Tuesday, 19 June 2012

A Hair Collecting Adventure

At Sri Venkatesvara Temple, tonsuring translates into big business. The temple processes thousands of folks a day and saves every lock of hair that falls its way. The temple moves tons of the stuff a year, raising millions of dollars for its various causes. From a humble Indian villager's head to a Beyonce wig, it's the global economy at its finest.

Maybe you remember the temple being featured in the Chris Rock documentary, Good Hair. Enough Hollywood hob-nobbing, time to get cutting.

Ten rupees for a cut = about 20 cents. Deal! The scene at one of the typical cutting facilities: basically a large, wet room with a dozen or so tonsuring stations.



The hair piles up quickly, but is just as rapidly collected and thrown into big tanks, saved for spinning into money.



A barber wielding his tool. Another customer, almost done.



No comments:

Post a Comment