As far back as the time of the pharaoh's records and artifacts show that hair adornments were commonplace. For millennia long hair has been the hall mark of power and beautiful people.
Hair adornments have meandered in and out of fashion in every century since the time of Cleopatra and the pharaoh's on every continent. In the early 20th century well-to-do edwardian women wore false hair additions to create popular hair styles. This continued right up to the beginning of the 21st Century.
In the pre and post war years hair adornments slipped out of fashion in the mainstream until the emergence of Glam-Rock and celebrities like Debbie Harry in the 1970's, Bonnie Tyler in the 80's and of course the Spice Girls in the 90's whom all glamorised hair extensions.
When we emerged from the hair adornment lull of the early 1900's the fashion changed from wig wearing to hair extensions.
In the 2000's A-list celebrities switch and change (adorned) hair styles almost as frequently as their outfits.
From Tina Turner to Beyonce and Victoria Beckham, celebrities have made hair extensions so popular with the general public that today they are common place at home and in the salon. More recently global stars such as Cheryl Cole have served to keep the passion for hair extensions alive.
Q. How did Hair Extensions and Long hair Styles Become so Popular?
A. Unwittingly the mainstream media and the mega-brands have driven the passion for long hair. Think about it, practically every advertisement that is designed to sell a product or a service to a lady, or a sale that is influenced by a lady is done so by models with long hair!
The media do this because they know that long hair represents power and passion and is an aspirational look.
Sexy long hair sells products in a way that short hair styles cannot, the combined minds of the best people in advertising can't be wrong! Can they?
Q. Where Does all of the Human Hair Come from to Make Hair Extensions and Wigs?
A. Hair Farmers! Mainly in India and China
India. Tonsuring - the act Tonsuring or the of shaving of ones head completely bald with a razor is practiced by 10's of thousands of Indian (and other) women each year as an offering to God and or an act of effacing the ego before marriage.
The act of Tonsuring is organised by and is practiced in the temple, the temple then sells the hair on to the highest bidding "Hair Farmer". This hair is popularly called "Temple Hair" and is generally of very high quality.
China. In the 1050's and 60's during the cultural revolution Mau Tse Tung made women shave their heads, the hair was used in various industrial applications including the stuffing of mattresses, engine oil filters and even soldiers breast plates!
Following the revolution the abundance of long black asian hair found it's way to the African American beauty industry and was used quite in the same way as Cleopatra would have used it way back in history.
For many years "hair extending" remained strictly in the Afro hairdressing community until the early 90's when it was legitimised and glamorised by modern mainstream celebrities.
Human hair is not always given freely, often lower grade hair comes from mortuaries, prisons, salon clippings and "fallen hair" is collected from Chinese consumers who keep the hair left in the hairbrush and sell it to the "hair farmers"
Human Hair Route to Western Hair Extensions and Wig Market
Generally speaking the majority of the worlds Human Hair is processed in Chinese factories.
1. A batch of Human Hair ready to be "combed" and sized.
2. Measuring and Sorting.
3. Ready for Processing.
The hair you see in the examples above is a result of Tonsuring, hair freely donated to the temple as an offering to god and then sold to the hair farmer for processing and selling on to the manufacturers of Hair Extensions and Wigs.
Hair is a great source of personal pride to the Ladies who donate it to the temples, they generally grow it very long and look after it extremely well before sacrificing it to God ahead of their wedding day as a demonstration that they are willing to give up their vanity and offer themselves fully to God and their new husbands as well as asking for future health and happiness. This is what makes Indian Temple Remy Hair the best suited to manufacture premium hair extensions. If you are interested in purchasing the world's finest hair extensions contact Extraordinary Lengths at www.ExtraordinaryLengths.com.
