Did you know that the extension industry has a dark side?
I get about 10 DMs on instagram per day from companies trying to sell me "the cheapest hair" available. But where does this cheap hair come from? And why are some companies showing how they source their hair and others aren't?
Being a hand tied extension specialist, it's important for me to know these things. So, I decided to do some digging. What I found was ALARMING.
Here is the highlight reel of what I found in my research:
Hair is being "sourced" in prisons in a certain country that borders Alaska from prisoners. Women are having their hair unwillingly shaved where it is then sold under the guise of being the "best European hair available" This also lead to issues during a certain war going on right now, as the supply chain was directly affected by this.
Children are being bribed with toys for their hair. Children in an entirely different country are being manipulated into giving away their hair for free in exchange for "toys". This hair is then resold later on for thousands of dollars, while the kid got a doll. You can see why this might be problematic.
Women and children in Uyghur "camps" in China are having their hair forcefully removed (which is another bag of ethical issues itself). This hair, again, is sold for thousands of dollars. In fact, hundreds of thousands of dollars of hair was in found a few years back with ties to exploitation.
Human trafficking and extensions have long been linked as trafficked woman are exploited by either force work, or force "donation" of hair.
Women are being underpaid, if at all for their precious hair.
For me, it isn't even a question. I simply WON'T be a part of the issue. In fact, one of my missions is to spread the work and be a part of fighting this as an extension provider myself. This isn't talked about enough in our industry, and some stylists that do know, don't care.
Why? Because they simply don't want to have to charge their guests, "an arm and a leg".
My controversial take? I would rather educate my guests on the why behind the price, and let them choose their own path. If they know these issues exist and still want to purchase this "cheaper" and unethical hair, there is a very good chance I don't want to serve them anyway.
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