Virtually every female celebrity, from Cheryl Cole to Kate Moss, has succumbed
to the lure of the oomph-giving hair extension. The rest of us can’t help
ourselves, either: the industry is now worth £65m a year in the UK alone.
And while it may be dislodged tendrils or post-extension bald patches that
are caught by the paparazzi wide-angle, what has generated a more worrying
media story is the origin of the hair that is being used.
Four years ago, the deputy director of Moscow’s Centre for Prison Reform
confirmed that some prison wardens were shaving inmates’ heads as a way of
earning extra cash, while the editor of the ethical shopping directory The
Good Shopping Guide had reports of asylum patients’ hair being sold to
extension companies.
Of course, if your extensions are synthetic, where they come from is
immaterial. But when the choice is between real hair with a natural swing,
which can be styled as normal, and synthetic hair that may frazzle if your
dryer is on anything higher than a chill setting, which would you choose?
These days, thankfully, it is possible to find ethically sourced real hair
extensions.
It’s a hot topic, and one that the pop star Jamelia has embraced in the
upcoming BBC documentary Whose Hair Is It Anyway?, which examines the
origins of hair used for extensions in the UK. Her inquiries take her on a
journey from a nightclub in Essex to Moscow, where a shifty-looking hair
dealer explains that he has collectors all over Russia who source hair for
him. Despite insisting that the hair comes only from reputable sources, and
none of it is taken from the dead, the margin for error seems wide. That’s
not to mention the fact that, on visiting rural parts of the country, you
see posters offering £20 for a whole head of hair — a price that begs the
question as to whether donors are being exploited.
Jamelia’s research also takes her on a second journey, from a forensics lab in
this country to a Hindu temple in India. There, she finds that some women
are only too happy to sacrifice their hair. “It was a month that changed my
life,” says the singer. “Never had I placed so much importance on hair. I
wanted to find out what these women were like and why they would give their
hair.”
As Jamelia discovers, in certain parts of India, women sacrifice their hair as
an offering to the deities, a process known as tonsuring. She witnesses them
visiting a temple in Chennai, where their heads are shaved by a man wielding
a cut-throat razor. She is told that the women hope the act will bring them
good fortune — whether finding a husband or just keeping a roof over their
heads. Of course, they don’t know their hair is being sold on to extensions
manufacturers — a fact the singer finds incredible, until she discovers that
the high priest redirects the money back into the community, using it to
feed the local homeless population.
Such acts at least give our western vanity a benevolent gloss. It is through
the tonsuring process that the extensions company Great Lengths sources its
hair, from the Tirumala Hindu temple in Andhra Pradesh. It prides itself on
having its own factories and a full-time employee in India, who ensures the
money is channelled back into the community to fund schools, orphanages and
hospitals. With an annual turnover of £80m and a yearly growth of 25%-30%,
it is a strategy that is paying off — although even the company would
probably admit that this is more likely due to the quality of the extensions
than an overwhelming desire among clients to have their crowning glory
ethically sourced.
“Hair has a cuticle that runs from root to tip,” says David Gold, the founder
of Great Lengths. “The hair extension has to be attached in the same
direction as the natural hair, or it will tangle.” As hair provided through
tonsuring is taken in one go, it is easy to ensure that it all runs in the
same direction, making it easier for the wearer to manage. Hence, the matted
tangles, common among manmade extension wearers, are avoided.
Sadly, such ethical hair extensions are still in the minority, so rigorous
probing is a must. “It is important to push the shop- or salon-owner to ask
exactly where the hair came from and, if they don’t know, to take your
business elsewhere,” says Jamelia. “We mustn’t think only about ourselves
and our own vanity.”
When I raised the issue with a spokesperson from the Fairtrade Foundation, she
responded: “How would this be relevant to fair trade?” which suggests there
are greater lengths to go yet.
Smooth talking
Worried about tangles and rats tail-like tendrils? Hairdresser and extensions
expert Errol Douglas offers this advice:
* Have a thorough consultation first. It is a lengthy process so you need at
least 45 minutes in which to explain how the extensions will sit, how the
hair will be cut and how it will feel.
*Hair extensions can go a bit crazy overnight so it is good to tie it up at
night.
*Make sure your operator knows how you will style your hair so they can fit
the extensions accordingly. If you pull your hair up, for example, and the
extensions are too close to the root, the effect will be unnatural and
unflattering.
* Try to match up the texture of the extension with your own hair, and not
just the colour, as this will make it easier to style.
* Beware of using the wrong brush. Avoid small round brushes and go for big
paddle brushes instead. Or try a Tangle Teezer (£9.99; www.hqhair.com
) to gently pull out knots.
* Don’t use products that are not oily as these may cause the extension to
slip. Similarly, only apply conditioner to the mid lengths and ends of hair.
*Don’t rub the hair too vigorously when shampooing. Instead, massage it gently
with the balls of your fingertips.
*Give your hair a holiday after each set of hair extensions. You need to leave
your hair extension-free for 3-6 months to give it a chance to recuperate.
Make sure you have plenty of scalp treatments in between too.
Jamelia’s Whose Hair Is It Anyway? will be aired later this month on
BBC3. To find a Great Lengths salon, call 0113 216 3070
