Simply put, virgin hair is untouched hair, like what we start out on this world with. It refers to strands that have never been color-treated or chemically processed in any way. To get more specific, it’s hair that is completely and totally free from perms, bleaches, color treatments, and dyes—and yes, highlights and ombré hair also count. 

Once you have processed or color-treated hair, it can never go back to being virgin. That’s right, once you’ve dyed your hair, even just once, you lose your virgin strands forever. Virgin hair is a hair colorist’s dream because it’s also much easier to color hair that doesn’t already have dye on it. Colorists also get excited over virgin hair because of its strength, which is due to the fact that it’s never been damaged by chemicals. This is also the reason that many high-end hair extensions are made from virgin hair.