How to Sell Your Hair for Cash
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c_pichler / Flickr I first read of selling hair in Les Miserables when Fantine sold her head of gold to clothe her daughter Cosette. The hair trade just seems like such an archaic idea, but actually high quality hairpieces are still made from real human hair and there is a huge market for sourcing natural hair. Here are some tips and information on how to sell your tresses for cash. (See also: 8 Fun Ways to Make Money)
1. Leave your hair untreated
Most wig makers want "virgin hair" that has no chemical treatment. Virgin hair is generally less damaged and would last longer in a hair piece. They also look more natural and could stand additionally treatment. So if you want to sell your hair, make sure you do not dye, perm, or bleach it.
2. Grow your hair out
Generally you need at least 10 inches of hair to be able to make a sale. This is because natural hair is usually not the same length and not all the hair is usable. Hair buyers generally want long continuous lengths of hair to make extensions and wigs.
3. Take good care of yourself and your hair
Healthy hair that shines fetch a better price in the open market. Some basic tips I have read are to brush your hair gently, eat well, and do not take any drugs since hair retains traces of the drugs you take. Also, it is best not to shampoo your hair every day because that would strip your hair of its natural oils. Smoking is also detrimental to your hair because the scent usually stays long after you light up a cigarette.
4. List and market your hair
Hairwork [will be discontinued as of 2016] and Online Hair Affair are two sites that specialize in hair trading classifieds. The first site costs $20 to post an ad, and the second offers listings starting at $10. They allow you to post a description of your hair, pictures, and your price. It is usually recommended that you get paid first and then cut your hair at a professional salon and bundle the hair in a pony tail or braid. You could also try to auction your hair on eBay or post a classified ad on Craigslist, but I think your chances are much better on the sites specializing in hair.
How much can you make? The price buyers are willing to pay really depends on the color, length, and quality of your hair. Also, if you market it well you would have better results. Some sold listings have great photographs and descriptions. For example, one woman on specified that she grew her hair with the intention to sell and took very good care of it, and she managed to sell it for over $1000 in just a week. It took her four years to grow that hair, but $1000 is still a good return on something that is fairly painless to give up. It also seems that her research into the hair trade led to a healthy lifestyle, and that is a great bonus for her.
If you are cutting your long locks but do not want to sell it, you can always donate it to Locks of Love. This is a great charity that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair due to cancer and other diseases. Since wigs are considered cosmetic they are not covered by insurance and a lot of families cannot afford a wig made from human hair. The wigs Locks of Love gives out really provide self esteem for affected children. Their guideline for hair donation is posted here.
In closing, I think if you already have beautiful long hair and need a bit of cash, selling those locks is definitely something you should look into. It is quite profitable and definitely much less painful than selling any other body part.
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Though this place may not be the right place to sell my hair, I am wondering if there's anyone interested of buying a black, and never been treated hair. I never smoke nor drink and always make it a habit to take good care of my hair. I am willing to cut and sell 20" of my hair. For anyone interested, promptly contact me through cute_jon00100(at)yahoo.comm
Hi! This is one of the best articles I was able to find on this subject. I just wrote about it in my blog and I was unable to find other GOOD articles on it. Thank you so much for taking the time to write about this!
Becky
i am looking to sell about 20" of long wavy thick hair i do not smoke i do not drink i do not blow dry i do not die i do not use any chemicals other than shampoo and conditioner and i use pantene pro v only looking to cut it off after christmas please contact me if your interested or can give info on who to contact to sell at shmegma0608@comcast.net
I have "BEAUTIFUL LONG BLACK ASIAN HAIR" (So everyone says)that I want to sell. If you are interested please contact me back through my e-mail at KristaHieam@yahoo.com . Thank you!
Contact me if you want great pay for your hair. jimslim306@yahoo.com
HI, I'VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE. BUT I HAVE 24" OF HAIR TO SELL. MY HAIR GROWS FAST ENOUGH THAT I CAN CUT IT ABOUT EVERY EIGHT TO TEN MONTHS. THAT WOULD BE TEN OR ELE. INCH. OR SO. JUST SO YOU KNOW. SO, GET BACK TO ME, AND WHEN YOU DO WRITE BACK PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU I.D. YOURSELF WELL, CAUSE IF I'M NOT SURE WHO IT IS, I WON'T OPEN YOU E-MAIL. THANK YOU FOR TIME. THANKS GEO.
I wish to sell my hair it's 10 inches long if I go for a bob cut. I live in Norfolk and I have dark brown black hair. With some streaks of dark blonde(bronzy colour) and light blonde bleached in beginning of Oct 2009 now it has faded a bit.
I don't smoke, don't drink, never done drugs,don't blow dry always air dry. Eat really well lots of fish always oiled and got indian head massaged. No hair sprays or other products to style. drink mineral water every day and eat fruits, veg,nuts and seeds and superfoods. Who or which company can I approach for a good sale. Thank you S.A
If that's Norfolk in the UK drop me a line. Dave.
i am selling my hair which are really healthy and long..
below my shoulder length,healthy and strong,natural,never treated or colored.
please mail me for offers and pics at raghavbindra@gmail.com
In NY, NJ area. Always looking for long hair to buy.
If local feel free to contact me.
hey i am local in new york city i am in brooklyn,n.y so i have little bit over 15 inches of dark brown kerly hair i am a male and latin so if you are interested email me at alexdiazm2009@yahoo.com or call me at 774-314-0658 ok thank you?
Anyone interested in short haircut and make some money $$, midwest area
I am interested in selling my hair. My hair is light brown, approximately 20 inches long and 3 inches thick. I see you cut the hair you buy. I am in St. Louis. Where are you located in the midwest?
Hello,
Please consider my serious virgin hair offer:
20-30cm - $150/kg - raw unbrushed hair bundles.
30-40cm - $ 300/kg - raw unbrushed bundles and
40-50cm - $ 450/kg - single drawn ponytails and
55-65cm - $ 600/kg - ponytails.
Minimum order for shorter hair is five kilos. I offer to cover half of your shipping cost.
For 35-50 and longer hair minimum order is two kilos.
Regards,
Bekzod
Hello,
Please contact me about your virgin hair. I am looking for new suppiers and as hoping to order from you. Where is your hair from? What forum of payment o you take. Could I see pics of hair? Thank you
I hope to order
beckobeg@yahoo.com
can i sell my vag hair too?
hey email me at alexdiazm2009@yahoo.com if you are really interested in buying my hair if not dont bother ok thank you.like i said i have a little bit over 15 inches of dark browm kerly hair never been cut for the past 7 years and is nice and thick and very pretty ok email me or call me at 774-314-0658
just wondering where can i sell my husband hair.
hi, i'm 28, need the cash, have long hair, but did have it permed last year. Half of my hair is permed, the top half straight. WOULD I BE ABLE TO STILL SELL IT? I heard about salons that will cut your hair and pay you for it. Where are they, does anyone know?
i tried to sell my long red hair, on the hair trader, scam after scam. they even went so far as to send 2000 in fake money order!! luckily i didnt fall for it and still havent sold 14 inches of virgin hair... im in southern california. any help out there?? tina_ballew@yahoo.com
hi guys< im lookin for someone who knows where i can get PAID to sale my hair in sothern california.. ive been growing it for a year and a half or 2... thanks guys..
Locks of Love sells there hair to a company in China and they intern sell it . The best wigs are sold to the rich people. Children do not see the best wigs. Take this into consideration. There is not that many children in the world for all the hair that is donated to Locks of Love .The name of the company just makes me so sick I could puke. If You think that I am wrong . Call Locks of Love and see if they will give you any information . Good luck on that one. It is best that you sell your hair online and donate the money to a child cancer research center. This way you know where your money is going.
my sister is 8 years old but she's as tall as an eleven year old, & she has NEVER had a haircut. And her hair goes like and inch below her knees. its sad b/c i'm the one who has to untangle it.
holy crap! I was looking for info on the hair selling thing and how people are doing it, I got some info from the article but the comments sometimes have a littlemore info as I went down through the comments I noticed it became a hair post WTF XIN LU is correct this is NOT a hair post site you money grubbing hore"s I was looking into cutting my daughters hair because it is summer here and she wants it all off anyways and apon looking for a good hair cut place I found this site and learned about the money for hair thing I WAS getting pretty good info until I ran into the idiots selling hair posts! Learn to control have a little self control on cluttering up good info this info is here for a long time so will your comment even after you get your hair cut, nobody truely Looking for hair is going to come here and look to buy hair, unless they are scammers and they know they can buy your hair cheap and sell it for more lets keep info flowing about selling or donating hair and MAYBE NOT post hair selling crap here. I hope that if I do end up selling some hair I dont end up like these desperate hair selling commentors trying to sell again. thanks for the info Xin
P.S. Go ARMY
do you get paid if you donate to locks of love?
no you do not get paid... ive donated my hair 5 times. the last 3 to city of hope. they make the wigs for only children with cancer. ive always gotten a letter to thank me and to tell me my hair helped make 3 wigs for little ones. no money but a big heart.
Here is a site to help with hair donation decisions: http://hairdonation.blogspot.com/.
i'd like to sell lots of long hair, please email me:
gabriel.trocadero
i just found out that people will buy ur hair?.. well i have 12' of virgin hair ive been holding on to, because i was going to donate it to L.o.L, sadly due to them selling a majority of their donations.. i decided to look into selling it myself, from what i hear people would be willing to pay top dollar for what i have..its a super-super thick brade so if anyone can guide me to the next steps it would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tustin Mom
Wigs for Kids seems like a really good place to donate hair. OR you could sell your hair and donate the money to your favorite organization, which is what a friend and I are planning on doing.
I am also a person with very long hair, I could donate anywhere from 24-45 inches from my shoulders. depending on how short I want to go with my hair. I am a cancer survivor, with 9 years in remission. I never had chemo, don't drink or do drugs. My hair was Marcia Cross red my whole life, and is now a very unusual shade of champagne-platinum blond. Everyone is amazed that this is my "graying process" because of the blondness. I had at one time said when it was time to cut, I would donate it to LoL. Since then, I have started the process to start my own non-profit organization to feed and clothe the homeless in honor of my brother, who died because no one would take his illness serious because he was homeless, and refused him the treatment he needed for cancer of the spine. I am going to sell my hair to fund my non-profit. I also am tired of people always telling me how I should donate to LoL, like I never would have thought of that without their insight. I did not know they do not provide wigs to cancer kids. That is the biggest misconception out there!
Comtact me at jimslim306@yahoo.com to sell your hair/have it cut. Send pics of your hair.
PLEASE stop telling people to donate to Locks of Love!!! They sell much of the hair that gets donated to them to other wig companies for a profit and still children have to pay (on a sliding scale, of course... I'm being sarcastic here) for these wigs that they make! Also, they do not make wigs for kids that have lost their hair because of chemo... they mostly make wigs for kids who have a medical condition that affects hair growth- not that this is a bad thing, but if the kids are paying for the wigs in the first place, shouldn't they offer wigs to ANY kid that needs that confidence boost? Locks of Love has a big name that people repeat to others without realizing that this NON-PROFIT company is more interesting in making money than actually helping kids out and if you donate to them, you are most likely providing them with more hair to sell and you have wasted your time.
i would like to sell my hair! how do i do it?
The Hair Trader is no longer around I would use http://www.OnlineHairAffair.com
the hair trader is not running because of so much traffic problems :( im not sure when it will be running again i really want to sell my hair.
I have 10 inches of hair for sale and I have never done this before buy I was told I could get a $1000 for 10 inches and I really need the money. I have brown and redish hair and it has blonde naturally highlights from the sun. I have not colored it in a year and I know I need a hair cut it gets heavy and its always up. I dont get to enjoy it anymore. If you are interested in buying my hair please email me at amberhopak29@yahoo.com please the money will really help me. Thank you for your time and looking at my ad.
Hello my name is Jasmin my brother would like to donate his hair. Our brother just passed a few days ago it was unexpected because he was a 20 year old healthy boy with no previous illness so it has been hard and we are trying to get money for his funeral. My brothers hair is (since we have never done this before) 26 inches the top of his head and the bottom reaches out to 20 inches it is brown curly wavy hair NEVER been treated with dyes or anything not a smoker or drinker. We live in the west covina/los angeles area. If your interested or know of somewhere we can go please contact me at jasmin1713@aol.com thank you.
Locks Of Love is a scam! It takes 20-30 donations of hair to make one wig. Most of the hair is thrown out because it is "unusable." And only 3% of wigs go to people with cancer. And the wigs aren't free. They make them pay for their wigs. Locks of Love claim they are a non-profit organization but that is very untrue!! Just thought everyone should know the shocking truth i found out about LoL.
Saying a person "should" donate hair and selling it is wrong is like saying you "should" donate your stuff to a thrift store instead of holding a garage sale. You can choose to donate or not donate, but you're not wrong not to donate your hair OR your stuff. Though I do advocate generosity, it just doesn't need to be your hair you're generous with--it can be with your money and it can also be with your time.
You can also use a service like CashForCuts (http://www.cashforcuts.com). They will pay you for your hair and get you into a great new cut.
This is not entirely accurate. Both of the Websites she lists cost money. Hairwork is $20 and the Hair Trader is $14. I have never done this before does anyone have a list of sites that are free and easy to sell your hair on?
the hair trader website is not free it is $14.50 to post an ad for 3 months.
Locks of Love does sell donated hair (usually gray) they use the proceeds to buy the materials to make the wigs (wigs have a cap that the hair is attached to).
Thanks for your comments about The Hair Trader, everyone. I've replaced the link with a site that's functioning.
Locks of Love isn't a fraudulent company. They are just small and receive the most donations of hair. Their main priority is for kids with Alopecia.
If someone is looking to donate to kids and adults with cancer and other medical issues then they should look into Wigs For Kids.
If someone is looking to donate for kids with cancer then they should look into Wigs 4 Kids.
If someone is looking to donate for women with cancer then they should look Pantene Beautiful Lengths.
Research all of them. Don't listen to what so and so says at the hair salon or what one person writes on a blog. Research them yourself -- read their sites -- call them etc.
There was a ruckus over that Times article and the writer [Hyat] ended up calling Coffman [pres of LoL] in tears
"apologizing for what the Times editors had done to her story and the reputation of Locks and Love."
Locks of Love is legit --- they are just not the go to for all hair donations and since they receive [or did receive back then] the vast majority of donations , of course they got the bulk of non usable hair. All of the places get unusable hair because people don't research. I mean c'mon, sending in wet hair? What do they do -- go the the beauty salon get a wash and have their hair chopped off and put into bag? Just go write a check to some local legit charity or better yet volunteer somewhere if you don't know exactly what to do, not do, how to do it and what to do it with.
by the way -- wish I had known about selling hair many years ago. You have no idea how many times I chopped off locks of hair to have them thrown into the trash. I'm a natural redhead [auburn] and never died or permed my hair and didn't do much of anything to it! It was just naturally perfect and THICK. Man , I could've sold those flaming red locks to some rich broad for probably 10k. Now, I can't stand for my hair to get barely lower than my shoulders because the weight gives me a headache!
Oh well!
DO NOT donate your hair to Locks of Love ,These people are getting rich off of your donations ,They receive hair from all over the world ,everyday. They sell your hair to a asian market for money.Very few children ever see wigs made from donated hair. Children that have lost there hair and the doctors tell them that in time it will grow back are not able to get wigs .The only children that can get wigs are the few that really can not grow it back and they have to be poor ,Rich opeople have to buy there wigs. So Think twice about giving your beautiful hair to Locks of Love .If you care about these few children ,sell your hair online and give the money to a cancer research center for children.That way you will be helping the children that are poor and really need help.If you do not beleive this ,go online and look it up yourself.
Well i wonder how much i could get. Im '5'4 and my hair goes to the middle of my calf. I canr donate it cause i need the cash. Hmmm anyone know how much id get?
Locks of Love gets some negative reviews - look at Pantene's Beautiful Lengths when you're considering donating. Another option - sell your hair and donate $$ to preferred charity.
Locks of Love is a scam. They do not "give out" wigs they sell them at a reduced price depending on income. Pantene gives out wigs free as do other charities. So I'd leave Locks of Love out as they are quoted saying that they sell and mostly throw away the hair they get.
Can guys sell hair too?
LOCKS OF LOVE IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO DONATE!
Check them out on a charity watchlist website.
Whether or not they give away wigs isn't the point.
The point is that they SELL the hair that's donated to cover their administrative costs, instead of fundraising separately for those the way most charities do.
Also, the amount of money they spend on their "administrative" costs is much too high compared to how much they actually give away.
Check it out on Charity Navigator or Charity Watch and choose a different organization like Pantene.
Locks of love is a very shady "charity", the wigs aren't for chemo patients, aren't free to the people that the people who donate their hair to are told they are donated to, they sell hair at market value to offset costs. Try Pantenes beautiful length charity, it has a better reputation.
The bit about donating to Locks of Love should be removed. They sell a LOT of their hair and very little of it actually goes to cancer patients. Not a good place to donate.
I have heard similar things about LoL. When my son, who is a Boy Scout, wanted to donate his hair we did our research. We thought about Pantene but instead chose Children With Hair Loss. Because they make wigs for free for children that have lost their hair for whatever reason! Great cause & good company.
FYI, Locks of Love does not use all hair donated for persons in need.
i would like to sell my son's hair for a good decent price. i have never done this before and i would like to know where and how to sell this hair. pls help!!
Les Mis? Didn't u ever read Gift of the Magi??
Locks of love has nothing to do with cancer or donating. They sell high quality wigs at a discounted price(still rather expensive) to children under the age of eihteen with alopecia or other types of permanent hair loss. They discard hair that does not meet parameters and sell most donated hair for a profit oversees as extensions or wigs. Wigs for kids or pantenes great lengths are charities that donate to kids and adults.
Very nice article. Thank you for taking the time to write it. I believe Locks of Love charges for their wigs, though. Wig for Kids is an organization who makes completely free wigs with the donated hair for children. I have donated mine to them several times and gotten a thank you letter, which I certainly wasn't expecting but thought it was a nice gesture.
Growing your hair for donation to charity is great, but growing it to sell? I'm not so sure. If it took me four years to grow a luscious head of long gorgeous locks, am I going to sell it? Heck no. Especially if I found out it was worth 1000. I'd even want to keep my hair more.
Thanks for the article Xin Lu!
I am a local "Hair Buyer" in the Chicago area only. I represent two different wig/extension manufacturers. I only buy local because there are a ton of scammers out there on both sides of the "Hair"! I always pay cash prior to the haircut and have not had one issue since dealing strictly local!
I pay anywhere between $50 and $600 for hair that is at least 14" long.
I have heard lots of stories with regards to Pantene and am not sure what to believe!
I do know however that most do not realize that they can make a nice chunk of money if they are looking to change their hairstyle from short to long!
Thanks again Xin Lu for the article!
Locks of Love is a for profit company and donates a majority of their wigs to adults with alopecia, not children with cancer. If you really want to give your hair to a good cause please consider donating to Wigs for Kids. Locks of Love is a scam and they do not correct anyone when the perpetuate the idea that their company donates to children with cancer.
Thanks.
Locks of Love charge the cancer patients for their donated hair. If you really want to donate without making someone pay donate through wigs4kids.
Please do ur research on Locks of Love and then hopefully you will remove their name from ur wonderful website. Please refer a charity that actually donates to cancer patients. Locks of love neither donates nor helps kids with cancer.
Thanks.
Please do ur research on Locks of Love and then hopefully you will remove their name from ur wonderful website. Please refer a charity that actually donates to cancer patients. Locks of love neither donates nor helps kids with cancer.
Thanks.
Both those sites are saying they aren't accepting any new ads?
Locks for Love is a bogus company who sells all the really beautiful hair to Chinese firms who make wigs for the rich and famous for $1000's of dollars .If you don't believe me , look it up for yourself .
Hi, just wanted to ask how necessary it is that you only cut when you've found a buyer?
Hairwork is no longer posting ads for human hair. They discontinued as of March 13th and the last of the ads will go down in the next few days.
Unfortunately, Locks of Love has to trash most of the donations they receive. Sadly, the amount of "unusable" donations they receive is just too much for the small amount of people handling the workload. So the bulk of the hair they get is tossed, with the exception of some ok product that is sold to wig makers who pay them cash. This money is used toward "organizational costs". And, their primary focus is not cancer patients. It is hair loss due to alopecia. Some of the funds they receive for the hair they sell does go to charitable organizations for alopecia/alopecia research. A very small amount of the hair they receive meets their criteria and is used for wigs for these patients.
Two other great organizations who accept hair donations are Wigs for Kids (wigsforkids.org) who require a 12 inch hair donation, and Pantene Beautiful Lengths, who only ask for an 8 inch donation. These organizations focus on patients with hair loss due to cancer and other diseases, and provide wigs at a discounted or no cost. Since they are not as widely known as Locks of Love, they receive a smaller amount of donations, and therefore less are "unusable". Their websites explain the guidelines for donating hair, so make sure you review before you donate, whether you donate to LoL, Pantene, or W4K, it's important you review the guidelines so that your donation doesn't get rejected!! I personally have donated 3 times to Locks of Love and have a donation to send in now - I will be sending in to Wigs for Kids this time around, but don't regret my past donations to LoL. Even if they did bring in $$, it is possible the funds went to charity or research for alopecia, so I feel that my donations could have made a difference.
BTW - I LOVE LES MISERABLES!!!
I want sell my 150 cm red hair! :)
I thank you all for posting about the locks of love, I have donated several times. This is very disappointing to know, I was about to do it again, only to find out that they are selling it...I will now just sell my hair or if I find a cancer patient who needs it, I will donate it to that person.
I love that I can sell my hair. I considered Locks Of Love, but found out they take your hair you donate for a most worthy cause, they pay you nothing, they don't thank you and the worst part, they charge the poor families, as if they haven't been through enough, for the wig that was free hair to them. Not cool Locks Of Love!
Buy selling my hair, I make money which I use however I want, in this case I can donate to Childrens Cancer research at St. Jude's. Wisebread takes my hair and sells it for me. I see my plan as a Win, Win, we all win situation!