Full cuticle hair extensions are a premium type of hair extension describing the preservation focused processing method. The processing method is meticulous, labor-intensive, and prioritizes maintaining the raw hair’s natural structure from the moment of collection (the most important step).
Full Cuticle Hair Extensions & The “Remy” Connection
To be classified as “full cuticle,” the raw hair must be collected as “Remy” hair. The term “Remy” originates from the French verb remettre, or “to put back.” In traditional wig-making, remettre described the painstakingly detailed process of “putting back” each strand of hair in its natural root-to-tip direction to keep the cuticles perfectly aligned. This language “remettre” evolved into the adjective “Remy,” which is now used to identify any high-quality hair that has been collected and processed to maintain it’s natural one direction cuticle alignment.
The hair is gathered from a single donor however before being cut it’s carefully brushed and tied tightly into a ponytail or braid. The cut is then made above the tie, ensuring that every single strand of hair in that bundle is perfectly aligned in the same one direction— root to tip.
Once the ponytail or braid is collected, it is never tossed into a pile of collected hair. The bundle is carefully kept with its root end and tip in the one direction cuticle alignment and workers handle the hair in such a way to ensure this alignment is never lost. The hair is then drawn through a “hackle,” which is a bed of sharp needles that acts like a very fine comb. This ancient textile tool has been around for centuries and its principle—using a bed of needles to detangle, clean, and align fibers—is perfectly suited for preparing human hair. The hackle process gently removes any short or tangled strands and ensures every remaining hair is perfectly straight and aligned within the bundle, without scraping or damaging the cuticles.
“Full cuticle” hair then undergoes a gentle cleansing process with pH-balanced formulas to clean it without stripping the cuticle layer and usually deep-conditioned to nourish the hair and keep the cuticles smooth and healthy.
If the hair needs to be colored, extreme care is applied with the hair placed in a lukewarm coloring solution for an extended period, sometimes for days or weeks. This slow process allows the color to penetrate the hair shaft without using harsh chemicals like ammonia or bleach that would damage the cuticle.
The final step involves preparing the hair for its use as extensions and creating wefts, I-tips, or tape-ins. The hair is sewn onto wefts or bonded at the root end, preserving the natural, unidirectional flow of the cuticles. Throughout this entire process, the one directional root-to-tip alignment is painstakingly maintained. At no point in the processing method for “full cuticle” hair is it exposed to harsh chemicals, high heat, or anything that would strip or misalign the hair’s natural cuticle layer.