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Companies that make and sell hair extensions and wigs have protested
over allegations that the industry habitually uses unethically sourced
human hair from Asia.
Media reports and online rooms have increasingly suggested that vulnerable individuals in India, south-east Asia, and inland China are being put under pressure to sell their hair. In the worst cases, hair is allegedly obtained by force.
However, companies in the sector say there is little basis for such allegations. One of the largest, the London-based hair extensions and wigs business Hairaisers, says it sources all its hair from willing Hindu devotees at the Tirupathi temple in India’s Andhra Pradesh district. Up to 50,000 followers visit the temple every day, many of whom shave their hair in a religious ritual known as ‘tonsuring’.
Hairaisers has undertaken to buy ten tonnes of hair every year from the temple. It says the temple uses the income from hair sales to invest in local schools, hospitals and other community projects. ‘We have gone to great levels to ensure that our 100 per cent human hair arrives from volunteers and that no unethical measures are forced upon the individuals,’ said Ubaid Rehmann, director of Hairaisers.
The company, which sells 800 kilos of hair per month, says it uses independent agents in India to ensure ethical standards are met and that hair sourced from poor or sick people would be of low quality. ‘This is not the hair that Hairaisers wants or sells,’ the company told EP.
Concerns have also been raised about labour violations in Chinese processing plants, where much of the hair in the £160million ($305m) export market is sorted, fumigated and weighed before shipping.
Hairaisers says it uses a ‘reputable company’ in China ‘with skilled workers’, although it has yet to develop systematic workplace monitoring.
Another large trader in the sector, UK-based Racoon International, said the main companies were suffering reputational damage because of occasional black market trading by disreputable agents in India.
‘We are the UK’s only hair extensions company with ISO 9001 accreditation, so we have a proven supplier management system that is audited every year,’ said Eva Proudman, Racoon’s general manager. The company says it buys ‘just a small percentage’ of its real hair from India but meets hair suppliers twice a year to discuss issues and tries to reduce the demand.
‘Real hair is a scarce commodity and we actively educate our customers in using hair responsibly, which has meant that less hair is used,’ said Proudman.
She said the company ‘polices the internet on a daily basis to ensure that the brand is not wrongly associated with hair sold to the consumer via websites’, where it believes some of the abuses take place.
Consumers typically pay £500 for a full head of human hair extensions and from £150 for a partial head.
Media reports and online rooms have increasingly suggested that vulnerable individuals in India, south-east Asia, and inland China are being put under pressure to sell their hair. In the worst cases, hair is allegedly obtained by force.
However, companies in the sector say there is little basis for such allegations. One of the largest, the London-based hair extensions and wigs business Hairaisers, says it sources all its hair from willing Hindu devotees at the Tirupathi temple in India’s Andhra Pradesh district. Up to 50,000 followers visit the temple every day, many of whom shave their hair in a religious ritual known as ‘tonsuring’.
Hairaisers has undertaken to buy ten tonnes of hair every year from the temple. It says the temple uses the income from hair sales to invest in local schools, hospitals and other community projects. ‘We have gone to great levels to ensure that our 100 per cent human hair arrives from volunteers and that no unethical measures are forced upon the individuals,’ said Ubaid Rehmann, director of Hairaisers.
The company, which sells 800 kilos of hair per month, says it uses independent agents in India to ensure ethical standards are met and that hair sourced from poor or sick people would be of low quality. ‘This is not the hair that Hairaisers wants or sells,’ the company told EP.
Concerns have also been raised about labour violations in Chinese processing plants, where much of the hair in the £160million ($305m) export market is sorted, fumigated and weighed before shipping.
Hairaisers says it uses a ‘reputable company’ in China ‘with skilled workers’, although it has yet to develop systematic workplace monitoring.
Another large trader in the sector, UK-based Racoon International, said the main companies were suffering reputational damage because of occasional black market trading by disreputable agents in India.
‘We are the UK’s only hair extensions company with ISO 9001 accreditation, so we have a proven supplier management system that is audited every year,’ said Eva Proudman, Racoon’s general manager. The company says it buys ‘just a small percentage’ of its real hair from India but meets hair suppliers twice a year to discuss issues and tries to reduce the demand.
‘Real hair is a scarce commodity and we actively educate our customers in using hair responsibly, which has meant that less hair is used,’ said Proudman.
She said the company ‘polices the internet on a daily basis to ensure that the brand is not wrongly associated with hair sold to the consumer via websites’, where it believes some of the abuses take place.
Consumers typically pay £500 for a full head of human hair extensions and from £150 for a partial head.
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