Our Story
WAVE Hair Extensions
Our Story
WAVE was started by a hairdresser who got tired of telling women with curly hair that she could not help them.
That is the whole story. Everything below is just the detail.
The woman behind it
The same conversation, over and over
Zian Cooper trained as a hairdresser and spent years on the floor of a multi award-winning salon before opening her own, Zian's Hair. She is also a master aesthetics practitioner and runs SIX1 Aesthetics.
Which means that, unlike most people who sell hair extensions, she is still sat across from real clients every week, listening to them.
And one conversation kept coming back. A woman with curly or textured hair would come in wanting extensions. Zian would go looking for hair to suit her, and come back with nothing.
- Founder
- Zian Cooper
- Trained as
- Hairdresser, and a master aesthetics practitioner
- Before WAVE
- Years on the floor of a multi award-winning salon, then her own salon, Zian's Hair
- Still does
- Sees clients every week, which is where WAVE came from
Not nothing in her shade.
Nothing in her texture.The problem nobody was solving
The ones who had tried before had the worst of it
Matched on colour only
Never on texture, so the hair sat on top of their own like it belonged to somebody else.
Told to straighten it
By a hairdresser. Every day, so the extensions would blend. Told to damage the hair they had come in to improve.
They stopped asking
Somewhere along the way they had quietly decided that hair extensions were not made for people like them.
That last one is the one that stayed with her. There was rarely any anger in it. Just women who had accepted being left out, because the industry had told them often enough.
Why it kept happening
Nobody set out to exclude them. It is simply how hair gets bought and sold. Most UK suppliers work on one axis, colour, and treat texture as an afterthought. You get a long shade chart and one curl pattern, and if your hair does not behave like the sample, that is treated as your problem rather than the product's.
Which leaves a stylist with a 3C client holding two bad options. Sell her something that will never blend, or tell her no.
What we built instead
WAVE is the answer Zian wanted to be able to give
Every product is labelled by curl pattern as well as shade, running from straight all the way through to 4C. It is 100% double drawn Remy human hair, in over 60 shades, across nano bonds, K-tips, tape-ins, wefts and clip-ins.
Double drawn means the short strands are taken out, so the ends stay as thick as the roots. Remy means the cuticles all run the same way, root to tip, which is what stops textured hair matting after a few washes.
And because a photograph on a screen is a terrible way to choose hair, the colour and texture matching is free. You send a picture, a real person looks at it, and we tell you what will work. Sometimes that means telling you we do not have it yet. We would rather say so than sell you something you are going to be disappointed by.
Things we will not do
- We will not tell you to straighten your natural hair to make our product work.
- We will not sell you a texture we do not actually have.
- We will not match you on colour alone and call it a match.
For salons and stylists
The list of useable suppliers is short
A good part of what we do now is supplying independent stylists and suite renters who have the same client Zian had, and the same trouble finding hair for her.
Trade accounts take 20% off retail, with no sign-up fee and no minimum order, and approval is usually within 48 hours.
If you fit extensions on curly or textured hair, you already know how short that list is. That is the list we are trying to earn a place on.
Where we are now
Still small. Still answering our own emails. Still adding textures and lengths as we find hair good enough to put our name on.
If you have been told no before, start here.
It costs nothing and it takes one photograph.
Frequently asked questions
Who is behind WAVE Hair Extensions?
WAVE was started by Zian Cooper, a fully qualified hairdresser and master aesthetics practitioner. She worked at a multi award-winning salon before opening her own, Zian's Hair, and she still sees clients, which is where the idea for WAVE came from in the first place.
Is WAVE Hair Extensions a real UK company?
Yes. WAVE Hair Extensions Ltd is a registered UK company, number 16289734. Every order is picked, checked and dispatched by us here in the UK, and there is a real person on the other end of the email address.
Does WAVE supply salons and stylists?
Yes, and it is a large part of what we do. Trade accounts take 20% off retail with no sign-up fee and no minimum order, and approval is usually within 48 hours. It is open to independent stylists and suite renters as well as larger salons.
What makes WAVE different from other UK hair extension suppliers?
Texture. Most suppliers match clients on shade alone and offer one curl pattern. Every WAVE product is labelled by curl pattern as well as colour, running from straight through to 4C, so curly and textured clients are matched on how their hair actually behaves.