Why are hair extensions and wigs from China so inexpensive?

We often get asked – why is your hair so expensive? 

Honestly, if you are asking that question then chances are you aren’t actually ready for real, raw, unprocessed hair. And that’s totally ok, we wore Chinese hair for years too, because we didn’t know what we didn't know. 

So, let me tell you why you can purchase that hair from China so cheaply. 

Hair vendors in India, Indonesia, and Cambodia remove the unwanted parts from tonsured hair (hair donated at a temple) and ship the waste to China (we saw this for ourselves when we visited India). 

This hair is called fallen hair. Fallen hair is dead hair that naturally shed (this also includes hair collected from brushes, combs, shower drains, or just swept up off the floor at a legitimate vendor’s factory, and its quality has been jeopardized and matting is likely to occur.

When the hair gets to the Chinese factories it is dunked in vats of mystery chemicals (sulfur, ammonia, some form of acid?) in order to strip the cuticles, then it's sorted and dipped in a lot of silicone to make the hair soft and shiny. They will also chemically process the hair again  in order to make it straight or tightly curled or kinky. Synthetic hair may also be added depending on the desired outcome. 

Naturally, as you wear and shampoo the hair the silicone will start to come off and eventually, you’ll be left with hair that mats and tangles, or hair that started out black and is now another color and so on.  

I mean, here we are trying to eat unprocessed foods, wear sustainable clothing, and in general take care of our bodies and our health, so does it make sense to use hair extensions and wigs that are full of mystery toxins?