Double drawn hair: what it is, raw hair and SA prices

Single drawn, double drawn, bone straight or raw?

Single drawn

Less short hair is sorted out by hand, so the ends taper. Anka Hair says about 30 percent long hair, Belacio 40 to 50 percent. Remore Hair sells single drawn straight bundles from 18 to 30 inches at R1,056 to R1,966.

Ends: a natural taper, say sellers

Double drawn

More short strands are taken out by hand. Shara Hair says 85 percent of the strands are the same length, Anka Hair says 60 to 70 percent and Belacio 85 to 90 percent. Hair Majesty says all the hair is the same length from root to tip.

Ends: fuller and more even, say sellers

Bone straight

A texture, not a drawn type. In our price check every bone straight bundle was also sold as double drawn or super double drawn, at The Hair Trader, Silky Hair and Universal Dealers.

Ends: a smooth, full finish, say sellers

Raw

Sellers define raw as unprocessed hair from one donor. Shara Hair sells raw bundles as double drawn, super double drawn or raw baby thin, from R1,250 a bundle, on a 3 week lead time.

Ends: depends on how it was sorted

How to test real hair

1

Burn test

Hold two or three loose strands in tweezers over a heat-safe dish, outside, never the weft. Sellers say human hair burns slowly with a burnt hair smell and leaves crushable ash, and synthetic melts into a bead. It shows human or synthetic only, not whether hair is raw, remy or really double drawn.

2

Bleach test

Raw and virgin hair is often bought to be coloured. Test one hidden strand, gloves on, checking every 5 to 10 minutes, and stop if it turns brittle. Hair Majesty says raw hair can be dyed to any colour including 613, and virgin hair to colour 27.

3

Feel

Real human hair should feel soft and smooth with natural movement, say sellers. For double drawn hair, run your hand from the top to the ends. Shara Hair says the strands do not thin out, so the ends should feel as full as the top.

4

Shedding

Run your fingers through the bundle. Losing one or two strands is normal, say sellers, and handfuls or loose weft stitching are a red flag. Heavy shedding can also mean a lot of short hair that was not sorted out.

5

Smell

A new bundle may smell of processing or packaging, which does not necessarily mean a fault, and a rinse often helps. A burnt plastic smell in the burn test does. If a strong smell stays, raise it with the store.

Raw, virgin, remy or non-remy?

Double drawn and raw hair in South Africa, explained

What double drawn hair is

Double drawn hair is human hair that sellers say has had more of its short strands sorted out by hand, so that more of the strands in a bundle run the full length. Shara Hair, an SA seller, says double drawn extensions have 85 percent of the strands the same length, so they are thicker and have more volume because the strands do not thin out. Hair Majesty says the hair in its double drawn collection is all the same length from root to tip, for the best possible density.

The term has no fixed number behind it. Anka Hair says single drawn hair has about 30 percent long hair, double drawn 60 to 70 percent and super double drawn 80 to 90 percent. Belacio says single drawn has 40 to 50 percent full length strands and double drawn 85 to 90 percent. Shara Hair says 85 percent for double drawn and 85 to 90 percent for super double drawn. Volure Hair claims 80 to 90 percent of the hair in an ordinary Peruvian straight bundle is the advertised length, with no drawn label at all. A drawn label is a promise about sorting, and the share is the seller's to define.

So when you shop for a double drawn weave, ask what share of the strands are full length and how it is measured. Shara Hair says you will probably need fewer double drawn bundles than single drawn for a full head, but gives no number, and Volure Hair's rule of two, three or four 100 g bundles by length is for its standard bundles.

What double drawn hair costs

On 6 Oct 2026 a double drawn bundle that was not super double drawn cost R400 to R2,640, and a super double drawn bundle cost R260 to R4,200, at five SA stores: Remore Hair, Shara Hair, Silky Hair, The Hair Trader and Universal Dealers. At 20 inches the double drawn bundles were R1,269 to R1,782 and the super double drawn ones R930 to R2,500.

The sorting label does not rank the price. Silky Hair's 20 inch super double drawn natural black bundle was R930, below Remore Hair's double drawn at R1,782, while The Hair Trader's super double drawn 20 inch was R2,500. The Hair Trader's 8 to 18 inch bundles were half price on the day against a crossed-out price, so its figures jump at 20 inches. Silky Hair's natural black bundle starts at R260 at 8 inches, which is why the super double drawn column starts so low.

One store lets you compare the labels directly. Remore Hair sells single drawn straight bundles from 18 to 30 inches at R1,056 to R1,966, and double drawn straight bundles from 22 to 30 inches. At the same lengths the double drawn bundle cost between R124 and R222 more. Whether that buys more full length hair is for the seller to show, since its pages gave no share or weight.

Raw hair, and what it costs

Hair Majesty defines raw hair as hair that has not undergone any processing or treatments, collected from a single donor with the cuticles intact and aligned. It says raw hair is extremely expensive and rarely sold in South Africa, and gives it a lifespan of more than 2 years. These are seller statements, and a bundle cannot prove a single donor.

Shara Hair is the one store in our check that sold raw bundles. Its raw per bundle listing comes in three types, double drawn, super double drawn and raw baby thin, on a 3 week lead time. On 6 Oct 2026 the double drawn type was R1,250 to R4,700, super double drawn R1,850 to R5,400 and raw baby thin R1,500 to R4,550, from 8 inches up to 32 for the first two. The page did not say what raw baby thin means or what a bundle weighs.

Compare that with Shara Hair's ordinary double drawn bundle. At 10 inches it was R660 against R1,350 for the raw double drawn type, at 20 inches R1,650 against R3,350, and at 28 inches R2,640 against R4,400. That is about double at the short and middle lengths, and two thirds more at 28 inches. Shara Hair's raw wigs and units are a separate product and priced far higher, so do not mix them up with the per bundle listing.

Virgin, remy and non-remy

Virgin hair, according to Hair Majesty, has not been processed or chemically treated in any way, with intact aligned cuticles, but it does not have to come from one donor. Remy hair has intact cuticles aligned in one direction and may have been dyed or permed. In its words all virgin hair is remy hair, but not all remy hair is virgin. Non-remy hair has had the cuticles removed with chemicals or has cuticles that are not aligned, which raises the risk of tangling.

Most SA stores in our check use virgin as a label. Remore Hair lists its Vietnam bundles as 100% virgin hair, and The Hair Trader calls its bundles virgin Vietnamese. Treat these as claims. A hair extension company chief executive quoted by the ABC said you would need a scanning electron microscope to know whether hair is remy, and another source said that many bundles sold as virgin remy are really a mix of hair from salon floors or drains with synthetic and other non-human fibres.

Indian hair, Malaysian hair and Exclusive Virgin Hair

Indian hair is sold as bundles at Volure Hair only in our data, in deep wave, natural wave and deep curl at R900 to R3,100 from 10 to 26 inches. Volure Hair says its Indian hair comes from India, is known for having the softest textures in the market, weighs 100 g a bundle and lasts 1 to 2 years. It does not say whether the hair came from temples.

Malaysian hair was R650 to R1,850 across four products at Clicks and Volure Hair, from a 14 inch water wave at R650 to Volure Hair's body wave and deep curly at up to R1,850. Volure Hair says its Malaysian weaves originate mainly from Malaysia or South East Asia and that every bundle is 100 g.

Exclusive Virgin Hair, a store rather than an origin, sells single straight bundles for Brazilian or Peruvian in 10 to 32 inches, and describes the hair as 12A virgin human hair. In the price data its bundles were R800 to R1,750 from 10 to 30 inches. As with every grade, 12A is the seller's own number.

Where temple hair and salon floor hair fits in

Some Indian hair reaches the market through temples. Women's eNews reported in 2006 that at the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati about 20,000 people had their heads shaved each day as a religious practice, and that the temple advertised auction notices for the collected hair. India TV News reported in 2022 that devotees donate their hair at the Tirupati temple once a wish is fulfilled or to give up sins and ego, that the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams runs an e-auction, and that the hair is sold in international markets, most popularly for wigs.

Neither report links temple hair to any SA store. The ABC reported that much hair originates as a waste product swept from salon floors, picked from combs and salvaged from plugholes, and that most hair is sourced in Asia. Ask a seller where its hair came from and what paperwork it holds. If it cannot say, the origin word on the bundle is only a name.

Double drawn and raw hair: questions