The rules of hair-selling
Selling your hair online is not as chop-chop as you might think. Two paramount rules apply: 1) Your hair must be virgin, meaning it’s never been colored or permed. Virgin also means you’ve minimized using a curling iron, hair straightener or blow dryer, and that you get your hair trimmed every once in a while so as to avoid split ends. Being a non-smoker is also a plus. The more au naturale your hair is, the more likely you’ll be able to sell it for a premium. 2) Your hair must be at least ten inches long, but the truth is, the longer the better.
Once you’ve determined the purity of your hair, you’ll need to describe and document the goods: virgin (hopefully); and your hair’s color, length and thickness. It’s highly recommended that you sell your hair before you cut it. Take a picture of your hair next to a tape measure to prove its length. And if you can, include the weight of the pony tail as well.
Once your hair is sold, it’s best to have a professional do the cutting. Be sure to include photographs of the hair removal. Packaging and payment depends on the Website you register with and the particular criteria of the buyer.
Where to sell
TheHairTrader.org
According to the company, it’s the largest independent hair selling site in existence. A plus for all you exceptionally long-haired brokesters is that the Hair Trader doesn’t charge a fee to post your listing. The site’s easily navigable and is open to both buyers and sellers. And if this is any indication of its superior legitimacy, the Hair Trader has been covered by several mainstream media sources, including Good Morning America, CNN and ABC. A recent seller set a record at $3,600 for 27 inches of “thick, gorgeously long, thick body filled brown hair.” And other top sales were listed at upward of $2,000. That’s the bar, folks.
Onlinehairaffair.com
In terms of its purple color scheme, Online Hair Affair, the self-proclaimed “best place to buy and sell hair,” is the most Prince-esque of the bunch. It claims to be the “first and only” place to auction hair online, but this lie aside, the site provides both buyers and sellers the opportunity to post free listings. All sales here are subject to an eight percent fee. We couldn’t find any $3,600 sales, but there were a few current listings in the $200-$400 range.
Hairwork.com
The point of mentioning this site is to highlight the superiority of the two previous ones. Not only does the site contain a strange religious undertone, it costs $20 to post a three-month ad. But, to its credit, you can do so much more here than buy and sell hair: There are hair necklaces, glass eggs with hair flowers inside and even horse hair by the pound.
The bottom line
There doesn’t seem to be an exact science when it comes to how much you can make from selling your hair. Yours could be the $3,700 new record holder, or you could languish in no-bid land for months. Your best bet is to have the most beautiful and luscious hair in all the land, take good care of it and let it grow.
View Comments (23)
You can email webuyhair@gmail.com with pictures and details of your hair.
I need to sell my hair though it was colored couple of times so I can pay for my school. I am a non resident phd student? anyone helping me
I posted an ad online, emailed tons of people claiming to buy hair, started contacting wig makers directly and ZILCH...no response, no thank you for asking, no, no, nothing.
Is locks of love a scam? Don't know, just read a jilted comment online, but it makes sense. Is there money to be made? Supposedly, but from what I have ascertained, most of the hair is being collected in India and China.
I'm still searching but as of right now am i agree with the comment regarding the only people getting paid are the ones charging fees for your ad. I've paid, I've not gotten any results :-(
I can confirm that you can make real money selling your hair online. I cut about 20 inches of my thick, wavy hair off a few years ago and sold it on HairTrader. There was no fee to put up a listing at the time and the offer I got was something ridiculously large (I thought), like $300. It totally saved Christmas that year for my kids! I had a great experience with the actual transaction, but months after it was sold and I'd emailed the site asking them to take down my post I was still getting offers. It took a couple of years for the periodic offers to stop coming in because the site never took my post down.
Actually, the hairtrader does charge a fee.
wow
my best bet right now will be
http://www.hairclassfieds.com
HA! I was getting ready to sell my hair again when I came across this blog and saw the back of my head posted in this blog. Yep, that 'well-maintained' bun was mine :) I got $2,000 CASH for it and now, 4 years later, I am going to sell it again.
Where did you sell your hair for that much?! I am looking to sell my hair as well and am looking for the best website!
Thanks!!
They all DO cost a fee! i am looking for a website where u DON'T have to pay a fee! Does anyone know one?
Does anyplace buy and sell color treated hair or layered hair? My hair is long but has side layers and has been colored black. My hair is absolutely straight naturally and looks a lot like Asian hair. I only have the center area, as I have my sides shaved, so if it sells Id be cutting it into a short mohawk. My hair has color in it, and layered cut so its different lengths with longest being over 10 inches. Do I have a chance? I do not expect nor care if I got thousands, Id settle for a couple hundred.