Archive for the ‘Hair How To’s’ Category

Mane Depot Weft Sealer Seals, Protects, Prevents Hair Shedding From Wefts

Tuesday, September 24th, 2013
  • Seals and protects machine and hand-tied hair wefts
  • Extensions last longer
  • Prevents hair shedding
  • Waterproof
  • Non-flammable and can be shipped by air and overseas

Seal your hair tracks before installation for the best hair weft sealing on the market.

Mane Depot Weft Sealer is completely non-toxic and formulated specifically to seal hair threading preventing hair loss and shedding.

Now Buy One, Get One 50% Off! Go to our store!

Best Hair Weft Sealer

Mane Depot Weft Sealer for sealing hair wefts and preventing shedding

Fusion Pot and Keratin Glue for Hair Extensions

Monday, January 21st, 2013
Fusion Pot and Keratin Glue for Hair Extensions

Professional Fusion Pot and keratin glue for Hair Extensions - Photo is showing keratin pellets in blonde, clear and dark brown which were melted, cooled and removed from the pot to be used again.

We are frequently asked “Which Fusion Pot do I need for Hair Extensions?”

Our recommendation is for our Professional Fusion Pot particularly if you are a salon or extension artist and need to change out your keratin fusion colors between clients. (If you are a DIY, or you need multiple pots going at the same time, we recommend the Mini Fusion Pot.)

The Professional Fusion Pot heats up to 380F and maintains its temperature by automatically powering up and down as needed to hold the correct temperature.

The great thing about this pot is its teflon-coated inside. Once it cools to room temperature, the keratin pellets or chips you melted form into a disk that easily slips right out of its non-stick surface.

Store the disk until it’s needed and it fits right back into the pot and melts down again. No more throwing away keratin and no chipping away at the inside of the pot trying to remove product so you can change colors.

Contact us if you have any questions about our keratin products and accessories and how they function. We’ll be happy to help!

Weft Sealer and How To Seal Hair Wefts

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Sometimes bad wefts happens to good hair. Or, you have great hair on an equally great weft and you want to ensure your investment stays together for as long as possible. Sealing your machine or hand-tied weft will prevent shedding, eliminate hair looping from the top ridge of the weft and keep delicate threading intact. Keeping your investment on the weft saves time, money and aggravation.

Weft Sealer

Mane Depot Weft Sealer is different than any other product being advertised as a weft sealant. First and foremost, our sealant is safe. While other brands contain harmful chemicals, Mane Depot Weft Sealer carries the ASTM non-toxic rating.

Features:

* Quick dry time and completely cured when dry
* Not just water resistant but WATERPROOF
* No odor, no fumes, no harmful vapors
* Non-flammable so we’re able to ship by air and overseas
* Does not break down in hair remover solvents
* Dries flexible

Hair Weft Sealant

Weft sealing is quick and easy with Mane Depot Weft Sealer. Our guide for sealing hair wefts is located in our Hair Extensions Demo and Tutorial section on our site.

Each Weft Sealer purchase comes as a kit with 2oz of Mane Depot Weft Sealer in a squeeze applicator tip bottle, brush and instruction guide with helpful hints.

Pick up your Mane Depot Weft Sealer today and keep your hair where it belongs – on the weft.

Blending Virgin Hair For Wefting

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

Not all hair is created equal. Not all hair is qualified to be on the same weft. We showcase our blending skill on straight, wavy and curly virgin hair.

Brazilian Russian Hair

Straight to natural body hair takes a lot less time, skill and hair to blend. When colors are closely matched or compatible, the only real consideration is texture and length.

This is a blend of European Russian and our silky Euro line Brazilian hair where only texture and length were considered. We found the slight hair color differences complimentary and blending the bundles together created a natural blended highlight effect.

The texture and wave pattern of the finished weft is consistent throughout because of thorough blending and beginning with equal hair pattern and length.

Brazilian Wavy Hair

Wavy hair creates an additional challenge.

Now, not only length being considered, specific patterns and textures need to be identified and separated.

A moderate amount of hair in this classification may need to be set aside unused until suitable bundles can be partnered up and blended.

The end result, as shown in the weft we blended, is a consistent texture and wave pattern from end to end.

Brazilian Hair Curly

Curly hair is the most difficult hair to blend.

It can take a significant amount (multiple kilos) to create one weft of hair. Curly hair made into wefts are the most time consuming to create.

Once we have hair that matches, the blending and wefting takes no more time than straight or wavy hair. The time consuming part is waiting to receive bundles that will match. After much of this hair is drawn, we may only have 2-3oz of a particular pattern, texture or length. We can only hope the next collection contains 2-3oz more of the same type hair so a complete weft can be made.

With Brazilian hair, this is a particular challenge as the supply isn’t as plentiful. In one kilo, for example, there may be two dozen ponytails that are different lengths, curl patterns and textures. A significant portion of curly hair needs to be set aside unused until more hair is obtained and compatible partners are identified.

For the weft pictured, it took a significant amount of bulk hair and time to create a weft with this amount of hair. The end result is a complete weft that matches in color, length, texture and curl pattern.

Rushing to create curly wefts is not an option if you want consistent, compatible hair from end to end.

For custom virgin hair products, your source is Mane Depot.

Drawing Bulk Hair For Hair Extensions

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Drawing human hair for pretipped, wefting and ventilation
Click on the photo above to see our tutorial section on “Why You Need To Prepare Bulk Hair For Tipping & Wefting.”

What is single drawn and double drawn hair?

To make Single Drawn Hair, the shortest hair is removed from the top of the bundle (the root end) leaving in the remaining layers. How many different lengths remain in the bundle is not a set thing. A person drawing hair can remove 2-3″ from the top or they may remove 7″ of short hair from the top – it will still be single drawn.

Making Double Drawn Hair is a technique all done by hand where the longest lengths of hair are pulled from the bundle first. If a ponytail’s longest length is 18″, all 18″ hair is removed. The next layer will be 17″ and that is removed. Proceed up the bundle by 1″ lengths until they are taken out and sorted. Making double drawn hair takes more time, more hair, and the result is a more expensive product where all hair will be the same length with no layers or shorter hairs.

Sound impossibly complicated and messy? Not really. It is a skill, however, and it does take patience and practice to get proficient at handling loose, bulk hair.

Bulk hair and raw ponytails for hair extensions are everywhere. There’s even sites where people post photos of themselves with their long hair and they’ll cut it and send it to the highest paying bidder (at ridiculous prices, we might add).

What you may not know is that there’s something lurking inside those ponytails (or any raw bulk hair for that matter): Shorter hair.

You simply cannot turn a 4oz raw bulk ponytail into a 4oz weft or pretipped hair. Raw ponytails can have so many different lengths in the bundle that they must be removed. Trying to tip your own strands from raw hair will result in overly large tips with the hair disappearing into thin ends. Most people will cut the length to even the ends but this is a waste of good hair. If the hair is drawn correctly, the tip to the ends will be more uniform.

When our hair grows, there’s natural short layers mixed in with those longer strands. An 18″ ponytail won’t all be that length and you may be surprised by the actual quantity of hair that is exactly 18″. While it may be disheartening, that’s the nature of hair that has not been drawn.

We recently took apart an 18″ weft we received from an overseas vendor and created double drawn hair from it to see just how much 18″ hair there really was.

We ordered this hair as single drawn so we knew we’d find all different lengths. Because the hair was so thin at the ends, we also knew we’d find a lot of short hairs inside.

double drawn hair

As you can see, there is very little 18″ hair. There are nine different lengths making up this weft and the largest single length we discovered was only 9″ long.

Was this deceptive of this supplier? No. Considering this was sold as “Single Drawn Hair,” we received exactly what we paid for: 18″ will be the longest length with shorter layers included.

Knowledge (rather, correct knowledge) is a good thing in the hair extension industry. Knowing the true meaning of terms and how that translates into your received product is never a bad thing for the supplier or the buyer.

Loop Style Hair Extensions

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

This slick technique appeared through our Twitter feed tonight via JW Hair Design & Hair Extensions.

Loop Style Hair Extensions with I-tip strand hair. Thread the natural hair through the ring. Using the latchhook of your hair threader, hook the same hair strand again directly under the ring, bring it over the top of the ring and loop it back through the ring. Basically, you’re wrapping the natural hair around the ring and closing it off.

We’ll definitely be giving this technique a try! We can pretty much see the typical slipping associated with cold fusion installations being a thing of the past.

In this video, James Tse of Sets Salon shows us how it’s done.

Fusion U-Tip Making Pliers and Fusion Bond Maker

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Fusion Bond Maker Hair Extension Fusion Bonds

Fusion U-Tip Making Pliers and the Fusion Bond Maker have simplified making your own outstanding u-tip and square shape fusion bonds for strand by strand hair extensions. Check out the photo of the professional looking hair extension bonds you can make with these tools!

The strong composite plates delivers such a high PSI (pounds per square inch) when making bonds, they come out perfectly formed, amazingly thin and there has been no hair shedding with the tips we make.

Typically, when working with keratin-based fusion bonds, finger protectors are needed to minimize the discomfort of working with hot glue. You won’t need any finger protectors with these tools. They’re simply not necessary as you’ll never need to touch hot glue when making your bonds.

Here’s what we do – take a bulk hair strand and dip it into your fusion pot with the melted keratin chips or pellets. Coat both sides of the strand about 1/4″ down from the top. Wait a few seconds and then insert into the Fusion U-Tip Plier or Fusion Bond Maker tool. Press and wait about 5-10 seconds. Remove and presto! You’ve made your own strand fusion bond.

We also carry the Professional Fusion Removal Plier so you have the complete set!

Bleach Bath For Wigs, Hairpieces and Hair Extensions

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Occasionally wigs, hairpieces and hair extensions may start looking old, tired and even become a problem being manageable. This professional bleach bath will help restore hair by creating a high pH which causes the cuticles to flatten and become smooth.

Step by step professional detangling procedure:

1. Mix one gallon very hot water (it is important to use the hottest water from the tap) with 1/4 cup of Clorox bleach. Use plain Clorox bleach and not the scented one.

2. Completely submerge the hair into the water for approximately 2 or 3 minutes. Do not leave longer than 3 minutes. Small bubbles may appear during the process. Comb or brush very gently when submerged.

3. Remove hair and submerge in a basin of lukewarm water that has been premixed with a small amount of shampoo. Gently lift in and out for about 3 minutes. Brush or comb hair gently when submerged.

4. Remove and blot/squeeze dry with clean towel. Do not rub hair together.

5. Mix 1/4 cup of ammonia to 3 cups of warm water. Dip hair unit in and out twice.

6. Repeat step 3.

6. Apply conditioner, rinse and style.

Hair will be smooth, tangle free and look like new!

It is advisable to wear gloves and eye protection during the bleach bath. Do not mix bleach and ammonia together. These are off-scalp instructions and not to be followed while wearing your hairpiece or extensions.

Remove Bonding Tapes From Hair Extension Wefts Safely

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

Extended wear bonding tapes such as Protac, Supertape or True Blue are dream tapes for those wanting a long-lasting, secure install.

And then the inevitable time arrives we all must face: the removal.

Hair Extension tape removal

C22, Pure, Citru-Spice all do a remarkable job releasing bonding tapes. But here’s the thing – sometimes after removal, there’s blobs of adhesive tape or even the entire section of tape stuck to the wefts.

First, you pull at them, ripping the layers away from each other. You try soaking in every solution imaginable. You pick at it only to wind up with slime-covered fingers. You try vigorous scrubbing with toothbrushes and vegetable scrubbers. Problem is, you’re harming your wefts. In particular, you’re doing great damage to delicate hand-tied wefts where gentle care and maintenance is key to their long life. Do you have hair looping out the top of your hand-tied weft? Chances are you’re using bonding tape and tried any one of the damaging methods listed above to get your wefts clean.

Don’t do it.

Try this instead.

Gather the following items: Clothing iron, paper towels, hand towel.

Turn your iron on to high heat and do not use the steam feature. Lay your weft flat on the paper towel. Fold the top half of the paper towel over the weft. Place the hand towel over that and iron briefly. Remove the hand towel and then peel the paper towel off slowly. The adhesive tape will softly pull away from the hair weft and stick to the paper towel. Repeat as necessary and use a clean section of paper towel each time. Replace paper towel as needed.

Wash your wefts with gentle shampoo, condition below the weft line and allow to dry.

Wefts carry a residual sticky feel after removal with extended-wear bonding tapes. Once you commit your wefts to this type of install, those wefts should always be used for bonding tapes. The tack still remaining does not harm the weft. We’ve found it provides enhanced adhesion for the next tape install with added protection to the integrity of the weft to keep it in intact.

You can see a full photo version of this demo (and others) located in our Demo Gallery section.

We’d love to hear your feedback after trying this. And, as always, appreciate linking to our direct page when passing this info on to others.

Applying Hair Extensions With Bonding Tape

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Bonding tapes commonly used for hairpiece units and lacefront wigs have revolutionized hair extension installations for the DIY community. If you’re a professional hair technician working in a salon, you’ve discovered the quick and efficient way hair bonding tapes allow you to fit walk-in clients into your tight schedules.

Our Protac Bonding Tape Demo is online and easy to follow. You can apply the same techniques in our demo to any hairpiece bonding tape we carry.

Protac Demo

We carry a wide range of extended wear bonding tapes including Protac, Airflex, Supertape and also daily wear tapes and liquid adhesives such as Walker Ultra Hold and Davlyn Waterproof Adhesive

Have you made the switch? If hair bonding tapes have become your favorite installation method, tell us about it!