Long ...but interesting "100% Indian Hair "

[Hair Iam]

Immigration
100% Indian Hair

By Tanzila Ahmed, February 8, 2006

How can women consciously get human hair weaved into their own without knowing where the hair came from?
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.

 

[SimpleKomplexity]

Hmmm interesting post...I like

 

[MariposaSexyGirl]

She said all this to say what?How wonderful her hair is?

 

[poetist]

She said all this to say what?How wonderful her hair is?

Right. And if the truth be told, Indian hair is in demand because its cheap. European hair is the most expensive, most prized hair because its rare and works better for the caucasian market (read: hollywood.)

I understand the concerns about wearing someone elses hair, but to each her own. It is like the PETA thing. Some folks cant understand why others choose to wear leather or chinchilla and others are grossed out by how many choose to eat dead animal carcasses.

Anyhow, off to fix me a rotisserie chicken sandwich, then apply my chinese remi lace wig

 

[malibu4590]

I find it ironic how the author is so bent on trying to figure out why people of color "clamor", so to speak, about this Indian hair yet she makes no mention of how white women (and men -- John Travolta and his lacefront, anyone ) have been the ones who started wearing the Remy hair first.

SMH

 

[senimoni]

I don't agree with everything she says but she does make a point.

 

[Dak]

Interesting perspective, but I think to address the poverty that would make a woman in India decide to sell her hair would make more sense. I think that in America it's hard to relate to that kind of poverty, but who are we to say? Is it really any different than that college student that sells her eggs to a fertility lab to finance college? Or people that sell plasma/blood to labs? What brings a person to selling something so personal and who are we to judge? If it came down to selling your body on the street or selling your hair, which would the author choose?

 

[Blossssom]

I find it ironic how the author is so bent on trying to figure out why people of color "clamor", so to speak, about this Indian hair yet she makes no mention of how white women (and men -- John Travolta and his lacefront, anyone ) have been the ones who started wearing the Remy hair first.

SMH

Okay... NEVA THAT, HUH?

I'm going to give these Indian products a try, but I don't hold out a lot of hope, although the one poster who said she got three inches in three months is an inspiration, which is what propelled me in buying these items to begin with.

In the end, I believe that hair growth is mandated by genetics and while I have to agree that Indian people do seem to have the PRETTIEST hair, I believe it's naturally that way and it's not something that they are using on the hair to make it that way.

I will reserve judgment until I have tested the products myself, however.

 

[Lovelylocs]

She needs to keep researching. She never told us where the hair really comes from. Plus, who cares if the Indian women are cutting their hair and selling it. It's not like they are being scalped. It'll grow back. It's just hair, right? And weaves are not nasty like she is making it sound. It's not any nastier than wearing leather. The hair is treated. Plus, maybe she start with India. The women in Bollywood movies wear hair extensions, too! And they are born with Indian hair.

 

[Andreainnis]

And may I just add.........TRUST, nobody wants the hairs off her pillow or out of her drain! That wont yield enough cash for penny bubblegum......I happen to think "Black" hair is cream of the crop hair (its just a matter of learning how to care for and style it) as it is so diverse an often imitated by other cultures. Not intentionally being controversial, I'm just sayin'!

 

[Creatividual]

Pretty hair is relative. For her to say that Indians have the "best" hair is an opinion to me, not a fact or the truth. Indians do have very pretty hair but so do other races.

 

[nappity]

I just think the sister meant to post on the Rants thread. I admire conscientious objectors. I'm sure she wont put a weave on her head. Maybe if she sold her hair then she can fund a much needed philanthropic cause in her neighborhood. JMHO

 

[Andreainnis]

I just think the sister meant to post on the Rants thread. I admire conscientious objectors. I'm sure she wont put a weave on her head. Maybe if she sold her hair then she can fund a much needed philanthropic cause in her neighborhood. JMHO

And there it is.

 

[keluric]

Aside from everything else, I like her post in the sense that it suggests there needs to be some solidarity among people of color. If we would work together, it'd be quite obvious that WE are NOT minorities as we are so derogatively referred to. People of color are not in the minority and never have been. I think the racism that exists among people of color is very shameful. I can't say I care too much what kind of hair a woman wants to buy but I like that her article suggests that on some level, people of color need to work together.

*Going to sing kumbaya*

 

[keluric]

Pretty hair is relative. For her to say that Indians have the "best" hair is an opinion to me, not a fact or the truth. Indians do have very pretty hair but so do other races.

Taking what she said in a light most favorable to her, I think she meant "best" in a very technical sense. Indian hair is some of the most resilient in the world. You can read something subjective like "pretty" into what she said in the article but I think she meant a more objective measure of "good" hair, i.e. strength, resilience, etc.

 

[TheNewFine]

She needs to keep researching. She never told us where the hair really comes from. Plus, who cares if the Indian women are cutting their hair and selling it. It's not like they are being scalped. It'll grow back. It's just hair, right? And weaves are not nasty like she is making it sound. It's not any nastier than wearing leather. The hair is treated. Plus, maybe she start with India. The women in Bollywood movies wear hair extensions, too! And they are born with Indian hair.

 

[lisana]

That was a pretty decent article...truth is she said a lot of truth many black women don't won't to hear. They want to act like the hair came from the hair fairy instead of hearing that it came from poor, desperate woman. However, I don't like when other races write stuff like this and refuse to go deeper because then it would make THEM look bad. Because we all know that if Blacks were the ruling race on this planet, we would have other races running to put afros on their head. So to write this and choose to ignore the pressures put on black women to have long, straight hair is suspect.

 

[Lovelylocs]

That was a pretty decent article... truth is she said a lot of truth many black women don't won't to hear. They want to act like the hair came from the hair fairy instead of hearing that it came from poor, desperate woman. However, I don't like when other races write stuff like this and refuse to go deeper because then it would make THEM look bad. Because we all know that if Blacks were the ruling race on this planet, we would have other races running to put afros on their head. So to write this and choose to ignore the pressures put on black women to have long, straight hair is suspect.

I think black women would feel bad that the women are poor and desperate, but not that they have to cut their hair and sell it. I mean think of the poor desperate women who don't have the luxury of being born w/the "best" hair. What kinds of things do they have to do for money? Plus, some poor, desperate women have to work as janitors, etc. They may clean public toilets for a living. Are we going to stop using public toilets b/c of it? I just don't think selling hair for money is that big of a deal.

Plus, please keep in mind that these women can grow hair past their waists. They can cut a foot and STILL have long hair. What's the big deal?

Lisana, I know where u are coming from w/the rest of ur post and I definately agree.

 

[aloof one]

I liked the article and completely understand.

Truth hurts, as we can see from a lot of reactions.

She isn't being ethnocentric, she doesn't think Indians are better, she is just pointing out the awkwardness of knowing her hair is so valuable on someone else's head. I feel the same way when white folks pay to get tans. I had no idea my skin color was so valuable to white people (they hate us so much but they flock to those salons religiously to get what we have) until I saw those tanning salons blowing up on every corner. I bet that girl feels the same way when she sees a BSS on every corner with her hair hanging in the window. It is just plain creepy. I would feel the same way if it were the other way around, say if Asians or Hispanics were walking around with our leftover nail clippings because we have "Good Nails." If there were Nail Salons popping up everywhere with our nails in the window and charging people to buy it. If they were giving us 25 cents a clipping to sell it back to people at 100 bucks a nail. And No, they aren't scalped, but until you live in a lower class in India do not act like they chose to be in the position to be needing money and doing things like this to get it.

And yes, I do realize some black women do feel the pressures to have long hair... So I understand why some buy weaves. Weave is just in these days. I refuse to wear one (even though I bought it, I put it in a foot locker and forgot about it), however I know why folks choose to. But nobody forced anyone into buying hair, nobody made anyone spend all that money, so nobody should be reacting with anger when someone suggests that the hair came from something less pleasant than what you wanted to believe. This girl did not have a negative motive, she was not trying to upset anybody. She was telling the truth. If I knew my nail clippings were gold to everyone else, I would dig 'em up from behind the couch and sell em back too! (keep in mind she was joking and so was I)

 

[aloof one]

That was a pretty decent article...truth is she said a lot of truth many black women don't won't to hear. They want to act like the hair came from the hair fairy instead of hearing that it came from poor, desperate woman. However, I don't like when other races write stuff like this and refuse to go deeper because then it would make THEM look bad. Because we all know that if Blacks were the ruling race on this planet, we would have other races running to put afros on their head. So to write this and choose to ignore the pressures put on black women to have long, straight hair is suspect.

Had my cat not been walking on the keyboard the whole time I was trying to reply I would have seen your post--- so Ill say it now--- ITA.

I also think the girl could have done more research, but she is really on to something. I don't think its Indians fault that black women feel the need to relax and get weave though. I blame white folks for that one.

 

[atlien11]

i thought these women sacrificed their hair for religious reasons at these temples. isnt that how they get the hair to sell?

 

[seraphim712]

I liked the article and completely understand.

Truth hurts, as we can see from a lot of reactions.

She isn't being ethnocentric, she doesn't think Indians are better, she is just pointing out the awkwardness of knowing her hair is so valuable on someone else's head. I feel the same way when white folks pay to get tans. I had no idea my skin color was so valuable to white people (they hate us so much but they flock to those salons religiously to get what we have) until I saw those tanning salons blowing up on every corner. I bet that girl feels the same way when she sees a BSS on every corner with her hair hanging in the window. It is just plain creepy. I would feel the same way if it were the other way around, say if Asians or Hispanics were walking around with our leftover nail clippings because we have "Good Nails." If there were Nail Salons popping up everywhere with our nails in the window and charging people to buy it. If they were giving us 25 cents a clipping to sell it back to people at 100 bucks a nail. And No, they aren't scalped, but until you live in a lower class in India do not act like they chose to be in the position to be needing money and doing things like this to get it.

And yes, I do realize some black women do feel the pressures to have long hair... So I understand why some buy weaves. Weave is just in these days. I refuse to wear one (even though I bought it, I put it in a foot locker and forgot about it), however I know why folks choose to. But nobody forced anyone into buying hair, nobody made anyone spend all that money, so nobody should be reacting with anger when someone suggests that the hair came from something less pleasant than what you wanted to believe. This girl did not have a negative motive, she was not trying to upset anybody. She was telling the truth. If I knew my nail clippings were gold to everyone else, I would dig 'em up from behind the couch and sell em back too! (keep in mind she was joking and so was I)

I understand where you're coming from. It's also the same with diamonds and other precious gems being exploited from Africa. One could only imagine how much the miners get paid to dig up a stone that will be worth ten times more in foreign countries. However people who never had to experience that won't stop to think of how those jewels ended up behind a glass case at a local DeBeers or Shane Co.

It's not about how fast their hair grows back, it's about how they're being ripped off and lied to just so someone else can make a fortune off of them while they're still scraping up pennies. Didn't mean to get off subject, but I agree with your post 100%

 

[Lovelylocs]

Truth hurts? I really hope you weren't talking about me. I don't wear false hair. My hair 100% real and a little past brastrap. I have MY OWN hair, but I don't feel that women who want to make their hair thicker or longer w/false hair shouldn't for the reasons that the author gave. It's no worse than false eyelashes IMO.

And this may not be popular opinion among some black people, but white people usually do not get tans so that they will look like a black person. Just like I do not straighten my hair to look like a white person.

It is my understanding that the false hair is usually chemically treated to resemble black people's hair texture.

I also agree that besides that fact that she could have done more research and that she never really told us for certainty where the hair was coming from that it was a good article.

 

[aloof one]

i thought these women sacrificed their hair for religious reasons at these temples. isnt that how they get the hair to sell?

It is a damn shame theyre profiting that way if its true. Like when those folks were saying their donations were going to Katrina funds and in reality they were keeping it to themselves

 

[lisana]

I think black women would feel bad that the women are poor and desperate, but not that they have to cut their hair and sell it. I mean think of the poor desperate women who don't have the luxury of being born w/the "best" hair. What kinds of things do they have to do for money? Plus, some poor, desperate women have to work as janitors, etc. They may clean public toilets for a living. Are we going to stop using public toilets b/c of it? I just don't think selling hair for money is that big of a deal.

Plus, please keep in mind that these women can grow hair past their waists. They can cut a foot and STILL have long hair. What's the big deal?

Lisana, I know where u are coming from w/the rest of ur post and I definately agree.

the big deal it that these women are being exploited and paid next to nothing by billion dollar corporation who in turn sell the hair to black women who are buying it trying to have hair so they can fit in to white culture. I know this is something we don't want to face, I understand the need for weave, I wore it once. it's very powerful to be able to have the hair God didn't give you in birth. However, it's not all ok just because they can regrow their hair. The point of her post was that women of color are being exploited for profit and lies are being told to cover it up. It's not true that Indian women sacrifice their hair at their weddings. This is not a harmless practice where Indian women are willingly supplying their hair to feel a need. I'm just saying some, if not most of us are walking around with the hair of women who were in miserable situations when the had their hair cut. And yes, i see the other side because I live the other side. I have scarring alopecia on my scalp and while I have had some success at regrowing my hair, the fact is that one day, I may have to go back to the weave and the wigs. I already know that I will do this if I have to but I don't feel good about it. It kinda makes my heart heavy knowing some woman had to give up a source of her power so I can obtain some power for myself (cause hair is power for women, let's be real) And if I wear someone else's hair on my head, I am going to know where and how it got to me. So I'm not going to sit here and pretend like "we need to just stop wearing weave" no I understand the reality of WHY we wear it but we should know the reality of why and how they obtain it. But I do see your side of it too. In the end, there are millions of women on this planet who are desperate and poor and don't have hair that can be used as a source of money. But poor and desperate is still poor and desperate, no matter what hair you have on your head.

 

[aloof one]

I understand where you're coming from. It's also the same with diamonds and other precious gems being exploited from Africa. One could only imagine how much the miners get paid to dig up a stone that will be worth ten times more in foreign countries. However people who never had to experience that won't stop to think of how those jewels ended up behind a glass case at a local DeBeers or Shane Co.

It's not about how fast their hair grows back, it's about how they're being ripped off and lied to just so someone else can make a fortune off of them while they're still scraping up pennies. Didn't mean to get off subject, but I agree with your post 100%

Thanks, I know people will fight with everything I say on this board, but I try to be 100% honest 100% of the time.

And as far as the diamonds... thats why I don't even wear jewelry. My friends call me a hippie, I refuse leather, jewelry, fake hair,... a lot of times I don't even wear make up unless I know where that came from. I don't drink milk either because of how dairy cows are treated. (but we'll discuss all that another time if its brought up in OT or something) So when I find out that weave is so ill-gotten... it makes it easy to cross off the list of things I want to try one day. (If that makes sense)

 

[Lovelylocs]

It's not about how fast their hair grows back, it's about how they're being ripped off and lied to just so someone else can make a fortune off of them while they're still scraping up pennies.

This I could see assuming that they are getting ripped off. The author didn't say that the people who are actually selling their hair are being ripped off though. I'll go back and reread the article though.

I also agree that it is wrong for them to take the sacrificial hair and say they are gonna do one thing w/them and then do smthg else. I just don't see why it is wrong for us to buy hair that people sold for money if they are getting paid a decent amount for it. (again assuming that they are b/c the author did not say otherwise.)

Also, I would not compare the poor people selling their hair to the situation in the diamond mines. Working in the diamond mines is dangerous.

 

[chavascandy]

Well, all do respect to the author but.....

If the hair ended up in the Beauty Supply store obviously or On Sale somewhere it may have been obvious that the man or woman no longer needed or wanted the hair.

Secondly, I don't care if the hair was real or fake I am going to continue to wear weaves!

Third, I'm sure that if the Human Hair was collected in an Inhumane or Illegal way (ex.,Killing some one or Scalping some one) I'm sure the televison show 60 Seconds would have done a special report on it by now.

Fourth, Humans have been cutting and selling their hair for decades.

Last but not Least, What does the author have to say about those women who cut their hair for an chairable contribution-----Ex., Locks of Love, an oraganization for women & children who have lost their hair due to Cancer.

I think the author should have seriouly researched and considered her topic of choice! If there was a such thing as Hair Court--the judge would rule this case as-----Dismissed!

 

[BeautifulFlower]

H*LL, white people wear weaves just as much as black people. Why are we pointed out only?

It just seems like she wanted to write something and started typing but it never got to a POINT. Of course if you have never had to wear a weave to acheive length you wouldn't understand buying hair is like buying any other accessory.

Ok so "we" buy clothes from Walmart that come from sweat shops but does she know that MOST clothing coming from another a foreign country is produced from cheap labor? You mind as well walk around naked and live of the fruit of the tree and ocean because where there is a product or service somewhere, someone has been EXPLOITED and that is just business.

 

[aloof one]

Truth hurts? I really hope you weren't talking about me. I don't wear false hair. My hair 100% real and a little past brastrap. I have MY OWN hair, but I don't feel that women who want to make their hair thicker or longer w/false hair shouldn't for the reasons that the author gave. It's no worse than false eyelashes IMO.

And this may not be popular opinion among some black people, but white people usually do not get tans so that they will look like a black person. Just like I do not straighten my hair to look like a white person.

It is my understanding that the false hair is usually chemically treated to resemble black people's hair texture.

I also agree that besides that fact that she could have done more research and that she never really told us for certainty where the hair was coming from that it was a good article.

Uhhh... don't take my post as a personal attack. I never questioned your hair if it was real. I never questioned the length either. In fact, my response wasn't even directed at you.

Second of all- I only used tans as a comparison. Clearly Black women aren't trying to look Indian, and white women aren't trying to be black. BUT a lot of white folks ALWAYS have something to say about us being dark, then they turn around and tan to be darker. I never said they wanted to be black. But I am saying they value darker skin now, something we have, just like Indians have long straight hair, something black women here obviously value. Tan is "in" and pale is "out". And I am NOT encouraging people not to get weave (even though I feel like it really says something negative about us that more than half of black women are sporting fake hair and more than 2/3 of us have relaxers... I really do feel that it is a sick sad world when being natural has become the minority and artificial is the new real, but once again we'll save that for another thread). But I am expressing how sad it is that a lot of folks who wear extensions don't know where they came from or how they got there, especially if they are coming off of real people.

And I never said I liked false eyelashes either, so I still think its just as bad.