Please don't ever let me need money this bad!

[kc]

You've got to see this. I realize that we are all in economic hard times right now, but please don't let me ever get this bad in debt!!!

(link removed)

[Peggy E.]

Sort of explains where all that suspicious "Victorian Antique Mourning Hair Work" is coming from that's suddenly popping up like crazy - with matching prices - on eBay! I knew there was something up there somewhere....

I, too, hope none of us ever find ourselves in the position of having to sell our hair. I don't think it's really a route open in the event of desperation, though. It would take too long - having to go through the posting, and all that's involved, you wouldn't get your money that quickly.

College kids are still selling blood, a process I thought the Red Cross - and HIV - had put an end to, but it's a thriving business in Madison. :o(

Creepy....

[Beldaran]

Just for the record, you cannot legally sell any body part/fluid. What is probably happening is that college kids are donating plasma and being paid for their time.

I did it when I was in college and I really don't see what's so creepy.(unless you mean the hair thing is creepy) The company I donated through was using the plasma for research on curing blood disorders.

I'm also at a loss as to what HIV has to do with donating blood/plasma. It's not as if you can bring it your own jar of blood, you donate the same way blood is donated with the same screening process and everything is sterile.

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled thread about hair.

[lora410]

Selling hair is not an uncommon thing these days. You pretty much have to have 100% virgin hair for the big bucks.

[GlennaGirl]

I'm a little grossed out at some of the potential motives of the buyers, but I do think this is just one option of many that people use to make money.

I don't think it could become a "coercive" thing as far as encouraging women or men to grow just to sell only because it would take 2-3 years from that point and that would be with virgin hair...if hair has ever been processed, which many people's has, it would be 2-3 years to grow THAT out, THEN another couple/few years to grow it long enough to sell. So it's not like millions of girls worldwide will be going, "Hey! Easy money!" Frankly, $1000 over a 2-5 year period isn't exactly a huge income. ;)

[Peggy E.]

Sorry, Beldaran. I just had this image of the old "Skid Row" with down and out men selling blood to get whatever it was they needed to make the realization of their plight as foggy and painless as possible.

Selling hair has gone on forever. The famous "Gift of the Magi" involved the selling of hair. It grows back, after all. It just seems that anything being chopped off, or drawn in some manner, from you is a very unfortunate way to make money. That is IF you are doing so in a fit of desperation in order to get funds and hair and blood was all you happened to have at the time.

IF you are doing so to help the scientific community - excellent! My SIL needed the money at the time and this did seem "wrong" in a way that selling hair toys, say, does not. Maybe "creepy' was not what I was seeking, but for people doing these things because they have no other choice, it is a sad and sorry plight.

Nobody would buy my hair, anyway!

[Unofficial_Rose]

I saw a documentary not so long ago about where the hair for hair extensions came from.

There was Indian hair donated from the temples: a particular lady was happy to donate her hair because she thought it would bring her family good luck. It was sold by the temple, who used the money to feed people who couldn't afford food.

Less happy was the story of a 12 y.o. Russian girl, who sold her waist-length virgin hair to the extensions industry because her family needed the money. They cut it off to bob-length. I know worse things happen but it was rather a shame :(

[trolleypup]

Hair cutting/selling threads are not permitted under the Terms of Service (http://www.longhaircommunity.com/index.php?page=tos).