Tired of rocking the Fabio-Rapunzel look you’ve been cultivating for the past year and a half? Instead of picking up the phone for your next overpriced cut, let someone pay you for a change for what’s rightfully yours. Hair-selling is a perfectly legit and legal form of trade—wigs and hairpieces have to come from somewhere. And while donating your locks for a good cause is always a generous option, if you really need the cash, there’s no reason your flowing mane shouldn’t be fair-game on the e-market too. All it takes is some time, loving attention and a little care. Here’s how to go about it.
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
This well-maintained bun sold for $2,000 in three weeks.
The Hair Trader
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.
Online Hair Affair
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
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.
