So as you all know Saturday (July 1st) we were all set for a VIP tour of Extensions Plus, and to meet the famous Sonia C.. Ladies… Sonia C is a true Latina diva!!!!.. Sweet as pie, FULL of energy, and ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!! She was gracious and patient with us and our UN-ENDING questions.. She is wearing a full sew-in, that is ON POINT and she had NO PROBLEM letting us see how her hair was installed.. Marlene is a SWEET HEART ya’ll, and OMG her hair is the BOMB.. You would NEVER know it was a wig, and she wears it by braiding her hair in tracks and sewing it down.. Sonia’s sister Claudia has BEAUTIFUL thick hair, but she wants to go longer, so she is getting Mark Barrington Shrinklinks installed next week.. So yes ladies… almost all of the sales staff is either wearing extensions/wigs or getting ready to get MORE extensions/wigs..

Helene (the owner) is a former hairstylist, and is a VERY astute lady who really knows hair.. I gotta admit, I find it simply FACINATING how much she knows about black hair.. There are so many Caucasian stylists who do not understand the nature of black hair, but Helene KNOWS hair.. And when I say hair, I mean ALL hair.. Asian, Caucasian, African American, Latino, etc… She keeps her staff sharp and educated.. Extensions Plus conducts classes and training seminars to keep the sales ladies up on all that is new and exciting with their product and hair in general.. So now you know that while Sonia C is the BEST, ALL of their sales staff KNOW hair, and ANYONE you speak to will deliver the same personable and knowledgeable customer service..

Now it was mentioned long ago that Extensions Plus hair is made in China. This is PARTIALLY true. Helene does have a partner who is based in China, and Extensions Plus does have a manufacturing operation there. Most (not all) of the ready made products are wefted and packaged in the Extensions Plus China plant. However, because Helene is a stickler for quality, the staff in China and here in Reseda receive regular cross training sessions. This ensures that the hair coming from the China plant and the Reseda plants maintain a consistent level of quality. All custom hair products (wefted, bulk, wigs) are manufactured in the Reseda plant. The obvious reason for the split manufacturing operation is cost (labor is cheaper in China), the second is logistics.. It makes more sense to process custom orders locally where the sales staff (who takes the orders) is located.

Extensions Plus has quite an operation ya’ll.. I’ve lived in Reseda for over 10 years, and NEVER realized they own almost ALL of the plaza they are located in.. From the outside, the business is VERY low key looking.. You would NEVER guess that this is a million dollar business from the street or even if you just stopped in.. It isn’t until you see the ENTIRE operation that you get a true appreciation for the hair (and the cost..) The process is quite labor intensive. Now I have to start with this.. We were not allowed to take pictures of anything past the front counter at the owner’s request.. (I tried ladies!!)

We saw the hair room where workers hackle the hair to blend colors, remove the short hairs and prepare the hair for the “pre-wefting”. The hair is roughly tacked together so that it can be processed for its final texture/color before being wefted. It is very cool watching the hackling and separating process in action.

The hair room is also where the color processing and perming of the hair takes place. They have RACKS of rods or all shapes and sizes that are used to give the hair the various curl patterns and textures. While we were not given the exact process used, the hair is colored using fabric dyes to achieve the various colors. (Yep we saw the TUBS of Rit dye) Most curly custom hair is permed before it’s wefted.. The wefting machines and tables are also in the hair room. Unfortunately as most of the staff is off on Saturday, we did not get to see the hair being wefted. I should mention Extensions Plus has a VERY low employee turnover rate.. Many employees have been with the company over 6 years, with many more who have been there 15+ years…

We also got to see the custom wigs in process in the hair room. For those of you who watched the BET awards, quite a few of the heads you saw were rockin’ EP hair or wigs. They are very modest about dropping celebrity names, but Malibu spotted a pic of a lacefront wig Extensions Plus made for Mary J Blige. We asked about Tyra Banks’ wigs and were informed that she gets bulk hair from Extensions Plus, but she has her own wigmaker.. Custom wigs are made in the Reseda plant, stock wigs are manufactured in the China plant. I do not know what custom wigs go for, but stock wigs range from $1000 - $2000. But ladies these wigs are the damn TRUTH.. They are AMAZING when you put it on..

Next Sonia took us to the room where the bulk hair arrives. The ladies here go through the tedious process if removing nit shells, detangling, shampooing, conditioning, and prepping the hair for color/texture processing. The majority of their hair comes from Indian, but they also source hair from Europe. They do NOT use Chinese hair at all. We got to see (and touch) the raw hair in the bins as it was waiting to be prepped. It is amazing the amount of work the prep staff goes through to get this hair ready, and this is ONLY the first step. We were then taken to the sealing room.. This is the room where two ladies do nothing all day but apply the Extensions Plus weft sealant (AKA Fray Spray) to several KILOS of hand tied and zigzag wefted hair.. (So yes EVEN Extensions Plus seals their OWN high quality hair to prevent shedding)

I always thought Extensions Plus hair was the bomb diggety, but after seeing HOW the hair is processed and packaged, I now understand WHY it costs so much.. It’s not just the labor, but the quality and durability that you are paying for with this hair. Extensions Plus will stay on my list of hair vendors that I will ALWAYS buy from.