Human hair: a growing business in China (and Pakistan is taking a cut)
- The global hair trade was worth more than US$81 million in 2017. Pakistan is among the world’s top suppliers; it shipped 105,000kg to China in the past five years.
- The hair comes from combs, traders and rubbish dumps, and much of it ends up in China’s booming cosmetics sector.
Seven-year-old Hassan Khan is one of Pakistan’s tens of thousands of homeless children who each day pick through garbage on the outskirts of Islamabad, the capital, in search of human hair.
Unknown to him, Khan is part of a global trade in hair that was estimated to be worth more than US$81 million in 2017. Pakistan is now among the world’s top suppliers: the Ministry of Commerce said last month that it had exported at least US$1.6 million in human hair over the past five years.
“Hair is among my daily items, which also include plastics and other materials,” said Khan, adding that he is paid about US$0.70 per day for his efforts.
Rao Shahzad has been exporting hair to China from the southern port city of Karachi for the last decade. By his estimate, nearly 3 million people in Pakistan are associated with the human hair industry – and he sees more potential.
“If the business is done properly with government support, then this industry could give 10 times more profit compared to its current gains because the length and quality of hair in Pakistan is very good,” Shahzad, 46, said.
Islamabad might be listening. The Pakistani press reported that the ministry’s January report “was the first time that the lower house of parliament was briefed about Pakistan’s hair export industry for its significant commercial value”.