The Sunday Review #24: Hair Raising Facts Edition

Here are a few interesting money facts about some hairy business (quoted from these sources). It’s just wonderful to know the incredible number of ways the east meets the west.

• Every year hair worth about $136 million is shipped from India, one of the largest exporters of human hair, to factories in China. There, Chinese hair is mixed with Indian hair to make wigs and hair extensions for Western markets.

• [with reference to Indian hair market] Wholesalers sort hair into five categories. The kind that is black and longer than 6 inches is the most sought after. This “remy” or “black gold” category sells for as much as $160 per kilogram [1 kilogram is about 2.2 pounds]. The second category of black hair, between 8 and 16 inches long, sells for around $44 a kilogram. The third category of black hair, shorter than 8 inches, sells for under a dollar a kilogram. The fourth and fifth categories are gray hair shorter than 8 inches, which sell for about 10 cents a kilogram.

• At the high end of the market, the biggest competition to Indian hair is European hair, which is more expensive and more difficult to find. Still, it’s not perfect for everyone. Susan Lipson, who specializes in procuring and inserting hair extensions for movies, says “European hair is too slick” for many actresses to use.

• The temple at Tirupati, one of India’s busiest, is doing a brisk business selling hair. Many of the temple’s 20 million visitors each year shave their heads in gratitude for some blessing in their life. Last year, the temple says it took in $5.6 million through hair auctions.

• Exporters say buyers from countries such as the United States pay $1.50 for a strand of hair that expensive beauty salons may then weave into extensions or wigs that can sell for between $1,500 and $3,000. Exporters say that Hollywood is one of the biggest consumers of human hair.

Any entrepreneurial ideas about your hair? Probably, if you keep collecting all your hair after the numerous haircuts, you could almost give your net worth a little boost in a few years.

After you sufficiently amuse yourself with some hairy ideas, proceed below to read through some of the interesting articles posted over the financial blogosphere this week.

• Trading Off Your Financial Security For Your Kids by Flexo @ Consumerism Commentary. Retirement or kids? Your life or their life? Keep your kids out of debt by giving them your retirement money? How far would you go to ensure your children’s financial security?

• Curb Appeal: One Of My Best Investments Yet Or How I Turned $80 Into $5,000 With Minimal Risk by SVB @ The Digerati Life. Planting appropriate trees in your yard might actually turn out to be a very lucrative activity. I had no idea the *value* of the trees is counted in evaluating the worth of your house.

• Use An Age-Based 529 College Plan To Save For College by Henry @ Binary Dollar. Some thoughts on automatic adjustment (in terms of bonds, equities, etc.) of an age-based 529 college plan portfolio.

• Ten Financial Matters I Wish I Had Discussed With My Wife Before We Got Married by Trent @ The Simple Dollar. Trent suggests initiating some financial discussions between couples before getting married - towards happily ever after

• If Personal Finance Is Easy, Why Isn’t Everybody Rich? by JD @ Get Rich Slowly. Now, that’s a million dollar question. Theoretically it’s very easy - increase your wealth in X steps, decrease your debt in Y steps, and become a millionaire in Z steps, read this book and achieve success in life, etc. It’s the practical implementation part that makes all the difference.
  

• Borrow Money & Lend Money at Prosper by Lazy @ Lazy Man and Money. Lazy summarizes a few reasons why Prosper is an attractive place to borrow and lend money.

• Sub-Prime Teaches Us: Always Shop Around by Jim @ Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Although Jim specifically talks about shopping around for mortgage, the advice can be easily extended for all your big purchases. Don’t get ripped off - always shop around.

• Are Real Estate Agents Worth the Money? by Ben @ Money Smart Life. Ben wonders if the services provided by typical real estate agents are worth the 6% fee that some of them charge.

• Eco-Friendly Energy Savings by Nickel @ Five Cent Nickel. Seven simple ways to save money and environment.

Planting trees in smart locations around your house is a great investment, as it not only improves your curb appeal and overall property value, but as the trees grow their shade will translate into major savings when it comes to keeping your house cool.

• Book Review: On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance by Jeremy @ Generation X Finance. Although the book’s title claims to be a “Girl’s Guide”, Jeremy’s positive review says it’s applicable to everyone. It’s funny he claims this in his first paragraph “..this one really struck a chord with me and I am not even a woman”.

• Renting Out Your Creditworthiness by MBH @ Mighty Bargain Hunter. This is interesting - did you know you could borrow someone’s credit history? Man…people would do anything to borrow money - and get into debt (?).

• My Continued Problem with AMEX and the Unauthorized Charges by Sun @ The Sun’s Financial Diary. Sun is not very happy with some dude in Netherlands who has initiated recurring charges on his (Sun’s) credit card. He is also unhappy with American Express for not handling the situation properly.

• Wal-Mart: Love Them or Hate Them? by FMF @ Free Money Finance. Read the interesting comments on this discussion. Here is an example:

I have never had a good experience at Wal-Mart. Every time I have shopped there, I’ve been met with ineptitude, shoddy conditions, shoddier merchandise, and rude clientele. It had gotten to the point where I would lose my patience with the store just by going into the parking lot!

Carnivals:

• Carnival of Personal Finance #103 - The 24 Edition was hosted by Clever dude and featured my article on David Bach and his misleading real estate math.

Hair image source: div.dyndns.org