Hair Grades Explained: What 8A, Virgin, Raw and Remy Really Mean

Shopping for human hair can feel like learning a new language. 8A, 10A, virgin, raw, Remy, 150% density... What do they actually mean, and which ones matter? Here's a plain-English guide, including a few things most sellers won't tell you.

Raw, virgin, Remy and non-Remy

These words describe where the hair came from and how it was treated. The most important idea is the cuticle: the thin outer layer of each hair. When the cuticles are kept and all run in the same direction, from root to tip, the hair stays smooth and tangles less.

• Raw hair: collected from a single donor and left unprocessed, with the cuticles intact and aligned. It has natural texture and slight natural color variation. It usually costs the most and lasts the longest, often two years or more with good care. It can be colored by a professional.
• Virgin hair: hair that has never been chemically processed (no dye, perm or relaxer), with cuticles intact and aligned. It may come from more than one donor. With good care it usually lasts one to two years.
• Remy hair: hair with the cuticles kept and aligned, but it may have been lightly processed, for example steamed into a wave pattern or dyed. All virgin hair is Remy, but not all Remy hair is virgin. It usually lasts around a year.
• Non-Remy hair: hair where the cuticles have been stripped off or run in mixed directions. It's often coated in silicone so it feels silky in the pack, but once that washes out it can tangle and mat. It's the cheapest and has the shortest life.

What do 7A, 8A, 9A and 10A mean?

Here's the honest answer: there is no official grading system. These numbers were created by hair manufacturers as a way to market quality, and every factory uses them a little differently. One supplier's 8A can be the same as another's 10A, and the numbers keep going up over time.

So use the grade as a rough guide only. These tell you much more about the hair:

• Is it raw, virgin or Remy?
• Are the cuticles intact and aligned?
• Can it be colored, and how light? (For example, "can be lifted to a #27" means it can be lightened to a honey blonde.)
• What do real reviews and photos say about shedding and tangling after a few washes?

Density: 130%, 150% or 180%?

Density is how much hair is on the wig. Higher density means fuller hair, but also a heavier wig.

• 130%: light and natural, close to most people's own hair. Great for an everyday, "is that her real hair?" look, and the most comfortable for long days.
• 150%: medium fullness. The most popular choice, with a little extra volume that still looks natural.
• 180% and up: full and glamorous, with lots of body. Best for long lengths and big curls or waves, where the hair needs more fullness so the ends don't look thin.

Tip: longer wigs look thinner at the ends, so if you're going 22 inches or longer, consider a higher density.

A few more words you'll see

• Single drawn vs double drawn: double drawn hair has more of the short hairs taken out, so the ends are thicker and fuller. It costs more.
• Natural 1B: natural black, a soft off-black that matches most people's natural hair color.
• #613: the lightest blonde, used as a base for bright colors.
• HD lace vs transparent lace: both are thin and light. HD lace is usually the finest and melts into the skin most easily.

How to tell if hair is real human hair

• Feel and shine: human hair has a soft, natural shine, not a plastic-looking gloss.
• Heat test: human hair can be styled with low heat. Regular synthetic hair melts or frizzes.
• Burn test (on one or two loose strands only): human hair burns slowly, smells like burnt hair, and turns to a fine ash. Synthetic hair melts into hard, sticky beads and smells like plastic.

What we carry

• Our "Raw" glueless wigs, like the Raw Cora Glueless 5x5 HD Closure Wig: made with 100% raw human hair and professionally colored.
• Glueless Body Wave 5x5 HD Lace Closure Wig: 100% virgin human hair.
• Headband wigs and bundles: human hair in natural 1B. Each product page lists the hair type, density and lengths.

Whatever you buy, care makes the biggest difference to how long it lasts. Read how to clean your wig and how to heat style it safely.