What Does “X Grams (g)” Of Hair Extensions Mean? (2024)

If you haven’t purchased hair extensions before, you must have some questions. Everyone advertises easy to apply extensions, but it’s not easy to buy them! Especially when it comes to selecting hair.

Assuming you have already decided on the type of extensions you want, including length, the next thing that comes to everyone’s mind is grams. We have had multiple clients that could not understand the meaning behind grams and were still confused about what to buy and what to avoid. Below, we have written a rather extensive guide that covers pretty much all the points of hair extension thickness and your hair health.

If you are still unsure, don’t worry! Feel free to send us a message, and we will be more than happy to help you out. Alternatively, another guide is linked in the post below, which goes to even more details.

A gram spec for hair extensions indicates the weight of one strand or a complete set.

For example: assuming the extension’s weight is 100 grams, and there are 100 strands in the package, that makes it 1 gram per strand. Simple. However, that does not help as we need to know one more thing.

Our US-centric readers sometimes get weirded out by the specifications of various hair extensions. Why do manufacturers use grams instead of ounces in United States-based hair stores? The trend has started with Asian and Indian hair suppliers exporting large batches of hair to European countries. The rest followed, although since most continents use grams, it was just that, a convenience. By the time businesses opened hair extension stores in the US, it was too late. Everyone was using grams already.

Also, it’s much easier to compare and create hair extensions using grams. The overall list looks much cleaner compared to ounces. So, instead of 3.52” hair extensions, we have 100 grams, a nice and even number!

As a rule of thumb, the thicker the hair – the heavier it is. The hair extension weight indicates strand and overall hair thickness. For example, “1g / strand” hairs are much thicker than those with “0.5g / strand” spec.

It is rather simple and applies to all but the clip-in, weft and flip-in extensions.

Why? Because these do not come in strands but rather wefts.

While at first thought, everyone would want to have the thickest hair possible (2g / strand), that is not the correct answer. The optimal weight of hair extensions is around 1g / strand! Unless you want to risk your hair falling out or constant pressure on the scalp as well as headaches.

There are always exceptions, as women with thicker natural hair can handle heavier extensions. To give you a rather short answer:

0.5g / Strand Hair

These strands will fit just fine for anyone who has thinner hair. Choose this option if you want to increase the hair length but not the volume. Otherwise, feel free to experiment and proceed with the next weight category, which is below.

0.7g / Strand Hair

We are getting to the fine to medium hair thickness category. It is a great choice for women wanting hair extensions to look natural while still lifting their whole look to a new level.

1g / Strand Hair

Since a lot of females have medium-thickness hair (even though they believe otherwise), this is the most popular option. In other words, it’s perfect for pretty much everyone but the Brazilian or African American women. If you are unsure, this is your pick.

1.5g / Strand Hair

This is your only option if you want to go to extremes or have thick hair. Your hair will look as gorgeous as in a fairy tale. What if you have thin strands and/or thinning issues? There is an alternative for you, too: the double-drawn hair extensions. You get thicker hair at the most crucial parts, yet without increasing strand weight.

For more buying tips and weight details, please see this post. It covers all the aspects of hair extensions, from buying to styling and more.

It’s easy to measure the thickness of hair extensions when it comes to strand-by-strand methods, but what about wefts? Surprisingly, it is somewhat similar.

Less than 100 Grams

Just like with strands that do not exceed the 100-gram limit, these wefts will fit fine with pretty much anyone who has really thin hair. Likewise, if you have medium-thickness hair and proceed to apply sets below our recommended weight, your hair will look skanky.

100 to 160 Grams

This is the ideal hair weight for most women. Extensions with this spec tend to blend perfectly! As a result, it naturally increases both volume and length. It’s also important to note that 18” extensions at 140 grams will be thicker than the 30-inch extensions of the same weight. We did cover that in the guide above, so please read before buying.

180 to 200 Grams

Just like with strands, these are for hair divas that want to have so much volume that it looks like you are out of this world. Or if your hair is already very thick and voluminous. Hair suppliers will always try to top things with 300g or even 400g extensions, but that’s just too much weight to handle. Don’t take that risk.

So, you know the grams, and you know what they mean. Now, what about the actual hair extensions? How many bundles or strands do you need? As a rule of thumb, we suggest using around 150 grams of hair, which will be enough to cover your full head.

• Tape-in extensions should be bought in bundles of 40 to 60 tapes, 150 grams total.
• Micro loop, keratin, and other strand-by-strand methods required 150 to 180 strands.
• For wefts, we advise you to buy two. Around 200 grams total. Since you can cut them into many pieces, one and a half should be plentiful.
• Clip-in and flip-in fusion types are the simplest. Just buy one bundle of flip-ins (100g) or one medium-weight set (130-160g) of clip-is.

All the extension types are available on our website at www.airyhair.com

In Conclusion

Hair weight indicates the thickness of each strand. More grams mean thicker hair, and fewer grams indicate thinner hair extensions. The optical weight is around 120 to 160 grams for most hair extension types.