From Hollywood, to Europe, to the hair salons of Africa, the most highly prized human hair in the world for use in wigs, weaves and hair extensions comes from India.
The global hair market now contributes some US$250 million to the Indian economy; at prices of up to US$130 a kilo that's about 2,000 tons of hair! So where does all this hair come from and how does it get collected?
Well a single temple in southern India collects tons of human hair every week! That's because millions of people visit Tirupati hoping their prayers will be answered. But every miracle requires a sacrifice and many pilgrims sacrifice their hair. The practice stems from Indian mythology where the god Vishnu agreed to grant wishes to anyone offering their hair as a sacrifice.
To look at the sources of the global trade in human hair, the BBC's Justine Lang visited Tirupati temple in India.
"What I didn't know about Tirupati temple is that it's the most visited holy place in the world. More than Mecca, more than Jersualem, up to 100,000 people [a day] are going to this temple so it was an extraordinary visit just in terms of numbers," she said,
As well as making people's prayers come true (maybe!) the collection of hair's become a huge earner for the temples themselves.
"Everyone I talked to did not care where the hair ended up. I told them about the money, a lot of people didn't know there was a lot of money being made, and they didn't seem to mind because once you embark on a holy sacrifice, then where the hair goes doesn't matter."
