Dyeing hair colours - image via Qingdao Crown of Hair Products Co

In China, searching through online retailers such as the obvious - Ali Express/ Alibaba- I found prices starting at .30c per strand of hair, other online retailers prices went as high as $1160nzd per kilogram for cuts of 20 inches of virgin Remy. Aside from basic information such as hair type and colour, there isn’t much else and retailers don’t include where the hair is sourced but some did say the hair was ethical.
There are many US hair extension retailers, including Kim Kardashian and J Lo’s hairstylist Chris Appleton’s preferred brand, who state that hair is “collected voluntarily, from healthy women and crafted using fair labour standards using environmentally friendly techniques”, others show photos of happy factory workers wearing pink t-shirts treating hair or making the extensions that later get outsourced to America.

Factory workers - image via Qingdao Crown of Hair Products Co

On the flip side, articles circulating from July 2020 state US Border Officials seized 13 tonnes of products made from human hair, which they believe was taken from Muslims in labour camps in China’s western Xinjiang province, where over 3 million Uyghurs are inhumanly detained. "The production of these products is a very serious violation of human rights, and the arrest warrant is intended to send a clear and direct message to all entities seeking to do business with the United States that illegal and inhumane practices will not be tolerated in U.S. supply chains," said Brenda Smith, deputy executive commissioner of CBP's Office of Commerce.

Image via CNN

In India, as a ritual of devotion, Hindu people participate in a practice known as tonsuring, where they shave their hair in memory of a loved one, seeking purification or punishment, or to honour a God. Many make pilgrimages to temples such as the Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala, India, where 500 barbers work 24/7 to tonsure the heads of pilgrims – on average they shave 20,000 men, women and children’s heads a day. Where does the hair of 20,000 people go?
Up until the 1960s, the shorn hair was disposed of and thrown into local rivers, however, these days freshly cut hair is collected by ‘temple sweepers’ from baskets or barrels as it hits the temple floor before being transferred to a warehouse, untangled, sorted, washed clean of blood, lice picked out, treated and dried under the sun and sold at online auctions.

Image via tirumala.org

The millions made every year is circulated back into local communities for hospitals and education, engineering works, sanitation, vigilance and security. A lot of this hair is sold to Great Lengths International, where it’s being further treated, made into extensions and supplying 40,000 salons worldwide with premium ‘virgin Remy’ hair. While some devotees don’t know what extensions are, or that their sacrificed hair is being sold at online auctions, others don’t mind and simply wish for a blessing from God and beauty for whoever ends up with their hair.

Image via Emma Tarlo, BBC

Commonly in Russia, women and young girls living in lower-socio-economic and remote areas sell their hair to hair traders to supplement basic living costs and earn money for necessities for their family. In 2013, Daily Mail reported, “thousands of traders travel across Russia's 13 time zones hosting 'cutting session' fairs in remote towns and cities for those ready to part with their hair for roubles by posting up adverts on lampposts in the places they travel through and on the internet”. Compared to the price you pay for extensions, these women might make around $40NZD for their undyed hair - which is some of the ‘best’ quality hair money can buy apparently.

Valentina, age 13 - image via Daily Mail

In 2013, the BBC reported that in Venezuela, hair thieves known as ‘Las Piranhas’ – groups of 2 to 3 women – were known to approach women and girls in downtown areas, beaches and malls, where they would hold them down, sometimes at gunpoint to tie their hair and hack it off with scissors. This violence was stemmed from the allure of profit, with the thieves selling the coveted hair for up to $800NZD per ponytail. Since then, due to increased poverty many Venezuelan women from poorer neighbourhoods were known to travel miles to cross the border into Columbia where they would sell their hair to middlemen known as ‘draggers’ or to local wig makers for $85NZD, the sharp economic decline has also seen an increase in women and girls selling their hair directly to beauty salons for around $100 to help their family afford a better quality of life, and able to purchase general necessities such as medicine or food.

Image via AP News

There are many companies trying to make a difference and among them is Dan Choi, founder of Remy NY, based in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Choi personally travels around the country to meet the women who reach out to him to donate their hair, he cuts their hair and pays a fair wage - this higher than normal price means a woman can provide for her family for several months, or pay for education for a year, and in America, his company provides employment opportunities for women who are being trained in making wigs and extensions.

Image via Refinery29