A placement chart is a head diagram showing rows, tab counts and spacing for a given density. It is a starting point, not a plan. Every head differs in hairline, occipital shape and density, so a chart is read and then adjusted against the head in front of you.
Charts are useful. They give a shape to an install, a rough count to order against, and a way to explain a plan to a client before anything is stuck to their head.
They are also drawn for an average head that nobody has, and knowing where they stop being right is the actual skill.
What a chart is telling you
| What is drawn | What it means |
|---|---|
| Horizontal lines across the head | Rows. Each one is a sectioning line, worked bottom to top |
| Rectangles along a line | Sandwiches. Two tabs each, so double the count for tabs |
| Gaps between rectangles | Spacing, so the head can bend without tabs meeting |
| An empty band at the top | The section left free to lie over everything beneath |
| An empty margin round the edge | The perimeter, kept clear so corners do not lift or show |
Count the rectangles, not the lines. A chart showing 40 sandwiches is an 80-tab install, which is more than one pack of 60.
The four things a chart does not know
- Where the hairline actually sits. A high or receding hairline moves the top boundary down, sometimes by a lot.
- The shape of the occipital bone. A pronounced one needs a wider gap left across the back of the head.
- Real density. A chart drawn for medium hair puts too many sandwiches in fine hair and too few in thick.
- How the hair is worn. Someone who lives in a high ponytail needs a different perimeter from someone who never ties it up.
All four are visible in thirty seconds with the client in the chair and invisible on paper, which is the whole argument for treating a chart as a draft.
Adapting a chart to the head in front of you
- Section first, chart secondPut the sectioning lines in and see where they actually land before committing to a count.
- Find the hairline and the occipitalMark the real boundaries rather than the drawn ones. These move the plan more than anything else.
- Test one section for thicknessIf you can't see light through it, the chart's count is too low for this head.
- Adjust the count, not the spacingCrowding rows to hit a number is how an install ends up stiff and uncomfortable.
- Write down what you didSo the move-up starts from the real plan rather than the chart again.
That last step is the one that pays off. The second install on the same head should be better than the first, and it only is if somebody recorded what actually worked.
We do not publish a chart
We make tabs, a remover and an application tool. We don't make a placement chart, a board or a mapping product, and we would sooner say so than present a generic diagram as though it were a specification.
A chart from a hair supplier is usually drawn for their wefts at their widths, which is useful information if you're using those wefts and less so otherwise.
And no chart replaces a consultation. Density and scalp condition are things to look at, not to infer from a drawing.
What we sell for this
Close to this question
- Tape-in extension placement. Defines the safe zone and its four boundaries, and explains the consequence of crossing each one.
- Thin hair tape-in placement boards and diagrams. Covers placement boards as a teaching and record-keeping tool, and why section thickness beats mapping on thin hair.
- Tape hair extension placement guide. The chronological working sequence of an install session, in the chair and at home.
- Tape-in extensions for fine and thin hair. Separates fine hair from thin hair as distinct constraints and sets the limit for each.
Questions we get asked
How many rows does a full head take?
Commonly four to six rows worked from the nape up, with the count per row driven by density. Charts vary and so do heads.
Does a chart tell me how many tabs to buy?
Roughly. Count the sandwiches on the chart and double it for tabs. Forty sandwiches is eighty tabs, which is more than one 60-tab pack.
Are placement charts different for fine hair?
They should be. Fine hair carries fewer wefts and needs thinner sections, so a chart drawn for medium density will overload it.
Do you sell a placement chart?
No. The Complete System includes a step-by-step digital guide sent by email, but We make no chart or a board as a product.