Origin & Quality
Indian Gold's Hair Extensions are of the highest quality 100% human "Virgin" hair, sourced from India. China and India are the largest hair suppliers in the world.
The hair from India is primarily donated in the Hindu temple Tirumala located next to the city of Tirupatie, in southern India.
The "raw hair" as we call it, is offered by pilgrims from all over the world as part of their religion. Before prayers may be offered to the god Venkateswara at the most sacred place in the temples, the pilgrims’ hair is shaved off also known as tonsuring.
For the Pilgrims, shaving off the hair is part of a religious ritual, making them clean and blessed. By shaving off the hair they show their gratitude for life. Many pilgrims know that their hair is collected and sold and that the temple gets money for this. The pilgrims nevertheless accept this practice and do not consider it an issue because the temple spends the money on good purposes. For example, the temple gives free shelter and food to the pilgrims and they own hospitals and schools that the pilgrims can use for free.
What makes Indian Gold so special?
Indian hair is used by many brands, but what makes our Extensions so special is the way the hair is processed while maintaining the natural cuticle. We often refer to it as is the magic signature on our products whereby the recipe to create this magic is our best kept secret.
The Hair Coloring Process
The hairs are naturally decolorized by a proprietary patented system, without the use of harmful chemicals. The lighter shades are carefully and gently stripped of their dark color for 3 to 6 weeks. This allows the hair to retain its natural strength and vitality without damaging the cortex of the hair. The addition of silicones is therefore unnecessary, and they are not used during the processing of our extensions.
Shaping
The shaping of the hair is also done in a very gentle way without adding harmful chemicals. Indian hair naturally has a beautiful full wave in the ends. To make the hair curlier or on the contrary smoother, Indian Gold uses its own steam methods. Our technique ensures that the hair is brought into different textures without any harmful permanent liquid.
Why would you prefer silicone free products?
Silicones are not necessarily "bad", it's just that the hair loses its natural look, shine and texture. Extensions are generally not used to show that you have given Mother Nature a helping hand. If you want to extend or fill your hair as naturally as possible, the intent is to make it as invisible as possible. Silicones make the hair look unnaturally shiny, a shine that we would all like in our own hair but also a shine which unfortunately does not last. If your own hair has just been styled, curled or beautifully blow-dried then it shines and you don't see any frizz. A few hours later - let's not sugarcoat it - that beautiful look is literally and figuratively becoming dull, annoying but not yet a disaster because that’s the way hair life goes. But if your filled and/or extended hair suddenly shines in a different texture and starts dangling underneath, the sagging hair is a little less attractive. If you have extensions in your hair that have a natural look and fit flawlessly with your own glorious locks, no one will be able to tell at first glance that you have given Mother Nature a helping hand.
So why are silicones used in the first place?
It is important to get an answer to this question so that you can understand why it is applied by many brands. Extensions are a hit, and this trend has only increased in recent years. There is a lot of demand for hair extensions which has led to fast mass production, as this is cheaper and manufacturers can quickly serve their buyers. However, this does not benefit the quality of the products. Especially since you are dealing with a natural product. Where Indian Gold decolorizes the hair over a period of 3 to 6 weeks, large factories do this in a few hours and the "better ones" in up to 2 days. Applying such the-quicker-the-better practices makes it impossible to preserve the natural cuticle because it melts away. If you would put these processed hairs under a microscope you would see only a hollow tube that looks nothing like a real hair. In a next phase, a color is applied with a layer of silicone to hold it all together. Those silicones give the soft effect and shine. But what if you wash it? The silicone gradually wears away… little by little, was after wash, leaving a hollow worn tube in a fairly short time that cannot hold the color applied. These Extensions cannot be colored by the customer or hairdresser because you actually color the silicone layer and not the hair.