My 2017 investigation, as relevant today as it was then. The trade in female human hair is on the rise, with 'hair brokers' sourcing their product from impoverished girls in Ukrainian villages
Horrendous! Thank you Julie for another enlightening article. It seems so paradoxical that these western women often encourage their own daughters to donate their hair to children’s cancer charities for wigs.
Thank you for telling us this I had no idea. Why are so many female attributes being commodified or stolen? It’s devilish. We cannot even protect our women and children anymore.
Why is is always the bodies of women that are exploited in this way? Is it because we are considered to be objects for the gratification of men’s desires? That we are not considered people, but just a means to an end, be it sexual release, a baby or even a wife in a wig?
I think there is another aspect of this that fits in somehow and that is the vilification of black hair in western societies and applying white/euro standards of beauty on black women. To some degree it creates demand. While there are movements to normalize natural hair I think many black and mixed race women feel pressured to straiten their hair and use hair extensions whether it’s for braids or just to have “good” hair.
For those vilifying women who wear hair extensions - no I hadn’t thought that it was an exploitative industry. It didn’t occur to me. Hair is such a cultural thing and going to the (black) beauty supply store where there is so much hair and wigs for sale it seemed like any other product sold there.
This article was enlightening. is there a company that ethically procures human hair or is the industry basically 100% exploitative? What about the companies that sell clip in extensions? They must deal
In massive volumes of hair - are they all implicated in the exploitative industry?
Excellent piece. I had no idea this was a "thing", but then I don't and wouldn't have need of or use for someone else's hair.
That of course, led me to the other side of the exploitation coin...the users...who I assume (yup I know the hazard there) the majority of, are other women. Is it ignorance, apathy, obtuseness or craven narcissism, that allows them to wear the hair and exploitation, of their fellow sisters??
It reminds me of a meme of the child Greta, screeching that her childhood has been stolen and ruined, demanding that everyone buy and drive Ev's only to be answered by a Congolese child miner, bent over and dirty saying "Getting that cobalt for your electric car as fast as I can Greta".
As with the mail order brides, if there were no buyers/users, there would be no market and no exploitation. Same goes for the hair trade, as is evidenced by the confession of Maheshwari, that if the economy ever picked up, there would be no market for buying the hair.
Until you can get the end user (and more importantly the celebrity end user) to feel shame, for their part of the exploitation, slavery and oppression, for little more reason than their vanity and self aggrandizing, these issues will continue. That goes for all services and goods, that are produced through this type of subjugation.
Horrendous! Thank you Julie for another enlightening article. It seems so paradoxical that these western women often encourage their own daughters to donate their hair to children’s cancer charities for wigs.
Thank you Julie. This has sparked our discussion at supper today, and you’ve opened our eyes.
Thank you for telling us this I had no idea. Why are so many female attributes being commodified or stolen? It’s devilish. We cannot even protect our women and children anymore.
Why is is always the bodies of women that are exploited in this way? Is it because we are considered to be objects for the gratification of men’s desires? That we are not considered people, but just a means to an end, be it sexual release, a baby or even a wife in a wig?
I think there is another aspect of this that fits in somehow and that is the vilification of black hair in western societies and applying white/euro standards of beauty on black women. To some degree it creates demand. While there are movements to normalize natural hair I think many black and mixed race women feel pressured to straiten their hair and use hair extensions whether it’s for braids or just to have “good” hair.
For those vilifying women who wear hair extensions - no I hadn’t thought that it was an exploitative industry. It didn’t occur to me. Hair is such a cultural thing and going to the (black) beauty supply store where there is so much hair and wigs for sale it seemed like any other product sold there.
This article was enlightening. is there a company that ethically procures human hair or is the industry basically 100% exploitative? What about the companies that sell clip in extensions? They must deal
In massive volumes of hair - are they all implicated in the exploitative industry?
Excellent piece. I had no idea this was a "thing", but then I don't and wouldn't have need of or use for someone else's hair.
That of course, led me to the other side of the exploitation coin...the users...who I assume (yup I know the hazard there) the majority of, are other women. Is it ignorance, apathy, obtuseness or craven narcissism, that allows them to wear the hair and exploitation, of their fellow sisters??
It reminds me of a meme of the child Greta, screeching that her childhood has been stolen and ruined, demanding that everyone buy and drive Ev's only to be answered by a Congolese child miner, bent over and dirty saying "Getting that cobalt for your electric car as fast as I can Greta".
As with the mail order brides, if there were no buyers/users, there would be no market and no exploitation. Same goes for the hair trade, as is evidenced by the confession of Maheshwari, that if the economy ever picked up, there would be no market for buying the hair.
Until you can get the end user (and more importantly the celebrity end user) to feel shame, for their part of the exploitation, slavery and oppression, for little more reason than their vanity and self aggrandizing, these issues will continue. That goes for all services and goods, that are produced through this type of subjugation.
Thanks for bringing this to light Julie.
Hair grows back