The number one export in India, Hair!

Do you ever wonder where your “hair extension hair” comes from. Well, I was recently enlightened from the Oprah show when Chris Rock was on talking about his new film “Good Hair” that the majority of our hair extension hair that we get in Hollywood and even from China actually comes from a Hindu Temple in India “Tirupati” where woman go to sacrifice their hair as an offering and to surrender the ego. I love the Hindu religion and respect it very much but there is something un pure about this process to me. Most of these woman have no idea that their hair will be sold for thousands of dollars to the US.

Temple in India

I have dabbled with hair extensions and I always knew they came from India but was curious if all the Indian Woman seem to have their long hair where is this hair coming from, I guess it is much better than my fear that they came from dead bodies.
I read an article from E news Woman and here is a little from it:
“Every year hair worth about $136 million is shipped from India, one of the largest exporters of human hair, to factories in China. There, Chinese hair is mixed with Indian hair to make wigs and hair extensions for Western markets.
Exporters say buyers from countries such as the United States pay $1.50 for a strand of hair that expensive beauty salons may then weave into extensions or wigs that can sell for between $1,500 and $3,000. Exporters say that Hollywood is one of the biggest consumers of human hair.
Every year, over 9 million devotees stand in serpentine queues to pay obeisance to its deity and have their heads shorn to fulfill a vow or pledge. After the hair is collected, the temple stores it in 14 steel containers, with male and female hair kept separate. Once the warehouse is stocked, auction notices are advertised in four languages, all south Indian, in three popular newspapers and on the temple’s official Web site.
In the most recent financial year the temple sold over 3 million kilos of hair for about $1 million.
Exporters also buy hair from salons and rag-pickers. In the village of Bhagyanagar, Karnataka, about 2,000 families depend on the hair they collect from garbage dumps.
Gupta, the hair exporter, said that he distributes plastic bags to women in the local village near his factory in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, to keep outside their huts. Every time they comb their hair, those that fall are collected in the bag. After a week, a broker will collect these bags and pay the women a small sum.”
From http://www.womensenews.org/story/business/060709/indian-temples-do-brisk-business-womens-hair

My Goodness….we are using the leftover hair from the hair brush, hair from dumpsters and sacrificed hair! This is crazy

Tiana Griego