Our factory · since 2010

From the banks of the Thương River to your clients’ heads

We are a family hair factory in Lạng Giang, in the north of Vietnam. Our river, the Sông Thương, gave us our name; our South African customers gave us most of our work.

Village houses among green rice fields in northern Vietnam — Northern Vietnam, where our hair is collected and sorted.

Our story

Đức and Lan started buying and sorting hair in 2010, in a rented house a few minutes from the river. Like many families in the north, they sold to bigger workshops; unlike most, they kept every ponytail tied at the root and recorded where it came from.

The first South African order came in 2015, from a stylist in Johannesburg who wanted bone straight hair that stayed straight after washing. We learned to flat-iron at low heat, to double draw for full ends, and to photograph every lot before it left.

By 2019 most of our hair was going to South Africa: to hair businesses that sell on WhatsApp and Instagram, to salons in Joburg and Durban and to wig makers in Cape Town. We opened a wig room so they could also order finished units.

Today 85 people work with us. We still answer on WhatsApp ourselves, in South African hours.

2010: first sorting room
85: people in the factory
2015: first order to South Africa
1 day: to answer your WhatsApp

How we work

Six steps from ponytail to parcel

Collect
Ponytails from donors in northern Vietnam, each tied at the root so the cuticles stay aligned.
Sort
Measured in 2 inch steps; grey hairs and damaged ends picked out by hand.
Wash and set
Mild shampoo, air dried. Waves and curls set with steam, bone straight with low heat.
Draw
Short hairs removed by hand until most of the bundle reaches full length.
Weft and build
Double-stitched wefts; frontals tied by hand; units built in our wig room.
Check and pack
Weight, length and colour checked; photos and video sent to you before we ship.