Synthetic VS Human Hair Extensions, Which is Right For You?

Hair extensions can be made up of two very different, and yet strangely similar fibers either synthetic or human hair. There are some big glaring differences between synthetic and human hair, and I hope this article will help you decide which would be a good choice for you on your next purchase for clip in hair extensions. Not that the debate between synthetic and human hair is solely limited to clip in extensions, they can be found across the board even as a choice for wigs.

Getting back to the choice between human and synthetic hair, every person has to make a decision between the two when purchasing artificial hair, by this I mean hair that is not your own. So let's start off with some of the good aspects of each, and after we’ll look at the downsides.

Synthetic Hair, and Great Reasons to Purchase

The first and foremost reason, people make the choice to purchase synthetic hair is it’s overall cost. It is usually just a fraction of the cost of real human hair. One primary reason for this is synthetic hair is made from artificial fibers and is not grown from a human head. Most synthetic versions of clip in hair extensions can be found for around 20-30 dollars. This is cheap in comparison to the human hair counterpart.

Synthetic hair is humidity resistant. This means the weather isn’t going to affect the style, or cause excessive frizzing. It will hold whatever preset style it came with. If you ordered wavy they will stay that way. Most synthetic hair has a great look to it, and a brilliant shine. Lastly, synthetic hair is far easier to care for. It is wont hold oils the way human hair will, therefore washing isn’t needed as often, which usually will result in the hair lasting a little longer. The average length of time for daily wear synthetic extension is around 3 months.

A Great Video Explain Between Human Hair & Synthetic Hair:

Human Hair Extensions Pros

The biggest upside to wearing human is the overall natural look. It is in fact natural coming from a human head of hair. This means the texture, color, and feel will ultimately be the most undetected choice. Human hair has all the same properties of your own hair and must be treated as such. Another big upside to using human hair is it is heat resistant. As long as you are using a heat protectant to protect the hair it will do fine using any flat iron or curling iron. This is great for those who want to change up their style. It is also one of the main reasons brides choose to use human hair over synthetic, it’s versatile. A big advantage to human hair is being able to have the freedom to color it. While it isn’t the best option, because most of the time they come pre colored for you, you do have the option to color.

Both Have Downsides

While both have some great advantages they equally have disadvantages, and it’s good to weigh these options when you decide which one is right for you.

Human hair cost quite a bit more than synthetic. This is partly due to people having to actually grown hair, and the process of collecting it. Synthetic can just be manufactured. The cost for human hair can be a deterrent especially if you are on a budget, but the quality of hair will usually outweigh the cost. Human hair reacts like normal hair, humidity and water will change the composition and styles will be lost. Anyone with curly hair knows that if you flat iron and its humid outside, a big fluff ball will happen with your hair. This is also true with human hair extensions. Synthetic hair can’t handle the heat of curling irons and flat irons. Some make the claim they are heat resistant up to certain temperatures sure, but with the preset style you will be fighting a battle to change what the hair was when you got it. This can be frustrating for those that like to change it up every now and again. Along with not being able to really use heat on synthetic hair, you also can’t really color them. They can’t handle chemical processes the way human hair can, and can really do damage to the wefts.

Conclusion:

As you can see there are some big differences between your choices of human and synthetic. It greatly depends on what you are looking for, and what you want to be able to do when you have them in. There is no right or wrong choice, some synthetics are getting super close to mimicking real human hair clip in extensions in ways you wouldn’t even be able to tell. Human hair also has many different classifications, but that is a blog for another time.