Sourcing wigs and hair extensions from China

Hair is one of the highest-margin, highest-velocity categories a Nigerian fashion trader can carry, and China is a major supplier. Factories clustered in Xuchang and Guangzhou turn out wigs, bundles, closures, frontals and clip-ins across every price point, from budget synthetic pieces to premium human hair. The category rewards buyers who understand exactly what they are buying, because the gap between a happy repeat customer and a refund is entirely about quality, and quality in hair is easy to fake on a listing photo.

Human hair versus synthetic

The first and biggest decision is the fibre:

• Human hair. Real hair, often sourced from several countries and processed in China. It can be heat-styled, dyed within reason, and lasts far longer with care. It costs more and varies in grade.
• Synthetic. Man-made fibre, much cheaper and consistent in look, but it cannot take heat the same way and has a shorter life. Fine for a budget customer who wants a look for a season.

Neither is wrong; they serve different customers and price points. The danger is paying a human-hair price for synthetic, or for a blend passed off as pure. Confirm the fibre in writing and test it (see below).

Grades, textures and terms

Hair sellers use a vocabulary you need to speak fluently:

• Virgin and Remy. "Virgin" means unprocessed hair; "Remy" means the cuticles run in one direction, which reduces tangling. Both are quality signals, both are sometimes overstated.
• Grade labels. You will see "12A", "10A" and similar. These grades are marketing terms set by sellers, not an industry standard, so treat them as a rough guide and judge the actual hair.
• Texture. Straight, body wave, deep wave, kinky curly and more. Match texture to what your customers ask for.
• Colour. Natural shades plus popular colours like 613 blonde. Pre-coloured hair saves your customer a salon step.
• Construction. Bundles (wefts), closures and frontals (13x4 and 13x6 lace), and ready-to-wear lace-front and glueless wigs.

A quality checklist for hair

Before you commit to quantity, test a sample hard:

1. Wet and dry it. Quality human hair dries smooth; heavy shedding or matting is a bad sign.
2. Heat test a strand. Real human hair singes and smells like burnt hair; synthetic melts into a bead and smells like plastic. This is the simplest fibre test there is.
3. Check the wefts. Tight, even machine wefts shed less. Tug gently and watch for loose hairs.
4. Confirm length and weight. Hair is sold by length and gram weight; under-weight bundles are a common short-change.
5. Comb for shedding and tangling. A little shedding is normal; handfuls are not.

In hair, the burn test settles most arguments. Real hair smells like hair; synthetic smells like plastic. Test before you trust the listing.

Finding and vetting suppliers

Hair is a category with many resellers posing as factories, so vetting matters. Run any new supplier through the discipline in how to vet a 1688 supplier: ask for real photos and video of your specific order, start with a small test order, and judge the hair in hand before scaling. For bulk, a pre-shipment inspection can verify weight, length and weft quality against your approved sample.

Minimums and reorders

Many hair suppliers take small orders, which makes the category friendly to traders starting out, but the best per-unit prices come at volume. Hair also spikes hard around festivities and the wedding season, so plan reorders against demand and around the Chinese New Year shutdown, when factories pause.

Settling the payment

Hair suppliers are paid in RMB on Alipay. A trade-facilitation service settles your payment from Naira at a rate locked when you confirm, with a receipt, so a test order and a bulk reorder are each cleanly recorded.

So choose the fibre deliberately, learn the vocabulary, burn-test before you trust, vet the supplier and start small. When a payment is due you can make a request to pay on Alipay from Naira. Treat quality as the whole game and hair becomes one of the most profitable lines you run.