Step 1 — Establish that you are a professional buyer
Direct manufacturers sell to licensed stylists, salons, distributors and brands. Have your cosmetology licence number, salon name and business address ready. That is the whole verification, and it exists so professional pricing stays inside the trade rather than leaking into consumer resale.
You do not need an import licence, a customs broker or a freight forwarder to receive a professional order in the USA. Air freight arrives at your salon door with duties and paperwork handled at our end.
Step 2 — Decide the format before the shade
Genius Wefts for cuttable row installs, hand-tied rows for fine-to-medium density, K-Tips for strand-by-strand work, bulk hair if you build your own. Order the format your chair actually books most, not the one that is trending online.
Sourcing more than one format from a single factory matters more than most stylists expect: shades match across constructions, so a K-Tip perimeter blends with a wefted row without a colour correction.
Step 3 — Match shades to what your clients already wear
Send a swatch, a photo in daylight, or the shade code from the brand you currently use. Matching an existing shade card means switching supplier does not restart your clients' colour history, which is the single biggest reason stylists stay with an expensive brand they have outgrown.
Choose a narrow first range. Six to ten shades covering your real booking pattern beats thirty shades sitting in a drawer.
Step 4 — Understand the minimums
Our minimums are 300g per shade, 1kg total minimum — 1kg total order, set deliberately so an independent stylist can buy at factory pricing without holding warehouse-scale stock. Private label with your own packaging and shade codes starts at 10kg.
A per-colour minimum is not the same as a per-order minimum. Ask any supplier which one they are quoting before you compare two numbers that look identical.
Step 5 — Test before you commit the season
Order a trial kit. Install it on a real client, wash it ten times, then judge the shed rate, the lay-flat at the seam and whether the shade held. Any manufacturer confident in their factory will encourage this rather than push you into a full range.
Once a batch passes, record its lot reference. Reordering against a known lot is how you keep a client's colour identical twelve months later.
Step 6 — Plan lead times like a project
Stock shades ship quickly. Custom colour, custom lengths and private label runs are production, and production has dates: reference approval, swatch approval, run, packaging, freight. Ask for those dates in writing on the quote.
Express air freight to the USA is typically three to six days door to door once the goods leave the factory. Build that into your booking calendar rather than promising a client a date you have not confirmed.
Buyer Questions
Do I need a business licence to order?
A cosmetology licence or a registered salon or brand is enough. We sell to professionals, not to consumers.
What is the smallest realistic first order?
1kg total, made up of 1kg per colour and length. Most stylists start with a trial kit before that.
Who pays duties into the USA?
Our quotes state clearly what is included. Duties and documentation are handled so the shipment lands at your salon without a customs surprise.
Can I reorder a single colour later?
Yes, at 300g per shade (1kg total), matched against the lot record from your original batch.