Bree M.

The quality of Zala sew-in wefts is absolute garbage and the company itself is super sketchy and shady. If you leave any sort of negative comment about the quality of their hair on a Zala Instagram post, they delete your comment and/or delete the whole post. But let me start at the beginning. Apologies in advance for how long this is, but this contains a lot of information about the company.

Back at the start of this year, I was researching extensions and came across Zala's website. The colors were a perfect match for my hair and I loved that they had the payment plan option, so I ordered the wholesale bundles (5 bundles for $409). When they arrived, I was so pleased with how thick and high quality they appeared to be. My hairstylist installed them and for the first three weeks they looked gorgeous... then they started to shed like crazy. I don't mean that a few strands here and there would fall out — I mean when I brushed my hair, the hair in my brush would be what you would expect to come out in the course of a whole month or so. I didn't even have the extensions in for a full two months before they started to look old, ragged, and sparse.

I immediately reached out to Zala's customer service to express my alarm and disappointment with the quality. I explained that I knew some shedding would be expected, but as someone who has worn extensions for over a decade this was definitely more than what would be considered "normal" shedding. Since my mother is a hairdresser, I've only ever used professional salon products on my hair and I deep condition with Olaplex no. 3 once or twice a week, and I've never had an experience like this with any other extensions in the past. This was Zala's response, which I've since seen is a typical canned response:
"As for the concern regarding our weave extensions, we are surprised to hear that as these issues you are experiencing are extremely rare and our sets go through strict quality control before being sent to customers.

In order for us to assist further, we kindly ask you to send some photos of the issue so we can inspect this for you. Kindly provide more information on exactly how you are caring for the weave whilst they are in your hair such as products used, heat styling temp, have they been toned/dyed, along with how often you wash them."

You're surprised to hear these issues and they're rare? That's odd, because this is a common complaint that I've seen in other reviews now. I responded back with photos of what they looked like when I got them installed versus what they looked like ~2 months later, along with a very detailed description of how I care for my hair and the professional products I use. I stressed again that I know how to care for extensions since I've worn them for so long, that the extensions were never dyed nor styled with heat higher than 300°, and yes, I'd sealed the wefts with Dritz Sealant. Zala then told me that "in order to forward my inquiry onto management," I needed to provide a photo of the product barcode as well as answer a laundry list of questions:

1. How long had you waited to wash your hair, after having the weave in extensions applied?
2. How do you care for your weave in extensions whilst you sleep?
3. How often do you swim in your weave in extensions?
4. What sealant was used on the weave to ensure no fraying where you cut the weft?
5. Is this your first experience with our weave in range?
6. What other brands of weave in hair extensions have you used?
7. The business/salon name along with the name of the hairdresser who applied your weave in extensions.
8. The ABN/cosmetologist license of the person/salon that applied your extensions.
9. The contact details of the business who applied your extensions - Number/Email.

I was told to answer these questions with short and concise responses rather than the detailed paragraphs I was sending before. I personally found these questions to be ridiculous considering I had provided photos and video for proof of the poor quality of hair and already spent time explaining to them how I cared for everything, but I answered them anyway. Then... nothing. I never heard back from Zala. If I commented on one of their Instagram posts, it was deleted. Crickets from them.

Flash forward to July. The earlier extensions had long since been taken out and discarded. My previous stylist moved to Florida during the pandemic, so I found a new one and had him install more Zala hair towards the end of July since I still had so much hair left from the bundles purchased. I DRENCHED the wefts with Dritz sealant to try to avoid the same issue as before, and it seemed like it worked for a bit... but now, here we are on September 6, not even two months after the install, and the hair has once again been shedding like crazy. The volume of each sewn in weft is half of what it used to be. I see from a response to a review on here that the company, "allows for 3-5% shedding with our sets, due to any hairs that have not been completely secured during manufacturing." This is WAY more than 3-5% — this is more like 40%+. I'm so angry because this company refuses to take responsibility for the poor quality of their product and own up to the issues. Everything is the fault of the buyer and they attempt to blame you for not taking care of the hair properly since their hair "goes through strict quality control." I find that hard to believe since I had the same issue with FIVE bundles of hair. One bundle, fine, I'll buy that maybe there was a mistake there, but for all five bundles? No.

The quality of this hair is not what the company pretends it is, and considering you can only find overwhelmingly positive reviews on their social media and website... it's because the company is shady and silences all unhappy customers by deleting their comments or not approving their reviews. Zala posted a photo on Instagram on September 3 about the volume of their hair extensions and I left a comment about how that volume will only last for three weeks before the extensions start falling apart and shedding like crazy. Within hours my comment was deleted and only positive comments remain. I commented again and said, "I love how Zala deletes any negative comments on their products lol. Once again, it's crazy how much volume your sew-in wefts have for three weeks before they fall apart and start to shed like crazy and you're left with half the hair you paid with." I'm sure by tomorrow my comment will again be deleted. Heck, I might even get blocked, but at least they can't delete this review on here. I will never give another dime to Zala, and I beg everybody looking into buying their extensions to reconsider because you'll just be throwing your hard-earned money away.