A Hair Raising Business

Recently I had been to Tirupati with my family to visit the 1,200-year-old Sri Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh. There is this custom of offering your hair to the deity for granting a wish. The tradition of offering hair is a symbol of religious devotion and surrender of the ego. Many men and women shave off their hair in respect to offer to the deity. Most of them are women. So what pricked my curiosity was- What do they do of so much of Hair??? Well, here is the answer!!!

Many Indian women offer their hair to deities in Hindu temples in a show of respect and gratitude. Few realize the offerings can wind up in a lucrative export market serving China and Hollywood.

Yes, you read the right thing. I asked one of my relative the same question. He works in the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD) - the trust that looks after the temple and the premises. He revealed that the hair thus collected is exported to China and other countries for a lucrative amount. It is further revealed that a great deal of women's hair collected at temples winds up as hair extensions for Hollywood film actors who pay as much as $3,000 for the final product. Wow, never thought that a thing like HAIR could earn so much!!  Also this hair goes to German and Italian pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies for Rs. 7000 per kilo.

Moreover they have neatly categorized the type of hair that gets the best deals. Women's hair is usually long, dark and silky, and is most prized by merchants and wig-makers. Hair from men is usually used for coat linings and to extract L-Cystein, a protein used as raw material for a range of products including baby food and doughnuts. And if you thought your dyed hair looked good, here's news. Grey hair fetches the highest amount of Rs 11,000 much higher than what a woman's thick braid would, which is just about Rs 6,000. Every year hair worth about $136 million is shipped from India, one of the largest exporters of human hair, to factories in China. There, Chinese hair is mixed with Indian hair to make wigs and hair extensions for Western markets. So in a way the Devasthanam collects hair worth of Rs. 33 crores per annum!!!

There are annual auctions of this hair and now they have even started e-auction for easy access. The Brand name ‘Tirupati Hair’ is becoming a rage in the foreign hair markets. The time isn’t far when this Tirupati Hair will be like wearing a fendi Bag or a Gucci Bag!