Oscar De La Huerte answered
The main question to ask yourself when you're looking for real hair extensions from an ethical source is simply 'what do you consider ethically sourced?'.
Buying some ethical real hair extensions
If you're looking for real hair extensions, I'd always recommend looking for a source that comes with some sort of accreditation. I'd also suggest looking into the accreditation to verify its authenticity, as it is very easy for a company to dupe customers into a false sense of security with some made up accreditation.
Whilst this approach might sound unusually skeptical, the nature of the hair extension industry makes it worth double checking at every corner.
Great Lengths is one company that offers ethically sourced locks (and the prices reflect this!)
I'd also recommend checking out this excellent BBC documentary entitled Whose Hair Is It Anyway? I found it very insightful and helpful in understanding the ethics behind hair extensions.
Ethically sourced hair extensions A lot of the real hair extensions that are used in salons around the world actually come from impoverished areas of the world where girls resort to snipping off their locks as a source of income.
Although this might sound harmless enough, the trade in real hair extensions has prompted the people who run this industry into developing a 'hair farming' approach to sourcing the hair.
Girls that sell their hair often only receive a small fraction of what the locks are actually sold for. Furthermore, there are parts of the world where children are forced to have their hair cut to feed the demand for extensions.
Artificial extensions are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and realistic, so perhaps it is worth spending a little more on artificial extensions and being sure that the ethics involved are relatively sound.
Buying some ethical real hair extensions
If you're looking for real hair extensions, I'd always recommend looking for a source that comes with some sort of accreditation. I'd also suggest looking into the accreditation to verify its authenticity, as it is very easy for a company to dupe customers into a false sense of security with some made up accreditation.
Whilst this approach might sound unusually skeptical, the nature of the hair extension industry makes it worth double checking at every corner.
Great Lengths is one company that offers ethically sourced locks (and the prices reflect this!)
I'd also recommend checking out this excellent BBC documentary entitled Whose Hair Is It Anyway? I found it very insightful and helpful in understanding the ethics behind hair extensions.
Ethically sourced hair extensions A lot of the real hair extensions that are used in salons around the world actually come from impoverished areas of the world where girls resort to snipping off their locks as a source of income.
Although this might sound harmless enough, the trade in real hair extensions has prompted the people who run this industry into developing a 'hair farming' approach to sourcing the hair.
Girls that sell their hair often only receive a small fraction of what the locks are actually sold for. Furthermore, there are parts of the world where children are forced to have their hair cut to feed the demand for extensions.
Artificial extensions are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and realistic, so perhaps it is worth spending a little more on artificial extensions and being sure that the ethics involved are relatively sound.
