice is because it comes in lighter colours therefore not having to go through as much processing but all hair from Europe is not the same!! Due to weather conditions and different diets, so I would not say I am after any caucasian hair. Russian is known as the best because of their cold climate and it being sourced from rural communities where the diet is good for making the hair extra soft and silky. All caucasian hair is not the same in texture and feel.

 

[del<3]

Thats so not true though. Europe is a huge continent and the hair varies greatly from Russia to Spain. European hair and Russian hair is not the same thing at all. European hair is usually sourced from countries like spain, italy and such while Russian is from Slavic countries. The reason Russian is nice is because it comes in lighter colours therefore not having to go through as much processing but all hair from Europe is not the same!! Due to weather conditions and different diets, so I would not say I am after any caucasian hair. Russian is known as the best because of their cold climate and it being sourced from rural communities where the diet is good for making the hair extra soft and silky. All caucasian hair is not the same in texture and feel.

So what you're saying is when you order European hair from your supplier you could be getting Italian - Spanish etc and everytime you order it, it could be different textures from the last time as it's come from a different country probably each time. :|

 

[del<3]

Haha! Ahhhh it's so confusing! and extremely hard when all you want to do is provide good hair for your clients and a good service well worth the money!

I wonder if suppliers would send you samples of their hair quality if you called them and asked? And no doubt lush-us will advise where to source hair from?

 

[theextensionist]

So what you're saying is when you order European hair from your supplier you could be getting Italian - Spanish etc and everytime you order it, it could be different textures from the last time as it's come from a different country probably each time. :|

Noo not really but what I mean is European and Russian is not the same type of hair. It is all about finding a reliable supplier that knows where the hair is from and that you trust. I have a good one for russian hair I found recently that I trust and for European where I order comes from mostly poland, lithuania and those countries. I guess European is cheaper because it is from different countries and more mixed than Russian. It is hard and it has taken me a long time to find good suppliers that I trust. We are all responsible for doing our operations ethically and to be honest the best way is to pay more for quality hair from suppliers we trust as with cheap hair someone will get exploited and you will get what you pay for.

Oh and to say diet does not impact on your hair is not true! You are what you eat.