Hair, hair, beautiful hair

New Delhi - India exports human hair worth $33m every year to 10 countries including China, Hong Kong and the United States, a minister told parliament on Friday.

China, Hong Kong, Tunisia and the United States are the biggest buyers of Indian hair and products made from it, Junior Commerce Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

India has sent delegations to Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and the United States to try to increase their orders for hair, he said.

Every year tens of millions of Indian Hindus tonsure at temples in a ritualistic sacrifice they belief can bring prosperity and luck, with tonsured hair sold overseas.

Makes you wonder how much real hair is used in the US for wigs and hairpieces.  Locks of Love collects lots of ponytails for their wigs, and actually sells most of the collections.  Yet I see primarily synthetic hair pieces on the market.  Who is buying the real hair hairpieces?

I read somewhere in a discussion about synthetic wigs and real hair wigs that the real hair is better since it is easier to style but synthetic hair doesn't have to be washed. I guess that means that there are every day people who use human hair on their heads!

Actually, synthetic hair is usually easier to manage.  They hold their style without requiring setting.  To wash, you just swish with a gentle shampoo in the sink, rinse and dry.  Shake it out a bit after it has dried, then brush.  A real-hair wig requires special handling and typically a trip to the hair salon to be cleaned and re-styled.  

Does anyone know just how they make a wig out of human hair?  How much length is ideal to donate to places like Locks for Love?

Locks of Love requests pony tails that are at least 10 inches.  They say it takes 15 - 20 pony tails to make one of their wigs.

Personnally, I would not donate hair to them.  They do not distribute that many wigs.  They sell the majority of the hair, and their accounting practices do not meet the Better Business Bureau standards for charitable organizations.  They tend to try to make people feel guilty for having long hair.

The medical profession recommends synthetic wigs for cancer victims because they are more comfortable, less costly, and easier to maintain.

If I want to help kids who suffer hair loss, there are better ways for me to do it.  I would donate money to research for the prevention or cure of the causes.

wrote on Jun 4^th, 2003 at 2:41pm:

Does anyone know just how they make a wig out of human hair?  How much length is ideal to donate to places like Locks for Love?

The ideal length is absolutely ZERO!  Locks of Love throws away more hair than it makes into wigs.  Countless numbers of people donate hair that ends up in the trash.  If people were donating money instead of hair, the charity would have been shut down a long time ago.

Thanks for your support on this issue, Rapunzel!  My stomach turns everytime I hear another Locks of Love campaign.   >:(

Wow.  I had no idea.  I will let my friends know this information.  My friend that donates regularly may want to know that her hair is most likely being sold or thrown away!!!  How sad an organization can play on people's sympathies like this   :'(

The BBB rates charities on their financial status as a not-for-profit.  Locks of Love does not rate well.  Here is the web page of the most recent rating.

http://www.give.org/reports/care2_dyn.asp?733

my friend savannah just cut her almost BSL curly hair to right above her sholders for Locks of Love. she tells me i'm selfish for not donating my hair(which is about 6 inches longer). I often think about donating my hair even without savannah. that made me feel more guilty about my hair. How can I aviod the situation? She looks at my hair and comments on how there r more important things then hair. Am I selfish? Y can't she leave me alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ???

You are not selfish.  A donation should be made of your own free will, not out of guilt.  LoL sells most of the hair it receives, so your hair most likely would end up in some hair warehouse not on a child's wig.

When I am asked why I don't donate to LoL, I tell them I donate blood on a regular basis, I donate financially to many charitable organizations and I volunteer my time.  My hair probably would not help a child as much as the blood, money or time I give, so I will keep my hair until I am ready to cut it.  

My feeling is that the demand for hair in the US is not the result of demand for wigs or hairpieces so much as for hair extensions. I've found lots of African-American hair care/beauty websites that sell loads of hair of all types and qualities, both loose for braiding in and on wefts for weaving. The concensus on these sites is that natural hair lasts longer and is easier to care for, as synthetic tends to be tangly and hard to style unless you have special low-temp styling tools.

But if you like extensions and wear them continuously, you're going to need to replace them regularly. It's not like a wig that is "off-duty" when you're not wearing it.

Now there's a high-maintenance hair style. :o

*rant alert*

why should we feel guilty for having long hair.....of all things??!!!!!!!!!!
do the people who accuse us of being selfish feel guilty for eating when others are starving, for buying luxury items when others a homeless? NO. just as we shouldnt feel guilty for growing and enjoying our hair, there are more selfish things out there.

whenever i see a charity for childrens cancer, i will always try to donate. like Bikerbraid, i feel this is far more beneficial.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr it makes me so ANGRY that some people think we should just hack are hair off....!  >:(  >:(  >:(  >:(

*rant over....steps off soap box*

...so, how are you?  :)

Many enjoy the moral high ground, but true philanthropy is not based on smugness and perceived superiority.

Until the time when we're living in the age of Soylent Green, it is nobody's business what you do with your hair or anything else.

/Kate

I support the idea of donating blood, volunteer time, or money to a good cause... rather than donating hair. While they are incredible improvement to self-esteem, I agree with Bikerbraid that wigs don't exactly save lives, end hunger, cure cancer, or warm anybody up with a hot bowl of soup.