Every Wig Specification, in Plain English
A reference for the vocabulary on every product page — density, lace type and size, cap construction, knots, grade and the colour codes. The same definitions that appear as tooltips on the spec table.
Every specification we show on a product page, in plain English. These are the same definitions that appear as tooltips on the specification table itself — hover or tab to any spec name on a wig and you will get the entry below.
How to read a spec table quickly. Four fields decide most of the experience: lace type and lace size tell you how the hairline will look and where you can part; density tells you how much hair; glueless tells you whether you need adhesive. Everything else is detail.
The vocabulary
| Texture | The wave or curl pattern of the hair — straight through body wave, loose wave, water wave, deep wave and kinky curly. Changes the look more than any other single spec. |
|---|---|
| Density | How much hair is attached to the cap, as a percentage. 150% reads as natural, 180% as full, 200%+ as deliberately abundant. Not standardised between manufacturers. |
| Lace type | What the hairline panel is made of. HD (or invisible) lace is thinnest and most translucent; transparent lace is the common mid-grade; no lace means a machine-made front. |
| Lace size | The lace panel in inches — width along the hairline curve, then depth back from it. 13x4 and 13x6 run ear to ear; 4x4, 5x5 and 6x5 are closures at the front. |
| Cap | How the body of the wig is built beneath the lace, and whether it is ventilated. |
| Cap size | Head circumference the cap is cut for. "Average" means roughly 22 to 22.5 inches, which most manufactured wigs are built to. |
| Cap style | The overall construction — 360 lace, T-part, V-part, U-part and so on. Decides how it goes on and whether you can wear it up. |
| Construction | Whether the unit is a lace closure, a lace frontal, a bob wig or a set of bundles. |
| Glueless | Whether it is designed to stay on without adhesive, using combs, an adjustable strap and friction. Glueless units are meant to come off at night. |
| Straps | Adjustable elastic at the back of the cap, usually giving about an inch of tolerance either side of the nominal size. |
| Parting | Where the hair can be parted — free part means anywhere within the lace; middle, side or C-part means it is set. |
| Hairline | Whether the front has been pre-plucked to soften the density, and whether baby hair has been left. Unplucked hairlines look blunt until you thin them yourself. |
| Knots | The points where each hair is tied into the lace. Bleached knots are lightened so the dark dots do not show through pale lace. |
| Hair prep | Work already done before shipping — pre-cut lace, double-drawn hair and similar. |
| Style | Finishing already applied: pre-plucked, baby hair, bleached knots, pre-cut lace. |
| Hair material | What the hair is. 100% human hair can be heat-styled, coloured and washed like your own; virgin human hair has had no previous chemical processing. |
| Hair origin | The stated country of origin of the hair. Treat it as a description of grade and handling rather than a verifiable provenance claim. |
| Grade | A manufacturer letter grade such as 10A or 12A. There is no independent standard behind it — it is comparable within one retailer, not across them. |
| Colour | The stated shade. Numbered codes are the industry standard: #1B natural black, #4 chocolate brown, #27 honey blonde, #613 platinum, #99J burgundy, #33 reddish brown. |
| Colour treatment | How the colour is applied — balayage is hand-painted and graduated, piano is alternating strips, ombré fades root to tip. |
| Can be dyed | Whether the hair will take colour or bleach. Only genuinely unprocessed human hair reliably will, and going lighter is far harder than going darker. |
| Length | Hair length in inches, measured straight regardless of curl pattern — so a 20-inch curly unit hangs considerably shorter than a 20-inch straight one. |
| Weight | Grams per bundle or per piece. Useful for working out how many bundles a full head needs. |
| Weft | How the hair is sewn onto the tracks in a bundle or weave. |
| Lifespan | The retailer's own estimate of how long it lasts with proper care. It is their claim, not a measurement, and depends heavily on how it is washed and stored. |
The colour codes
Hair colour numbering is one of the few genuinely standard things in this industry, and worth knowing because listings use the codes without explaining them.
| #1 / #1B | Jet black / natural black. #1B is softer and reads more naturally than true jet. |
|---|---|
| #2 / #4 | Darkest brown / chocolate brown. |
| #27 | Honey blonde. The most common single-process blonde. |
| #30 / #33 | Auburn / reddish brown. |
| #613 | Platinum blonde. The lightest shade sold, and the base for most custom colouring. |
| #99J | Burgundy wine. |
| P4/27 | A "piano" blend — alternating strips of two shades, here chocolate and honey. |
| T-colours | Ombré. Darker at the root fading to lighter at the ends. |
What the specs cannot tell you
Worth being straight about the limits of the table. A specification describes what a wig is, not how good it is. Nothing in it tells you how soft the hair feels, whether it tangles at the nape by week three, how well the knots are actually bleached, or whether the lace tint matches your skin. Those are judgements we have no basis to make — we have not handled these units — and no spec field encodes them.
For that, read the reviews on the retailer's own product page. Start with the one-star ones.
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