100% Indian Hair
Every time I drive down La Brea here in L.A., I always do a double take when I cross Pico. There is this huge red sign in front of a store in a strip mall that says, "100% Indian Hair." As a South Asian woman, I find this sign ridiculously strange and wonder just what exactly would happen if I walked into the store. Would they turn me away? Would they kidnap me into the back room for a hair hijacking? Should I start collecting the hair out of my drain and bring it in for some extra money to pay for grad school? What is it about my kind of hair that makes beauty shops so excited about advertising that they have "100% Indian Hair?"
I am reminded of a former African-American co-worker of mine every time I think of hair weaves. I remember the first time she told me she was getting hair extensions in her hair, how she was so excited and ecstatically told me, "I'm paying more money for my extensions because it's real human hair!"
I was mortified. "Whose human hair is it?!?!"
She thought about it for a minute. "You know, I don't know. I just know it's human hair."
I was seriously grossed out by this thought. I likened it to using old nail clippings and glueing it onto someone else's nail. You see, in the process of getting hair extensions, one gets long strands of hair, sometimes fake, some times real. These strands are then placed into people's hair to give the appearance of longer, fuller hair overnight. The hair can be braided in, glued in, sewed in, or clamped in. People pay a lot of money to get this hair placed into their own. But the thing that they don't know is where this human hair comes from.
Why Indian hair? Because our hair is the best. No, for real, that's what the research shows. Indian hair is thicker than European hair and thinner than Chinese hair. Once treated, it is less prone to breaking. The best kind of hair is long and untreated, with all the cuticles in the same direction. It is collected in plaits. Where, oh where, can you find such hair?
Well, the web research show that plaits of hair in India are cut off for weddings or offered to god at religious temples. This hair is then collected by "hair factories" that buy it for 15 rupees (25 cents) per gram. This one hair retailer based out of Chennai says, "Indian women donate their hair as an offering to their god as a sign of modesty. It is their understanding that it will be sold by the monks for a substantial sum of money that will be used to finance schools, hospitals and other publicly favored facilities."
I have some serious problems believing this. First of all, I don't remember an Indian wedding I’ve attended or a Bollywood movie I’ve seen where the hair was cut off the women. Secondly, women in India are ridiculously vain about their hair and will spend hours going through the ritual of soaking their hair in warm coconut oil and shampooing twice. A woman would have to be desperate and really in need of the 15 rupees per gram to cut her hair. Thirdly, supposing that women cut off their hair at the temple as an offering to a god. I'm not so sure that they'd be happy in knowing that their hair is really going around the world to be weaved into someone's hair for $50 a plait.
OK, here comes the speech. The thing that disturbs me about the whole hair trade is the "south corrupts the south" mentality, i.e., women of color in the United States are the ones benefiting from the exploitation of woman of color in South Asia. How can women consciously get human hair weaved into their own without knowing where the hair came from? Or that it came from the exploitation of other women of color? It's the same way people of color will go to Wal-Mart to buy their clothes without consciously thinking of the people of color who created the clothes in sweatshops. Where's the solidarity, people?
I'm all about looking good and spending the money on making that happen. I'm also totally aware that I have cream of the crop hair that is the envy of all, and whatever I say will be met with, "What do you care, you have 100 percent Indian hair." I also understand that there is a whole culture of getting hair weaves that I am not a part of, and that by telling people not to get hair weaves anymore, I am inflicting my cultural values on theirs. I get it. But I do think that, as one woman of color to another woman of color, it is important to know the truth about 100 percent human hair, that this hair was actually alive and had a life before it entered into a weave.
As for me, I'm going to start collecting the hair off my pillow and see if I can make some money with my 100 percent Indian hair.
Tanzila "Taz" Ahmed is a writer living in Los Angeles.
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Indian Hair
Posted by: texastrueglamourgirl on Nov 3, 2006 9:32 PM
First let me I like your spirit. You saw, what you thought was, an odd advertisement directly or indirectly related to you. You conducted an investigation (although minimal), had open dialog with a direct consumer and posted a blog. You appear willing to listen and also willing to share. For these things I applaud you. However, (as I am certain you knew was coming) you did not gain a complete understanding of how merchandising works. Nor did you gain an accurate story of why the 100% Human Indian hair is so coveted.So in brief here are the facts: In the early 80s free flowing human was being marketed toward the African American community. It was limited in shades and quantity and it was expensive. The market was receptive. A niche was created and everyone wanted in. This first wave of "human hair" was from China. Once suppliers realized the demand, they tried to fill it with cheaper hair. Consumers embraced the variety and the market grew. However, the quality of hair got worse. There was no way to tell hair if the hair would last two weeks or ten. The consumers started researching and found that the hair labeled "human hair" was not always the truth. So they started only buying hair that said "100% Human Hair" as a way to eliminate hair disasters. This system started failing as well.
100% Human Hair from India is the latest craze!!! Supposedly, hair from India is not filled with the synthetic fibers (being passed off as human hair) and therefore is a better buy. This too shall pass. I am certain the quality of the 100% Human Hair from Indian will be diluted as well and the newest craze will be some remote island in the pacific.
I am sorry to inform you that it's not the wonderful hair from poor Indian women being exploited here in America. It is the naivety of the supplier that we were counting on. If you collected all the hair you had in your pillows, drains, and all other receptacles of your family members there would still not be a market. We would be afraid of germs -we believe in the process LOL. So if I were you I would set up a business plan and start importing from India before the bubble burst (smile).
Again, I applaud your personality. If you are really looking for a cause try bringing awareness to the mutilation of mind workers in Sierra Leone (Africa). They lose lives and the least sever lose arms, legs and feet,unlilke nonliving hair, for the chance to work in diamond mines. These people's only hopes are of finding a diamond that they will be paid 100th of a percent for (retail in America). Now doesn't the hair cutting scenario seem a little lame comparatively? Here is a link for further information: www.amnestyusa.org/amnestynow/diamonds.htm
Let's work on it together. I am Ardelia Austin and I can also help you real estate transactions in Atlanta, Georgia. I am an Associate Broker with Maxx Homes Realty and I am this detailed with everything!
PS I will be the one with 100% Human Hair (direct from India)-LOL.
Live your dreams,
Ardelia Austin (atlrealtorguru@yahoo.com)