British women's £1,200 hair extensions cut from poor Indian girls and sorted by exploited Chinese workers

Aug 23, 2023

One Indian temple reportedly earned £22million in a single year from the sale of its worshippers’ hair

PENNILESS Indian women have their heads shaved and receive nothing in return while poor Chinese workers sort through the locks before they are bleached.

These incredible pictures show the disturbing truth behind the hair extension industry.

Britain is the world's third biggest importer of human hair with thousands of women, including celebs from Cheryl Fernandez-Versini to Mary Berry, paying up to £1,200 to have their manes enhanced every few months.

However, few people know the unsettling journey the silky strands make before they reach up-market UK salons.

The process starts at Yadagirigutta Temple in southern India where impoverished women line up to have their heads shaved.

Indian hair is highly prized as much of it, known as ‘virgin hair’, has never been coloured, blow-dried or even cut.

Speaking to the Mail Online, Lavanya Kakala, 28, revealed that she was gifting her hair to God Vishnu and wants nothing in return.

She said: "I did this because I wanted to say thank you to my God.

"I’m not bothered what happens to my hair afterwards. If women with bad hair want to use my old hair to look better, it's better than it going in the bin."

The temples are supposed to plough the profits back into the community – however the vast sums of money are hard to trace.

One temple, Tirumala, reportedly earned an astonishing £22million in a single year from selling hair.

Head shaving is an act of pilgrimage for the Indian women and as many as 50,000 can be seen queuing at larger temples to take part in the ‘tonsuring’ ceremonies.

And despite its dark colour it can be bleached blonde, which is the biggest seller in UK salons.

For years, rumours have circulated that some hair extensions originate from tough Eastern European prisons where female inmates are shorn by guards.

In 2003, Victoria Beckham joked: "I’ve got Russian Cell Block H on my head."

Hair which has been growing from an early age has more keratin, the protein which makes up strands, making it incredibly healthy.

Once the hair, which is known in the industry as 'black gold, is collected it is transported to factories to be processed.

The first stage of processing is untangling which is done by hand and the task is painstakingly slow.

The Mail spoke to one elderly Chinese woman, 83, who works in a factory using a darning needle to untangle the strands.

She said: "I can't see much, but I make up for it with patience."

The hair is then ‘hackled’ which involves it being repeatedly put through a comb with sharp iron prongs to smooth it out.

The next stage is ‘drawing out’ the hair into strands of different lengths before it is combed and tied into bunches.

After that the hair is soaked, with cheaper locks doused in acid to remove germs.

High-quality hair is placed in an osmosis bath which slowly removes dark pigments without damaging the cuticles.

At the lower end of the market, human hair is sometimes mixed with horse manes or clippings from goat hides.

Synthetic hair made from acrylic fibres can also be found in extensions claiming to be ‘real’.

One celeb who may have invested in some low-quality extensions is pop superstar Britney Spears who was spotted having a seriously bad hair day on earlier this month.

While shopping in Los Angeles with friends, the singer's extra-long hair extensions appeared to be breaking away from her scalp.

Looking casual in a pair of tiny, denim daisy dukes and an oversized pink jumper, Britney looked as though she was trying to keep a low profile.

In other bad hair day news, earlier this year a woman was left with hair extensions stuck to her head after buying ‘special’ glue off the internet.

Lauren Dewick, 25, says the adhesive was so strong even PLIERS have failed to remove the extensions.

Lauren bought and put in the extensions in February but had been trying in vain to remove them for nearly a week.

The mum-of-two said: "We’ve been trying to take them out all weekend, but the glue bonds that are left in are not softening at all – they are rock solid.

"You can't even crush or bite them out.

"We’ve even tried using pure acetone to try to get them out and it burnt through my friend's gloves because it was that strong, but they’re still not budging.

"I just want to cry because my hair is that important to me."

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