What Is Sew In Hair Weave?
(and other hair weave questions)
"What is sew in hair weave?"
Sew in hair weave is a type of hair weave that is attached to the wearer's head by means of sewing. Sometimes the weave is sewn into canerows (cornrows) on the wearers head, other times the hair weave is sewn onto a net (that has already been sewn onto the cornrows (canerows) on the wearer's head.
Sew-in hair weaves can either be hand tied or machine tied.
In the machine tying process, strands of hair often known as loose hair or bulk hair are fed through a sewing machine to create a reinforced stitch (a bit like very thin shoe lace) at the top of the hair.
The hair is then folded over and stitched again to create the final wefted hair extensions which look like a curtain of hair.
The terms weave and weft relate to the fact that hair has been joined by weaving thread to tie the hairs together to make a (flat not bunched) continuous piece of hair extensions.
"Is sew in hair weave different to other types of hair weaves?"
Um... this seems like one of those questions, where it looks like you could be asking at least two things...so we'll be troopers and answer both questions firstly whether there are different types of hair weaves and secondly the different types of attachment for hair weave.
Types of hair weave
There aren't different types of hair weave per se as hair weave is simply hair that's been woven together at the top, but there are different types of hair extensions or to put it another way:
All hair weaves are hair extensions,
But;
Not all hair extensions are hair weaves.
Skin wefts or tape-in hair extensions can sometimes creep their way into the hair weave squad but technically speaking, they shouldn't be considered hair weave, as the hair is not held together with thread but with tape.
A very thin layer of hair is attached to tape at the top of tape-in hair extensions...
... and to add confusion to things, these tape-in hair extensions are commonly called skin-wefts or tape-wefts despite there not being a single piece of (weft) thread in sight!.
Now that confusion has been cleared up, time to outline...
Types of attachment for hair weave
Hair weave can either be sewn into your hair or glued onto your hair.
The good news is that this means that the hair weave that you sew into your hair, is the same hair weave that you use bond to your hair with glue...
So you can buy one type of weave hair extensions and try each method to see what suits your needs best.
This leads quite nicely to another common question...
"Can sew in hair weave be glued instead of sewn?"
Yeppers. As mentioned above, hair weave is just hair weave which can be sewn into your hair.
Sewing hair weave into your own hair provides a longer lasting attachment than bonding glue.
If done correctly sew-in hair weave shouldn't cause any damage to your own growth hair.
The image here looks as though the netting has been attached very tightly to the canerows (cornrows) which is never a good thing.
There should always be enough ease so that you can move your head in all directions without any over-tightness and your head should not hurt or ache from the tracks being sewn too tight.
Tight tracks can weaken hair follicles and cause tension hair loss, especially at the hairline.
Image source:
http://community.blackhairinformation.com/hairstyle-gallery/weaves-extensions/this-kstyles/ - click to enlarge.
If you're choosing to use bonding glue to attach your hair weave then you might want to consider whether you'd prefer single tied wefts or double tied wefts.
Single tied wefts typically have less hair than double tied wefts - this has the advantage of there being less pull on your own growth hair and creating less bulk especially near the crown of your head.
Double tied wefts typically have more hair than single tied wefts - this has the advantage of creating a fuller look, but sometimes double tied wefts may also contribute to the hair weaves appearing as bulky around the crown of the head.
If you're super keen to find out the basic steps in the process of using bonding glue with hair weaves, then you're in luck as there's an article outlining the process of using bonding glue to attach hair weave - hooray!
"Is there synthetic sew in hair weave?"
The general rule of thumb when it comes to wigs, hairpieces and hair extensions (hair weave is under the umbrella of hair extensions by the way) is that if it comes in a human hair version, there will absolutely be a synthetic hair version.
That synthetic version, may not be heat resistant, but it will defo be synthetic and more affordable than its human hair counterpart.
Synthetic hair weaves work in the exact same manner as human hair weaves but they're rarely manufactured through hand tying - synthetic weave hair is almost exclusively machine tied.
Okeydokey, that's your lot for now, but there are more answers to your hair weave questions for you to peruse if that's what suits and if you want to be the first to know about our next hair weave guide or anything else to do with lace wigs, hair extensions or hairpieces, then why not join our blog, it's easy to do and doesn't require an email address.
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