I am certain you have wondered what the fact is about the prices of wigs made from European human hair. From shop to shop you will discover a great variation in prices - anywhere from 300 USD to as high as 10.000 USD (!). So allow me take you through every step of the process of producing high quality handmade wigs, and show the exact costs.
Firstly, take the acquisition of hair. The charge of hair for one wig (0,2 to 0,4 kg) varies from 30 to 40 USD throughout mainly Eastern European countries. There is short variation there, but an principal additional fee is incurred by high-quality wig-makers who collect hair in an appropriate and really-controlled method. The top wig-makers visit hairdressers and care for the hair themselves, using no middleman. They do not buy hair from wholesalers because wholesalers blend hair, because it is so period-consuming to get well excellent hair. One simply has to find a girl among hairdresser’s clients that has beautiful, vigorous hair and who wishes it cut. The hairdresser be able to offer a free service to such a girl and really pay her for her hair - and clearly both sides profit from such a transaction. But this shows that, by its very nature, acquisition of fine-quality hair cannot be a easy large-scale automatic procedure. That explains why outside of Eastern Europe the charge of acquiring excellent quality hair is skyrocketing - not because the hair in itself is expensive, but because of its rarity. It is hard to imagine a huge-scale cheap method of acquiring high quality human hair in European countries.
Second, take the other materials used in making wigs. These are not expensive and their costs do not exceed 50 USD for a typical wig. These are the materials used to produce a cap. More and more wig-makers are now buying arranged-made caps, so called “monofilament”, which are gaining reputation and their price is not very high.
Third, take the labor involved in making high quality handmade wigs. This is the main cost factor. Handmade wig wants at least a week to be created by an knowledgeable knowledgeable worker. It takes a week of not easy work, with every hair being knitted to the cap with a very little crochet-needle otherwise glued with a special glue. In the example of long hair, the production time could be two to three weeks. Reliable wig-makers knit hair with a double-knot which makes the construction much more durable but needs several extra work-period. Depending on the type of wig, length of hair and type of cap the cost of labor is from 150 to 300 USD.
Lastly, you cannot forget other typical manufacturing costs - investment’s amortization, management costs, taxes, insurances, rent, and profit. Altogether, the cost of a handmade human hair wig made from European hair cannot be lower than 500-600 USD even for the shortest hair. There is no upper limit and it just depends on how much a client is willing to pay, but previous to you pay 1000 USD otherwise more for your wig remember the true costs of its creation.
And now for a true mystery. Why are European human hair wigs not made in China where labor costs are much lower than in Poland, Russia, or else the Czech Republic? The main reason is no fine quality European human hair available in huge plenty quantities to make profitable great-scale production in China achievable. This is because wig-makers in Eastern European countries are buying everything of the available hair for their own production. Surprising? - but that is how it is. And that is why most of wigs produced in China are made of Asian hair or else blended hair widely available on a wholesale market.
