Mike James, co-owner of Bella Jolie, a hair company based in Houston, understands the reason these “bundles” are flying off the shelves. “For some reason, women love a new bundle. Like men love Air Jordan’s, women love their bundles.” James, a savvy businessman who assists his wife in running the company, is very particular about their hair, which is the highest quality of straight, curly and wavy Remy hair.
James gave us a detailed explanation of the difference between Indian and Brazilian hair.
“Indian hair is unprocessed hair. It’s coming from an Indian woman’s head,” James said. “The problem is, people don’t understand [that] Indian women may be the only women cutting their hair off. All of the rest of the hair from Brazilian to the Cambodian to the Peruvian, it’s processed hair. So now it’s taking Indian hair and processing it and giving it that texture.”
He added that the trickery of some companies, such as adding synthetics, lowers the prices because of the demand in the streets. “You always have to think about where the hair is coming from. I want the highest quality of processed hair,” James said.
With respect to the Hindu religion, where women cut off their hair as a sacrifice to Vishnu, this even holds value in India in the temples where hair is sold. James upholds that the hair he sells, unlike a lot of companies, is actually imported from India. When it comes to selecting the best quality, he takes pride in personally handpicking the hair himself. His protocol includes examination of the weft, making sure the strands have uniformity and that they are coming from one head and not multiple sources. “I don’t want scraps from the ground that are wefted together, then processed and given to me,” he said.
Many cosmetologists have stated that Brazilian, Malaysian and other textures of bundles are really not from the sources businesses claim but are truly Indian hair or even synthetic blends.
Ladies, make smart choices when buying your bundles. Which is your preference? Will this information change your purchasing decisions?
Contributing writer, Dione Davis
