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How hair length is measured, and why the number moves
Every extension in this category is measured the same way: the hair is pulled completely straight and measured from the top of the weft to the very tip. That is the number on the label. It is not a promise about where the hair will sit on you, and that gap is the single biggest cause of returns in this business.
Straight measurement, curly reality. A 22″ deep wave bundle really is 22 inches of hair. Stretched out on a table it measures exactly that. Installed, it hangs at about 16 inches, because the curl pattern eats the difference. Nobody is shortchanging you — a straight tape measure is simply the only consistent way to measure hair that is not straight. It is also why the tool below shows two marks instead of one.
Where it lands depends on your height. Every chart on the internet, ours included, is drawn on a 5′5″ frame measuring from the crown. If you are 5′2″, every length reads roughly one to two inches longer on you. At 5′9″, one to two inches shorter. Torso length matters more than total height, which is why two people the same height can wear the same 20″ install very differently.
The measuring point changes by product. Bundles and wefts are measured from the top of the weft. Wigs are measured from the crown of the cap to the tip, so a 20″ wig and 20″ bundles land in about the same place. Clip-ins are measured from the top of the clip. Braiding hair is the outlier — it is sold in a folded length, so a pack labelled 42″ gives you roughly 21 inches of usable hair per side.
Lengths come in even numbers. We stock 10″ through 32″ in two-inch steps. There is no 17″, and a 19″ listing anywhere should make you suspicious. If you want an odd length, buy the even length above it and have your stylist cut — which is what most people should be doing anyway, since a blunt factory tip rarely suits a face as-is.
Inches, honestly
Where the length actually lands on you
Pick a texture and drag the length. The solid mark is where the hair sits once it is installed; the dashed mark is where the label says it should reach. On straight hair the two marks are the same. On deep wave they are six inches apart.
Texture
Measured from the crown on a 5′5″ frame. Your own height and torso length move it an inch or two.
The chart
Hair length chart: every length, straight and curled
The same chart everyone publishes, plus the two columns nobody publishes. Straight hair wears the length on the label. Body wave and deep wave do not, so they get their own columns rather than a footnote.
| Length on the label | Straight wears as | Body wave wears as | Deep wave wears as |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10″ | At your collarbone | About 9″ — at your chin | About 7″ — above your chin |
| 12″ | Right at your shoulder | About 10″ — at your collarbone | About 9″ — at your chin |
| 14″ | Just past your shoulder | About 12″ — at your shoulder | About 10″ — at your collarbone |
| 16″ | At your underarm | About 14″ — just past your shoulder | About 12″ — at your shoulder |
| 18″ | At your bra strap | About 15″ — at your underarm | About 13″ — just past your shoulder |
| 20″ | In the middle of your back | About 17″ — at your underarm | About 15″ — just past your shoulder |
| 22″ | Below your bra strap | About 19″ — middle of your back | About 16″ — at your underarm |
| 24″ | At your natural waist | About 21″ — below your bra strap | About 18″ — at your bra strap |
| 26″ | Just below your waist | About 22″ — below your bra strap | About 19″ — middle of your back |
| 28″ | At your hip | About 24″ — at your natural waist | About 21″ — below your bra strap |
| 30″ | Past your hip | About 26″ — just below your waist | About 22″ — below your bra strap |
| 32″ | Upper thigh | About 28″ — at your hip | About 24″ — at your natural waist |
Read it this way: find the length you want to see in the mirror in the straight column, then read across to your texture to find the length you should actually order. If you want hair sitting at your bra strap and you are buying deep wave, that is a 24″ order, not an 18″ one. Loose wave and yaki straight sit between these columns — the shrinkage table has every texture.
Measured vs worn
How much length each texture takes back
This is the gap between the inches on the label and the inches in the mirror. The percentages are the ones built into the tool above, and they come from how these textures behave installed — not from a marketing round-number.
| Texture | Length it takes back | 18″ wears as | 22″ wears as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight | None | 18″ | 22″ |
| Yaki Straight | About 5% | 17″ | 21″ |
| Kinky Straight | About 8% | 17″ | 20″ |
| Body Wave | About 14% | 15″ | 19″ |
| Loose Wave | About 16% | 15″ | 18″ |
| Deep Wave | About 26% | 13″ | 16″ |
| Curly | About 32% | 12″ | 15″ |
The ordering rule: straight and yaki straight wear what they measure. Add two to four inches for body wave and loose wave, four to six for deep wave, six to eight for curly. Water wave behaves like deep wave. If you are buying more than one texture in a single install, work out each one separately — a 20″ straight and a 20″ curly will not hang at the same place, which is its own section below.
What people actually buy
The lengths that sell, and what that tells you
Charts show you what is possible. Order data shows you what works. These are our own numbers from a clean twelve-month window, and they are a better first filter than any inspiration photo.
18″
The most ordered length by a distance
More than one in five bundles we sell is 18 inches. It reads as long in a photograph, sits at the bra strap on most frames, still takes three bundles rather than four, and is short enough that the ends keep their density. If you have no strong opinion, this is the length to have no opinion about.
74%
Of everything sold is 14″ to 22″
Fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty and twenty-two inches together account for roughly three-quarters of every unit that leaves here. That band is where the hair still looks full at the ends, the install stays manageable, and the price has not started climbing steeply. Most first purchases belong in it.
4.5%
Of orders are 26″ and longer
Very long hair is a much smaller business than Instagram suggests. It costs more because fewer donors grow hair that long, it needs an extra bundle to avoid looking thin at the ends, and it takes noticeably more upkeep. Worth buying deliberately — not worth defaulting to.
Share of units sold, September 2025 to May 2026. Longer lengths also need more hair: two bundles cover 12″ to 14″, three cover 16″ to 22″, four from 24″ up. The bundle calculator settles the count for your install.
Do it yourself
How to measure hair length in five steps
You need a soft tape measure and a mirror. If you only have a rigid ruler, a piece of string marked with a pen and then laid flat against the ruler works just as well.
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Straighten the hair first
Whether you are measuring hair you own or hair on your head, it has to be straight and dry. Curl, waves and even a damp towel-dry will cost you inches and make the number meaningless. Extensions are measured stretched, so measure yours stretched too.
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Start at the top of the weft, not the seam stitching
On a bundle, hold the tape at the very top edge of the weft — the fabric strip — and run it down to the tip of the longest hair. On a wig, start at the crown of the cap. On clip-ins, start at the top of the clip. Starting anywhere else is where most home measurements go wrong.
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Measure your own hair from the crown down your back
To work out what length to order, measure yourself rather than the hair. Stand straight, run a soft tape from the crown of your head down your back, and note the inches at the landmark you want the extensions to reach — shoulder, bra strap, waist. That number is your target worn length.
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Add the shrinkage for your texture
Take your target worn length and add back what the curl will take: nothing for straight, one to two inches for yaki and kinky straight, two to four for body and loose wave, four to six for deep wave, six to eight for curly. Round up to the next even inch, because that is how lengths are sold.
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Check it against the chart before you order
Find your number in the chart above and confirm the landmark matches what you pictured. Two minutes here is the difference between hair that sits where you wanted and a return — length mismatch is the most common reason hair comes back to us.
Measuring your own hair matters most when you are blending a leave-out. Extensions that finish more than a couple of inches past your own hair are harder to blend at the ends, which is why very long installs usually go under a closure or frontal instead — that decision is in the closures and frontals guide.
The question nobody answers
Should all your bundles be the same length?
This is one of the most asked and least answered questions in hair forums, and the honest answer is that it depends on one thing: whether you want the install to look like a haircut or like a curtain.
Same length in every bundle gives you a blunt, heavy line. All the hair ends in the same place, so the perimeter reads as one solid edge. It photographs beautifully, it suits straight and body wave, and it is the right answer if the look you saved has a sharp bottom line. It is also the simplest thing to order — three bundles, one number.
Graduated lengths give you movement and save your density. The standard approach is to put the shortest bundle at the bottom, nearest the nape, and the longest at the top. Going shorter at the nape and longer up top means the longer hair falls over the shorter and the ends stay thick rather than thinning into wisps. A common three-bundle order is 16″, 18″, 20″ or 18″, 20″, 22″.
The reverse — longest at the bottom — is usually a mistake. Putting the longest bundle at the nape leaves the ends unsupported and is what makes long installs read stringy from behind. If a stylist is planning to layer the hair afterwards anyway, same-length bundles cut into shape will get you there more predictably than trying to graduate by ordering.
Two inches apart is the working rule. Steps bigger than two inches show as visible shelves rather than layers unless the hair is cut afterwards. Steps smaller than two inches are not available, since lengths are sold in even numbers.
Mixing textures is a separate decision from mixing lengths. Two textures at the same labelled length will not hang at the same place — 20″ curly wears six inches shorter than 20″ straight. If you are blending textures deliberately, work each one back to its worn length using the shrinkage table first, then decide on the steps. The hair texture guide covers which textures blend with each other and with your own hair.
Other products, other rules
Why your closure is shorter than your bundles
People order a 22″ closure with 22″ bundles, install it, and find the closure sitting several inches short. Nothing is wrong. Closures are measured the same way but they start further forward on your head.
A closure starts at your hairline; your bundles start behind it. The closure sits at the crown or front where the hair is parted, so its length runs down from higher up and further forward. Installed, a closure of the same labelled length as your bundles reads roughly two inches shorter through the front, which is exactly the effect you want — it frames the face instead of hanging flat with everything else.
The convention: match, or go two inches shorter. Most stylists order the closure at the same length as the shortest bundle, or two inches shorter than the bundles for a face-framing finish. Ordering the closure longer than the bundles almost never looks right. Sizes, lace types and how to blend the piece are in the closures and frontals guide.
Wigs are measured from the crown of the cap. That makes a 20″ wig and a 20″ set of bundles land in about the same place on the same person, with the same texture. A bob is the exception worth knowing: bob wigs are typically 8″ to 14″, and at those lengths one inch changes the whole shape of the cut. Wigs 101 covers cap constructions.
Braiding hair is measured folded. Packs sold as 42″ or 48″ are giving you the total strand, which gets folded in half over the braid — so the usable length hanging down is roughly half that, minus whatever the braid pattern takes. Do not compare a braiding-hair number to a bundle number; they are not measuring the same thing.
Clip-ins are measured from the top of the clip. Because clips sit an inch or two below your part, clip-ins read very slightly shorter than bundles of the same labelled length.
Questions
Hair length questions, answered
How long is 14 inch hair?
On a 5′5″ frame, 14 inches of straight hair sits just past the shoulder. In body wave it wears at about 12 inches, right at the shoulder; in deep wave about 10 inches, at the collarbone. Fourteen inches is our second most ordered length and a common first sew-in.
How long is 16 inch hair?
Sixteen inches of straight hair reaches the underarm. Body wave wears at about 14 inches, just past the shoulder, and deep wave at about 12 inches, right at the shoulder. It is the shortest length most people describe as clearly long rather than mid-length.
How long is 18 inch hair?
Eighteen inches of straight hair sits at the bra strap. In body wave it wears at about 15 inches, at the underarm; in deep wave about 13 inches, just past the shoulder. Eighteen inches is the single most ordered length at Mayvenn — more than one in five bundles sold.
How long is 20 inch hair?
Twenty inches of straight hair falls in the middle of your back. Body wave wears at about 17 inches, at the underarm, and deep wave at about 15 inches, just past the shoulder. It is where most people start needing three bundles rather than two to keep the ends full.
How long is 22 inch hair?
Twenty-two inches of straight hair sits below the bra strap, approaching the waist. In body wave it wears at about 19 inches, mid-back; in deep wave about 16 inches, at the underarm. This is the top of the band where three-quarters of orders sit.
How long is 24 inch hair?
Twenty-four inches of straight hair reaches the natural waist. Body wave wears at about 21 inches, below the bra strap, and deep wave at about 18 inches, at the bra strap. At 24 inches and above, plan on four bundles — three will look thin at the ends.
How long is 26 inch hair?
Twenty-six inches of straight hair sits just below the waist. Body wave wears at about 22 inches and deep wave at about 19 inches. Twenty-six inches and longer is only about 4.5% of what we sell; it costs more and needs more upkeep than most people expect.
How long is 30 inch hair?
Thirty inches of straight hair falls past the hip. In body wave it wears at about 26 inches, just below the waist; in deep wave about 22 inches, below the bra strap. Thirty and thirty-two inches are the longest lengths we carry and the steepest part of the price curve.
How do I measure my hair length?
Stretch the hair straight and dry, then run a soft tape from the crown of your head down your back to the point you want the extensions to reach. On a bundle, measure from the top edge of the weft to the tip of the longest hair; on a wig, from the crown of the cap; on clip-ins, from the top of the clip.
Why does my hair look shorter than the length I ordered?
Almost always curl. Extensions are measured pulled straight, and any wave or curl takes some of that back once installed — about 14% for body wave, 26% for deep wave, 32% for curly. A 22″ deep wave bundle wears at roughly 16 inches. Height also matters: the same length reads one to two inches shorter on a taller frame.
What length should I order if I want it to sit at my waist?
Waist is about 24 inches on a 5′5″ frame in straight hair. In body wave order 28″, in deep wave 32″, in curly you would need longer than we stock — which is why waist-length curly installs are usually built from the longest available length and accepted as sitting a little higher.
What is the best length for a first sew-in?
Sixteen or eighteen inches in a straight or body wave texture. Both sit in the range where three bundles give full ends, the install is manageable, and the hair is short enough to handle while you learn the upkeep. Eighteen inches is the most ordered length here for exactly those reasons.
Is 18 inches considered long hair?
Yes, for most people. Eighteen inches of straight hair sits at the bra strap, several inches below the shoulder, which reads as long in everyday terms. It is considered a mid-to-long length within the extension category, where lengths run to 32 inches.
Does length change how many bundles I need?
Yes. Two bundles cover 12″ to 14″, three cover 16″ to 22″, and four are standard from 24″ up. Longer hair has to cover more surface area, so the same amount of hair spreads thinner and the ends lose density. Curly textures often need one more than straight at the same length.
Why is my closure shorter than my bundles?
Because it starts further forward. A closure sits at the part, so the same labelled length runs down from higher up on your head and reads about two inches shorter through the front. Most stylists order the closure to match the shortest bundle, or two inches shorter, for a face-framing finish.
Should all my bundles be the same length?
Same length gives a blunt, heavy perimeter. Graduated lengths — shortest at the nape, longest at the top, two inches apart — give movement and keep the ends thick. A common three-bundle order is 16″, 18″, 20″. Putting the longest bundle at the nape is the mistake that makes long installs look stringy.
How long is 42 inch braiding hair?
Roughly 21 inches of usable length. Braiding hair is sold as a total strand that gets folded in half over the braid, so half of the labelled number hangs down — less once the braid pattern takes its share. Braiding-hair numbers are not comparable to bundle or wig numbers.
How many inches does hair grow in a year?
About six inches for most people, or roughly half an inch a month. It varies with genetics, health and how much length is lost to breakage at the ends. Extensions do not change growth rate; protective installs help mainly by reducing daily manipulation and breakage.
Keep reading
The rest of the Mayvenn guides
This page is about inches. These cover the texture that changes what those inches look like, and everything that happens after the install.
Hair texture guide
Every hair type from 1A to 4C, which extension texture matches it, and why the typing chart only tells you part of the story. Read the texture guide.
Hair bundles guide
How many bundles, which grade, what they cost, and a calculator that settles the count for your install. Read the bundles guide.
Closures and frontals guide
Why the closure reads shorter, every lace size drawn to scale, and how to blend the piece. Read the lace guide.
Hair care guide
Long hair only stays long if the ends survive. Washing, sealing, heat limits and nightly wrapping. Read the care guide.
Wigs 101
Wig lengths are measured from the crown of the cap. Every cap construction explained, drawn to scale. Read Wigs 101.
Find your length in a minute
A short quiz that matches you to a texture, a length and a bundle count. Take the hair quiz.
Ready to shop by length? Every length from 10″ to 32″ is in virgin bundles, and three-bundle sets sized for one install are in bundle deals. Anything we have not covered is probably in the FAQ, and if the length still lands wrong, our 30-day guarantee covers it.
Ready when you are
Every length from 10 to 32 inches
Eleven textures, in two-inch steps, with closures and frontals to match. If the length lands wrong, our 30-day guarantee covers it.