It is 90 days before Carnival 2013 and I am yet to get boots or Monday wear BUT I already have my "Carnival hair". Carnival preparation is serious business and since I am trying a new hair company as well as a new type of hair my hair trial for the Carnival 2013 season has already begun. My mission is to see if this hair lasts through countless fetes and still be fabulous on the road come Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
Now, a little background on me and my love affair with what I consider to be "quality hair". I have been wearing extensions periodically for a number of years, usually when I wanted to give my own processed hair a break from heating a styling. A few years ago my hair had enough of processing, consequently it was also damaged and unhealthy. I did the big chop and cut ALL off. Since then I have been growing my hair naturally and under all my extensions I now have a very healthy, very thick, very full AFRO which I refuse to chemically process again but I still want the versatility and look of processed hair for variety and the fact that I cannot manage my natural hair all on my own every single day.
There is this perception that extensions are limiting; you cannot get it wet, you cannot exercise with it in, it tangles, mattes, sheds like a dog and is difficult to style or hold a curl. If your extensions do any of the aforementioned you my friend have the wrong hair. I discovered that there is a world of hair grades and qualities from reading countless online forums and what is packaged and sold in hair stores and marketed as "human" or "remy" hair is very different to virgin or processed virgin hair that is sold from a vendor. I have been buying hair from a vendor for the past two years and so far have used processed Indian hair that was treated to mimic relaxed African American hair and also Peruvian hair.
I re-install the SAME hair every six weeks and on average use the same hair for about 6 months. Many people keep reusing the same hair for up to a year or keep the hair in a hair stash and rotate when they feel like. For me I have been changing hair every 6 months because I have been gradually getting longer hair; I started with 12" and now I am on 22"!
What I LOVE about using virgin hair is not only that I can reuse it and save money in the long run, my personal pet peeves when it comes to extensions are hair that mattes, tangles and sheds. In the past if I got 5 weeks out of Yaki or Remy hair that was a lot, usually once the silicone coating is washed off the hair tangles like no other and comes out in clumps every time it is brushed! I detest shedding hair with a passion.
The caveat with using virgin hair is that it is not cheap upfront, if you tally up how much you would spend buying new hair each time you install/re-install however it works out to a very good investment. I NEVER tell people how much money I spend on hair because they always act shocked at the sticker price, it is the same reaction when I tell non masqueraders how much I spend on a costume. My justification for spending money on GOOD hair is that it does what I want it to do: no tangling,matting or excessive shedding in addition I can reuse the SAME hair and it is always the SAME quality. It is worth it to me rather than spending $100- $150.00 US a pack on what is marketed as "Remy" hair which from my experience cannot be reused from my experience with that grade of hair.
Du Jour hair was introduced to me by a friend as I had been looking for a locally based (Trinidad) vendor which would eliminate me ordering online and waiting weeks for my hair to arrive in the country. I have a very strict set of criteria for purchasing hair from any company so after reading up about Du Jour hair on Facebook I met with the ladies who explained further what were the differences in the different types of hair they offer.
Prior to this install I wore 18", 20" and 22" Peruvian Natural Curl which has a tighter curl pattern so I decided to try the Peruvian Body Wave from Du Jour in 14", 20" and 22". The photo below are the actual bundles I used after a pre installation shampoo and conditioner (I always wash all my hair before installing). The first thing I noticed was that all bundles had the same quantity of hair even the longer lengths which tend to be less as it is measured by the ounce. The second thing was that during washing there was very little shedding. The hair comes as is in the colour natural black. It can be dyed to match your hair, I didn't have to as it matched my natural hair colour.
Peruvian Body Wave
The photos below are of the hair installed after one week, washed a second time and air dried naturally. I also curled the hair with an iron and rods but decided the first photos should show the natural wave pattern. It is actually MUCH longer than my past experiences with 22" inch hair and I have worn than length since Carnival 2012 in both straight and curly hair. I can easily wear a shorter length of 16" or 18" and be pleased as I think the length is measured curly and not when the hair is pulled straight. Hair this long takes some getting used to.
- I have no problem with the hair holding a curl when styled, it can be curled with styling rods or a curling iron for different looks. Once the hair is styled it is full and bouncy. I also really like the natural curl pattern so I have a variety of looks with this hair.
- The second time I washed the hair was after it was installed and I did it myself at home. There was VERY little shedding during washing which surprised me as from my experiences all hair sheds when washing, even if it is a few strands. There was some tangling during washing owing to the length of hair but I used a vent brush to smooth the hair out and it was fine.
- The hair itself is coarser and thicker than Indian or Brazilian hair so it is a good match for blending with my leave out which is texturised and flat ironed.
- The less product used the better, a dab of Argan or Moroccan oil is all that is needed.
- There are no split ends with this hair, I have experienced that before and it gives the ends of the hair a dry brittle look.
So far Du Jour's Peruvian Body Wave has ticked all the boxes in what I look for when buying Virgin hair It has been only one week so far and as much as I LOVE how soft bouncy and full the hair is it still has to be tested for the long haul! Lots of parties and events to attend which means this hair is going to be giving me it's money's worth
Next review will be of the hair styled and I promise more photos, in the meantime of you need to find out more about Du Jour and the other types of hair they offer visit their facebook page:
