Shocking Realities of the Business of Hair Extensions

In the small city in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, bald women can be quite an alarming-look.

Women (and men, too), are religious pilgrims visiting Tirumala, a temple of the Vaishnava sect of Hinduism high in the red granite hills above the town of Tirupati. Since the ninth century, devout Hindus have been coming here to pay their respects to the resident deity, Lord Venkateswara, one of the forms of the god Vishnu. And for many of these pilgrims, a visit to the temple is not complete without tonsuring -- a ritual shaving off of all their hair as a gesture of devotion and gratitude to the god. These devotees believe that if they give up their hair, the god will grant them any wish. But in recent years, the practice of tonsuring - aided by globalization - has also helped to make Tirumala into one of the richest religious pilgrimage sites in the world.

Good-quality hair - typically from young women - that is more than 16 inches long can sell for 12,000 rupees (around $245) per kilogram or more.

Thousands of women freely give up their hair at Tirumala each day; it may look a little brutal when you see the hair being cut off, but the pilgrims feel that it's really an honor for them to do this.

Fair enough, but are the female pilgrims to Tirumala - whose hair fetches the money - aware of what their hair is worth, or of the simple fact that it's being sold in the first place? Hair extensions can cost as much as $3,000 at salons in the United States - more than triple the average yearly per capita income in India, just over $800...