What are your Keratin Hair Fibres actually made from?

There are dozens of Hair Building Fibres on the market today, and almost all of them will advertise themselves are manufactured from 100% natural keratin. But what does that mean they are actually made from?

To start with let's expand on what Keratin is. Keratin is actually a fibrous protein structure, that is used in humans to grow hair, nails and the outer layer of skin. In other species keratin is used to grow horns, claws, feathers and hooves. So Keratin is an extremely tough, water insoluble type of protein but comes in many shapes and sizes. The keratin used to make the horns on a male deer couldn't be used to make Keratin hair fibres! So where does the keratin come from?

Keratin Hair Fibres tend to come from 3 sources - wool, cotton or other plant derivatives. Different types of keratin which are each going to behave and look slightly different to your own hair. Which of these will produce the best hair fibre? The most expensive brands tend to use wool to create their hair fibres. The keratin make up of wool is the closest match to human hair, and wool is easy to dye to match our varying hair colours. Both Toppik and Nanogen brands use wool to create their hair fibres and are widely seen to be at the top of product quality tree. 

Cheaper brands will use cotton to make their hair fibres. Again, like wool, cotton is easy to dye into human hair colours. However the feel and look of cotton is not as close a match to that of human hair. What cotton fibres tend to do as well is clump together, creating an unnatural look. 

The basis for Keratin Hair Fibres is that your own hair has a natural electrostatic charge to it due to the pH of it. While this electrostatic charge is weak, by giving the keratin hair fibres the opposite charge during their production it will allow the fibres to stick to the entire length of the hair. This creates a more natural thicker look to your hair. When the fibres clump together it means that they aren't carrying the electrostatic charge needed. If they were charged, they would try to repel each other rather than stick together.

While cotton hair fibres will still work to some extent to conceal your hair loss, if you want the best results wool based Hair Building Fibres are the superior option in our opinion.