Hair Extension Products: Bundles, Closures, Frontals & Wigs Explained
A plain-language map of the products you will see on wholesale hair vendor lists — bundles, closures, frontals, wigs, clip-ins — and what each one means for what you stock first.
Get the free list of 50+ wholesale hair vendors → or browse the vendor reviews
Bundles (wefts)
The base product of the business: hair sewn onto a weft track, usually sold by weight at roughly 100 grams (3.5 oz) per bundle, in lengths from about 8 to 30+ inches. A full sew-in typically takes two to three bundles at shorter lengths and three to four at 22 inches and up, because longer bundles carry the same weight over more length and so look thinner. Machine wefts are the standard; hand-tied wefts are thinner and lie flatter but cost more. Vendors sell bundles in the usual patterns — straight, body wave, deep wave, water wave, kinky curly, kinky straight — and by origin, most commonly Vietnamese, Cambodian and Indian for raw hair and Chinese factories for processed hair.
Closures and frontals
Bundles alone leave the top of an install exposed, so they are sold alongside lace pieces:
- Closures — small lace squares (4x4, 5x5, 6x6 inches) that close off the crown. Cheaper, simpler installs.
- Frontals — ear-to-ear lace strips (13x4 or 13x6 inches) that recreate the whole front hairline and allow parting anywhere along it.
- 360 lace — a ring of lace around the entire perimeter for updos and high ponytails.
The lace itself is a spec buyers ask about: transparent Swiss lace versus the thinner “HD” lace that melts into more skin tones. The two are routinely mislabeled, and our guide on how to tell HD lace from Swiss lace shows the difference. There is also a separate list of 50 HD wig-cap vendors on this site.
Wigs
Wigs are the fastest-growing slice of most sellers' catalogs because customers can put them on without a stylist. The common constructions are lace-front wigs (lace at the hairline only), closure wigs (a 4x4 or 5x5 closure on a machine-made cap — the cheapest lace option), full-lace wigs, glueless caps with adjustable bands, headband wigs, and braided wigs. The free vendor list has dedicated sections for wig, braided-wig and 613-blonde vendors.
Clip-ins, tape-ins and ponytails
Lower-commitment products that sell well to customers who will never sit for a sew-in. Clip-ins are wefts with sewn-on clips the customer installs herself — see our step-by-step on putting in clip-ins. Tape-ins sandwich thin hair panels against the client's own hair with adhesive strips and are a stylist product. Drawstring ponytails and buns are cheap add-on sales. One honest caution for anything that hangs weight on the client's own hair: tension styles and heavy extensions can cause traction alopecia, which the American Academy of Dermatology covers in its guidance on hairstyles that pull. Sellers who can explain that keep clients longer.
Grades and labels: what “10A” actually means
Vendors label hair raw, virgin, or remy, and stamp grades like 9A, 10A or 12A on it. The letter grades have no standards body behind them — every factory awards its own, and this year's 10A was last year's 8A. Treat grades as marketing. The raw/virgin/remy distinction is real but loosely used; raw vs. virgin hair — the truth explains what each term is supposed to mean and how to check. The only reliable grade is the one you assign yourself by testing a sample before you order in bulk.
What to stock first
Start narrow: one origin, one or two patterns, the middle lengths (16–22 inches), plus matching closures — not a full catalog. That keeps your first order small enough to sample-test properly and your reorders fast. Business-side questions — licensing and whether dropshipping fits a hair brand — are covered in their own guides.
FAQ — frequently asked questions
Closure or frontal — which should I stock?
Closures. They are cheaper, easier to install and what most everyday customers buy; frontals are a stylist product with higher returns risk from bad installs.
How many bundles does a customer need?
Two to three for lengths under about 20 inches, three to four above that. Selling the right count is cheaper than a refund argument later.
Is “grade 10A” hair better than 9A?
Only within a single vendor's own labeling, if at all — there is no industry standard behind the letters. Compare sample against sample, not label against label.
Does this site sell any of these products?
No. We publish the free vendor list and vendor reviews; the names on the list are collected by the community, not verified by us, so sample-test anyone before sending real money.
Know what you want to stock? Start with the free list of 50+ wholesale hair vendors, then test samples the right way before any bulk order.