"What lace?"
Two words. eight letters. A popular refrain commonly used by Black women in group chat messages, meet-ups on the street, and comment sections of Instagram or TikTok to show admiration for a totally undetectable bond. Even Chloe x Halle sang "Takin' Pictures, Make Sure You See No Lace" on their 2020 single "Do it" to emphasize the importance of a flawless installation. With that particular phrase, you'll know if the $200 you spent on a new wig was a sound investment or a burn hole in your wallet.
Honestly, it took me years to get therewhat lace?“Black Girlhood phase. For far too long, I had left my fate in the hands of foreign, non-black merchants who chose the beauty business with a one-size-fits-all approach to wigs and inferior hair quality to match. As a result, I had to look for a new wig every four to six.” months, and it's not the most sustainable, and I had to wear a loose wig that danced around my ass (thankfully, the public wasn't aware of this).It was hard to get a nice looking wig on Aliexpress or Amazon, so I had to take it to the next level. : amateur designer.
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Like everything else in life, black women are bound to deal with the limitations placed upon them. And when it comes to making a wig purchase, that includes limited parting space, low hair density, thinness from root to tip, and a significant amount of shedding. There was a new lesson to be learned for every unskilled and disinterested overseas seller in learning about the market and the consumers they were selling to. Thanks to YouTube University - and its great professors FabulasityismeAnd the patternsAnd the Tiara Monet—became a star disciple of "Plucking 101" and "Introduction to Flawless Dissolving." However, I was tired of spending hundreds of dollars on a mediocre wig, and even more money on wig glues, hold sprays, styling foams, hot tools, and tweezers.
It became clear that no amount of YouTube tutorials or money spent trying to make a great imperfect wig could make up for a conflicted vintage market, a problem many black-owned wig companies have tried to solve through dedicated services and educational resources. However, not many companies have approached this challenge from a technological point of view. The technology is expensive, and deploying it to completely disrupt the wig industry is going to take a lot of work, money, and passion. This is when Parfait enters the picture.
What does yogurt have to do with wigs? Stay with me.
What is a parfait?
Parfait is a full-service wig platform that enables you to customize your entire wig, right down to your exact head size and precise styling details, through the use of synthetic technology. Every brand has a story of origin, and Parfait's hair loss story begins. When CEO Isoskin Igbinion was 10 years old, she had a serious reaction to a chemical relaxer that caused her hair to fall out. “I spent the next 20 years in this frictionless, very hands-on market for hair products and services. In those 20 years, I realized that little innovation was seen to improve the process of buying, customizing and installing hair for consumers or even the manufacturing process to make it easier for stylists to serve women,” she told me over a call. Zoom video.
After attending an AfroTech conference in 2018, where one of the topics was how to leverage technology, Igbinedion asked herself:How can we use it to improve the lives of people in our communities? "
At the top of her list was black hair. And so began years of planning, research and saving. What we found from our research [is] There really is no simple way for you to be able to get the education you need to understand, use, and care for the right products for your hair. Also, traditionally, most retailers sell raw products, or sell whole, uncustomized wig units. There is still a lot of work that goes into customizing the hairline to make sure the lace matches your skin tone and plucking the lace to the right density so you get a natural looking hairline,” says Igbinedion. To that end, Igbinedion, along with CMO Simone, got together Kendle, CTO Ifueko Igbinedion, and COO Marlyse Reeves—four black women who graduated from top business schools, including MIT, Stanford, and Wharton—together to launch a service that takes the wig-buying experience, layer by layer (hence The name "Parfait")—education, personalization, installation, and support—came to simplify the process and bring luxury to people of color.
"There are so many ways to customize a wig based on the lace type, texture, hairline pattern, and color. So because of these different layers, you can customize and create a really fun experience. That's what we felt about our product, and it was our trademark — it was Parfait. Parfait in French means" perfection, “and we offer an incredibly easy, friction-free experience that allows you to customize a wig that's right for you, your unique measurements, features, and preferences,” adds Igbinedion. The startup has raised over $5 million in funding with investments from some notable people, including Serena Williams and her company.
Serena Ventures.
How it works?
What I love most about the Parfait web experience is how smooth it is to move between pages. Shopping on Aliexpress or Amazon you may like it very much hunger Games For hair, having to scroll through a surplus of products to determine which ones are trustworthy. With Parfait, what you see is what you get. When you arrive at the site, you are greeted with an image containing two buttons that allow you to either shop ready-made wigs or launch the site's "web designer" to completely customize a new wig.
Once you've launched the wig designer, you can swipe the sidebar on the right side to choose your texture, which varies in price. After that, you can choose the hair color, length and size of the lace wig. Parfait units come in just two lace-up sizes, a 13" by 6" front and a 5" by 5" for a closure, a feature that Kindle, formerly of its own hair company, had a hand in.
“Before working with Parfait, I had run a hair company for about five years and had been doing lace cuts before they were close to HD. They were awful and uneasy to use, but I also learned a lot about parting,” says Kindl. With traditional wigs, there is not enough parting space on a 4×4 or 13×4 frontal closure cut. When you choose your part, you're usually stuck with a middle or side part because there isn't enough space to do anything else. Kendle and the Parfait team knew that in order to achieve a versatile wig, the smallest lace size they could use was 5x5 or 13x6.
Base price for the wig starts at around $480 and increases as you make your custom choices which can bring your total up to $1,000. Other customization options on the platform include the haircut, where you can choose to cut the wig in layers, blunt, or uncut; parting (middle, side, or without part); Styled straight, in curls, untouched or whether you leave the wig unglued or use some type of wig glue is up to you. After you've determined how to prepare your hair under the wig, you've come to the final step, where the AI technology works its magic.
You are asked to hold a small card to your head to start the photo process, where several points will appear on your face as you take four photos of the left, right and front of your head. These images help the software determine your head size for accurate cap size and skin tone to ensure lace color blends seamlessly. From there, you'll exit and wait. Your parfait box should arrive within five to seven business days, depending on how much customization needs to be done.
What lace?
Frontals and I haven't always had a good relationship, so I opted for a corrugated, 22-inch, 5" by 5" closure unit (assembled for editorial purposes) that can be worn without glue or with adhesive for extra support.
I ordered my Parfait unit on Monday and received the package exactly 10 days later. As a former frequent shopper on Aliexpress, I expected my lush unit to be tucked away in a satin drawstring bag with a bunch of knickknacks included to help with the installation process, some relevant (a rat-tail comb and a velcro edge) and some completely no-nonsense (a wig cap in two very light shades and the thinnest pair of eyelashes).
parfait package.
To my surprise, Parfait's luxury experience has extended beyond the computer screen to the black octagonal box sitting in front of me. I looked through the packaging and found the typical hair accessories: a rat tail comb, edge brush, edge band, alligator clips, and scissors. But the best accessory was a zip-up wig storage bag with a hanger to store your new wig safely. Hanging bag for your wig? It didn't get any more luxurious than that, until I searched a little further to find my first ever parfait. I removed his wig from his bag and was immediately amazed at how soft the 22-inch curls were. I have thoroughly analyzed the unit to see how accurate the AI program is. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give the technology a solid eight.
The lace was thin, so I knew it would melt seamlessly into the skin. However, the lace had to be tinted then darker to really match my skin tone. Unlike clear wigs from Amazon and Aliexpress, Parfait has thick, consistent volume from root to tip with absolutely no shedding. I secured the wig to the fresh, flat "thin braids" using the adjustable wig straps sewn into the back of the wig and had a little extra room to work with in case the braids were a little larger.
To put it to the real test, I wore it for five straight days during a business trip in Paris. For my own sanity, I affixed it at the beginning to prevent any mishaps, and the words immediately left my mouth—”what lace? "
By the third day of the trip, the glue had completely worn off, and I didn't bring any backup. Fortunately, I didn't need any more reinforcements. Even without any glue, the wig looked completely natural on my hairline and hasn't moved an inch since I adjusted the straps in the back for a tighter fit. The waves remained intact for the duration of the trip and only needed a few sprays of water and a light conditioner for the curls to come back. When I got home, I washed the wig really well - again, with minimal hair fall - and it was as good as new.
Final verdict
Buy it. I know, I know, the price is a little scary. When buying a wig, cost is usually the most important factor to consider. However, choosing the cheaper alternative will cost you more money in the long run. The best and most sustainable option is to prioritize quality over price as it reduces waste and inflation of companies who place a premium on value. And very few brands are as interested in producing first-class products to serve their community as Parfait. From start to finish, the Parfait experience is rooted in luxury.
Parfait debuted during a period when wig fatigue was at an all-time high. After years of frustration with foreign retailers and thousands of dollars squandered, Parfait is a welcome relief as it provides black women with the quality hair experience they deserve.
Beauty trade editor
Neresha is the Beauty Trades Editor at ELLE.com, covering all things beauty (and fashion and music). She has a penchant for sneakers and nude lips, and spends a lot of time re-watching sitcoms from the '90s.
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