Have you ever wondered where the hair for wigs and extensions comes from? Well, it is not a happy story. It’s the global human hair trade.
Raw vs Natural
Raw human hair has a significant commercial value. In some countries, criminals have made hair theft an issue. Raw human hair is 100% unprocessed, single-donor hair with cuticles intact, which can last three to five years.
Natural human hair is also highly valued in international trade, processed by businesses into hair extensions and wigs. The natural “virgin” hair is also unprocessed, but is often steamed to achieve a uniform look. It has a shorter lifespan of one to two years. The raw hair is more sought after as it is more durable and blends best with natural hair.
Profits Made
The international sales of exported human hair just by itself totaled $200.6 million in 2024. The top exporters of human hair are India, Pakistan, and the United States of America. They were responsible for 97.3% of worldwide exports of the commodity in 2024.
Where It Started
Refinery29 dove into the source, going all the way back in the 1800’s when peasant women in France were lured into being “shorn like sheep”. In the early 1900’s, it was reported that hair in the United States came from sewers and corpses in China. It was also around this time that many believed hair dealers were shady businessmen and therefore banned from entering Ellis Island. In the modern day, women are sometimes held at gunpoint just for their hair. Refinery29 says that they “set up shop” wherever women are the most disenfranchised.
Detangling
Many women spend up to six hours a day detangling hair. They only get paid about 50 cents a day for this work, but are driven to keep their family afloat. Specifically in Bangladesh, women will not cut their own hair but will spend years detangling other people’s hair. Since Bangladesh is a Muslim country, it is considered “haram” to sell there because they view it as disobeying Allah. Instead, they use free-fall hair since they value the money.
Getting Scammed
Lexy Lebsack, a senior beauty editor, spoke to Riqua Hailes, founder of Just Extensions Salon. Hailes was scammed out of $10,000, leading her to travel to over six countries to find the source of the hair. Due to very limited regulations, she found out that the cheapest tier of human hair sold is mixed with plastic. It uses “fallen hair,” which usually comes from combs, hair from the floor of salons, and drains. It is then detangled, processed with chemicals, coated with silicon, and sometimes mixed with synthetic or animal hair.
High Quality
The highest quality and hardest to find is “virgin Remy.” Many brokers try to pass off hair as this elusive tier. Hailes now buys her hair from India, which is known as one of the most ethical places to source hair. For example, the Shri Venkateswara Temple is the most visited in the world, with devotees coming every year to offer their hair to the gods. As a result, they bring in more than seven million dollars a year with the hair donations.
Hair that is prime for exploitation matches specific hair color and texture. In the video by Refinery29, Lebsack visited Vietnam, a place known to barely offer anything to women for their hair. Alternatively, they offer a good deal and then disappear before payment. Dan Choi, owner of Remy New York, is trying to change that by being as ethical and transparent as possible. The brand has a variety of lengths, and they “try not to turn away anybody just because everybody needs help.”
He travels in person for the hair and met with a woman who was selling in order to help her family get by. She said, “After I cut it, I will be very sad”. This was also not the first time someone came for her hair, but she had declined all previous times because the offers were as low as two or three dollars. Choi pays a little over one hundred dollars, enough to cover over a month of expenses for the whole family.
Think Before You Buy
Clearly hair is a major export that can be considered illegal as people try to smuggle it out to buyers. Buyers don’t often think of the women who give up their hair, whether by choice or forced by financial circumstances. Some people are trying to change the system and make it more ethical and beneficial to those giving up their hair.
It’s time to start questioning where your extensions or wigs are coming from. Just like we want to know where our food is sourced, bought hair should be evaluated intentionally. More importantly, we should consider the women who are impacted by this practice.
