Afro Kinky Bulk Hair: What It Is For

Afro Kinky Bulk Hair

Bulk hair is hair sold loose, in a bundle with no weft and no pre-looped ends. Afro kinky bulk is that hair in a tightly coiled, matte texture that matches unstraightened natural hair, and it is bought for jobs where a weft would be in the way: building locs, extending existing locs, and braiding or twisting styles that need a coarse texture.

What separates it from braiding hair

Standard braiding hair is smooth and slippery, made to slide into a braid and hold. Afro kinky bulk is coarse and grips, which is what makes it work for locs, where the hair needs to hold onto itself rather than slip. It also blends with natural hair far more convincingly at the root, so it is the usual choice when the join has to be invisible rather than merely tidy.

Loc extensions and starter locs

This is the main use. For extending locs, the bulk hair is wrapped or braided into the existing loc and then palm rolled or crocheted in so the textures merge. For starting locs on short hair, it adds the length and body that a new loc does not yet have. Both are slow jobs, and both need considerably more hair than people expect, since a loc is dense all the way through rather than hollow.

How much to buy

It depends entirely on how many locs or braids and how long. As a rough guide, a full head of loc extensions commonly takes several bundles rather than one or two, and running out partway is a problem because texture and color vary between batches. Buy generously and in one purchase. Unopened bulk hair keeps indefinitely, so surplus is not wasted the way surplus of a seasonal color is.

Other uses

It is also used for braid and twist styles where a matte, natural-looking texture is wanted rather than the sheen of standard braiding hair, and for filling and blending at the crown in styles where added hair would otherwise read as obviously synthetic. Some people use it for the roots and switch to a smoother hair further down the length.