Arda Wigs: wefts + wig review (making synthetic hair extensions)
Hello all! Welcome back to my blog! Today I'm going to do a very indepth review of the long wefts from Arda Wigs, a quick review of the Derek wig from Arda AND I'm going to teach you how to make hair extensions out of Arda's wefts using just one pack! It's a lot, so this will be a long and picture heavy post, but we can get through it!
First things first, if this is your first time in The Forest, I'd like to welcome you to The Forest Family! To get updated on whenever I post new blogs, just follow me on Instagram! And you really should since there might be a giveaway coming up sometime soon!!
Onto The Review!
With Flash:
Without Flash:
Thank you to Himeleth for being the lovely model for these photos!
The wig is very thick and the back has some nice layering to it. It really looks great under flash, for comparison, here is one of my friend's real hair with and without flash:
The wig photographs very well, and with a bit of styling, will be perfect for a Hoshizora Rin cosplay. This wig is in the shade pumpkin and is made from the classic wefts.
Now to review the wefts!
To review these wefts, I will be comparing them to the infamous VPfashion hair extensions. If you follow any alternative beauty gurus, there's no doubt you've heard about VPfashion! They might be the most reviewed hair extension company on the market! No, I do not have a set from them (if I could afford one, I wouldn't be making extensions from Arda wefts now would I?) but I will be comparing the Arda wefts to the stats VPfashion has on their website.
One thing that definitely stuck out about Arda Wigs is that they do not list the weight of their wefts on the website. It's kinda weird, isn't it? In the description, it literally says they weight "a considerable amount"
I mean, that doesn't tell us much, does it? If you want to know how much the 36 inch wefts weigh, it's actually only 227 grams.
Yes, the scale was zeroed for the weight of the bowl. Also, for reference, the wefts are in the color bubblegum, the first photo was taken without flash, and the second photo had flash on. You're probably wondering why I would say "only" to a number like 227. Well, that's because these wefts are 36 inches long. Let's compare this to VPfashion's "normal" extensions. The 220g extensions are 22 inches long and the 24 inch long extensions are 260g. Now do you see why I say "only" 227g for a whopping 36 inches?
But to throw this more into perspective, I cut the Arda hair (while it was still bundled up) down to 22 inches and weighed them again. This time, they came out to be 160 grams.
How can this be? Simple. Arda Wigs' wefts are
so
very
thin.
I'm talking
Hella thin.
Honestly, if I had known these wefts only weighted 227g, I would have gotten 2 packs. I never thought I would say this, but I'm glad I have thin hair.
Maybe thin hair is good for wig making? I don't know, but I don't see why it would be. The perks is that Arda gives you 8 feet of weft to work with. But how many times can we overlap the wefts to make hair extensions? I'll go over this more in depth in Part 2, Making the Extensions, but let's do some quick math.
VPfashion sells their extensions like this: one eight inch weft, one 7 inch weft, two 6 inch wefts, and four 2 inch wefts. That's a total of 35 inches. There are 96 inches in 8 feet. That means you can almost triple each weft. Almost. If you follow my tutorial in Part 2, you'll end up making the thickest extensions possible!
Tutorial Time
The first thing you want to do is find a surface to work with. It may seem like a good idea to use a hardwood floor rather than carpet to prevent fuzzes from ending up in your hair, but it is worth noting that Arda coats their wigs in an oily substance that could lubricate your floors and make them very difficult to work on. Whichever surface you decided to use, be sure to give yourself enough space because you'll be working with 8 feet wide hair.
Now that you have your surface, you can go ahead spread the wefts out to cut. You need to cut three 8 inch pieces, three 7 inch pieces, six 6 inch pieces, and eight 2 inch pieces.
You might pause to do the math yourself (and if you didn't, don't worry, I did it for you) and realize that you need 97 inches for this to work. Don't worry about it. I did this and ended up with an extra inch to spare so just go for it!
I also recommend that you don't cut all the wefts at once. Cut all your 8 inch pieces, sew them together first, then cut your 7 inch pieces.
Sewing the wefts together can be done quickly on the sewing maching using a zig-zag stitch. I mean, you could do it by hand but like... why? If you choose to use the machine, it's a good idea to sew 2 wefts together then add the third one. Sewing all three at once can be very difficult. Here's what it looks like to have a finished weft with 3 layers of hair stacked on top of each other.
Yes it still does look rather thin, but it works fine when added to more layers of hair.
The last step is to sew in wig clips. This is something that must be done by hand. I didn't find a real reliable method to sewing in the clips. Just take your needle and some thread and loop that mofo as many times as you want to make sure that clip isn't going anywhere.
In the end, you should have a really thick head of hair. I ended up having a friend cut mine to my shoulders to avoid tangling. Here's a picture from the back to show how full it is.
This was taken at the end of the day and I apparently could not have been bothered to brush my hair out first.
Review of Arda Wefts as Extentions
Overall, these are not too bad for the price. The great thing about using Arda is the wide range of colors, but it is a lot of work. When I add in the price of wig clips, it ended up being $25. If you don't have a needle and thread on hand, it could run you more. But for custom color extensions, which normally have to be a 613A blonde human hair that you have to dye yourself, you're definitely saving well over $100.
Would I do this again?
Nope.
It's just too much work. Also, I don't have silky straight hair. When I flat iron my natural hair, the best I can get is kinky straight, so it looks kinda odd with silk straight wefts, but if you have type 1 or 2 hair, this shouldn't be an issue for you. It doesn't look "fake" though. Arda does a good job with color variation in the fibers of their wefts so you don't have to worry about the fibers looking synthetic rather than human. The only thing that can make the hair come across as "fake" is the fact that they can look blocky at times. This can easily be solved with some brushing (that I clearly am apposed to).
I think going into the future, I'm just going to buy kinky-straight clip ins and bleach and dye them myself. That's right, I'm biting the bullet and buying human hair. It won't be a until while from now, but who knows, maybe I'll make another tutorial once I do!
Thank you for sticking through till the end of this blog! If you're reading this you're the best!
I hope you have fun experimenting with Arda's wefts!
Much love~! <3
