Wig Out on Indian hair

Indian temples provide the world's best wigs

Human hair is a lucrative business in India. Companies export long hair to the West where it is used for wigs and hair extensions, whilst the shorter hair is mainly sold to Chinese firms who extract amino acids from it.

For large temples, where it is considered auspicious for pilgrims to have their heads shaved, the clippings are a major source of income.

At the Venkateswara Temple in south India more than seventy-five tonnes of hair are sold annually, raising nearly four million pounds for the temple's charities. Crispin Thorold reports from southern India.

The Venkateswara Temple, at Tirumala in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, is thought to attract more pilgrims than Jerusalem, Rome or Mecca.

Over 18 million devotees visit every year to pay their respects to an incarnation of Vishnu, the God that Hindus believe protects and sustains all that is good in society.

In town large halls, hundreds of barbers work around the clock, tonsuring twelve thousand pilgrims every day.

The hair is collected and sorted into four types. Long women's hair and grey hair are the most highly sought varities, but there is also considerable demand for short hair at Tirumala's regular sales.

Mostly it goes to Italy, a lot of wig manufacturers are there. And protein from the shorter hair is primarily used in food preservatives.

Kishore Kumar, Gupta Enterprises hair exporters

According to importers, Indian hair is the best money can buy, and good profits can be made.

One German importer, Werner Diaber, says: "They are the strongest hair and most beautiful hair... It is a very lucrative thing because in the Western World these hair extensions are getting very popular now"