We had a customer email us complaining about the instructions we send with our wigs. Each lace front wig purchase comes with a shampoo guide, a care guide for curly/textured hair if the wig is curly or African American texture, and a wig application guide, if the customer opts to receive one.

We give instructions, tips and tricks on caring for the wig, as well as a list of recommended products. The customer who complained was questioning if our hair was remy because remy hair is just “shake and go” in her words.

Well, if you can show me a woman walking the face of this earth, who has more than 14″ of hair, who believes her hair is carefree, I’d love to meet her. Let’s cover some basic facts about wigs:

When a wig is made, the hair used to create the wig is typically 4″ longer than the finished length of the wig. This means that a wig with 20″ length was made with hair that was originally 24″ long. In most cases, it’s longer than that, because of the need to trim the ends.

So not we’re not only dealing with hair, but long hair at that.

In the hair processing industry, most standard wigs and extension hair, sold at beauty supplies and chain stores, is heavily processed for uniformity and consistency. This means using chemicals to strip the cuticle and silicone to coat the hair, to give hair a “carefree” appearance. Over time, the results of the stripping and coating wear off and the hair becomes difficult to handle.

At zarawigs.com one thing we have learned over the years is that most of our African American customers do not know how to properly care for their hair. It’s just a disappointing truth. There are a few of hair care boards serving black women who wear their hair natural, who want to grow it long, or just general hair care because the reality is that the products used are often inferior and harmful and the techniques used are often harmful. This is why African American women suffer disproportionate amounts of hair loss and damage.

So when we send care guides with our wigs, part of our goal is to offer hair care education. All too often, searching for “do nothing” hair is a myth that causes women to jump from one thing to the next looking for a solution. We try to educate our customers on selecting quality products and using proper techniques because the care required for hair is pretty standard, whether it’s growing out of your scalp or attached to a wig. We try to get our customers into a habit of proper hair care and this includes: ditching the hair grease and the pink oil moisturizers, getting rid of the notion that you should brush through the hair constantly, using poor quality shampoos and conditioners, and not realizing that treated Indian or Chinese hair really is treated Indian or Chinese hair, not African American hair, and should be cared for accordingly.