Understanding Weft Hair Extensions: Benefits and the Difference Between Genius Wefts and Hand-Tied Wefts

"What's the difference between a hand tied weft and a hybrid weft?" is one of the questions I'm asked most, so I answered it on video in 30 seconds. Here's the longer version. (Genius weft is just another name for a hybrid weft.)

What a weft is

A weft is a strip of hair joined at the top. You install it on a beaded row, and because the weight is spread along the whole row rather than on small sections, it's comfortable to wear and quick to add fullness. The quality of that beaded row decides how the whole install wears, and I cover the four foundation mistakes here.

The biggest difference: cutting

A hand tied weft can't be cut anywhere along the base. A hybrid weft can. That one fact decides most of how you work with each.

Hand tied wefts are stacked whole, 2 to 5 to a row, in 1 to 3 rows. Hybrid wefts are cut to the length each row needs, and a row runs anywhere from 6 to 15 inches across the head.

Weight: three to one

A hand tied weft weighs about 17 grams (16.9 grams). A hybrid weighs about 50. So three hand tied wefts equal one hybrid.

Side by side

• Hand tied: 11 inches wide, 16.9 grams per weft, in 18, 22 and 24 inch. Never cut. No machine seam, so the return is thinner and lies flatter, which matters most on fine hair and on clients who wear their hair up.

• Hybrid (genius): 31 to 33 inches wide, 50 grams per bundle in 18 and 22 inch and 60 grams in 24 inch. Cut to fit each row.

• Hybrid Deluxe: also 50 grams, but 20% more dense, with more hair carried to the ends. Blow it out smooth after washing or it mats.

All of them are 100% human hair.

Which one suits you?

If you like to customize and mix and match lots of different colors, hand tied may be better, because you're working with smaller wefts. If you like to cut things to different sizes, hybrid might be your go to.

On fine hair, I often use one row of hand tied wefts placed low near the occipital bone. Here's that placement.

Looking after both

The care is the same. Avoid shampoo with Sodium Lauryl Sulfate or Sodium Laureth Sulfate, skip Olaplex on extensions, go easy on purple shampoo, and keep heat off the band. Wefts get moved up about every 6 to 8 weeks as her hair grows, and with proper care our hair lasts 9 months to well over a year.

So which is better? At the end of the day, it comes down to preference and lifestyle.

Kenzie Moon is a licensed stylist and the owner of Wefts + Waves in Grantsville, Utah. She has lived with hereditary hair loss since 2018 and has been making hair for her own salon clients since 2021.

Keep reading: our hybrid weft guide and our hand tied weft guide.