Good Hair Page #8

on somebody else?

- God likes hair?

- Yeah.

Tonsure.

That's the word

we keep hearin'. Tonsure.

Eighty-five percent

of lndia's population

have had their hair shaved

at least twice in a lifetime

in a religious ceremony

known as tonsure.

In lndia,

hair is considered a vanity

and removing hair is considered

an act of self-sacrifice.

By the end of the night,

these pretty young girls

will be baldheaded.

And in a few weeks,

their hair will be

on the heads of doctors,

lawyers, and even strippers

swinging off of poles.

These people have no idea

where their hair's going

or how much it's worth.

The money made at this temple

is second only to the Vatican.

The hair collected here

is auctioned off to exporters

who distribute it

around the planet.

But its chief destination

is the weave capital

of the world, Los Angeles.

- Vijay!

- Hey.

How's it goin', man?

Good. How are you?

- Can't wait to see what you got.

- Oh, yes.

All right, let's go in.

Now, Vijay.

How much money worth of hair

do you have

in that bag right now?

Roughly about

$10,000 to $15,000.

- $15,000 worth of hair?

- Yeah.

Have you ever been robbed?

No. Luckily, no.

Touch wood.

All right.

Do you have security?

No. The security

is it's a suitcase,

and they think it's clothes,

and I'm a tourist.

I need, uh...

the auburn shades

or the natural black?

The natural black.

And I need, like, 14 to 16 inch.

Now, what are you lookin' for

when you go through the hair?

Well, one, I look to make sure

that the ends are not so frayed.

You know what I mean?

I look to make sure that when I run

my hands through it that it's silky.

Okay. Now,

is this your first stop today?

Yes.

Today, it's my first shop.

So you get it first?

Beverly Hills gets it first?

So you start here

and then you go to Compton?

It's not quite like that, Rock.

Everything else works like that.

Okay, so you got

this big-ass suitcase full of hair.

And this is your first shop?

Will you make it

through the day with that?

How long

before all that hair is gone?

It could be gone in a few hours.

A few hours?

Once the ladies get it,

they want more.

And they won't pay their rent

to get their hair done.

Yeah, there's a lot

of that goin' on in America.

A lot of foreclosures.

But they got hair.

There's no hair-closures

goin' on.

So if you not

in the weave business,

you not in the hair business.

It's true, because

you can't make the money.

The weavin'

is where the money is.

It takes you up there.

It puts you up there

with the doctors, you know?

It's that kind of income

because you're finding something

that you can really promote.

It's like surgery.

Non-surgical hair replacement.

It's the real deal.

You ever say, like,

''Hey, this hair is

from a Hindu princess''?

Charge a little extra?

No. Why should I say that?

Well, I've put it on some celebrities

and said, ''This was on so-and-so.

''l'll sell it to you if you want it.''

They'll buy it.

''Ooh, I got so-and-so's hair.''

Really? So you can sell, like,

a used weave

if Angela Bassett had it?

Yeah, she brings it back,

then I resell it.

I say, ''Angela

had it on her head.''

And they like, ''Really?''

''This is Vivica Fox hair.''

Yeah, and they'll buy.

You know,

she like Malaysian hair.

Vivica likes Malaysian hair.

She's not really

into the lndian hair.

I knew there was a market

for selling lndian hair,

but what I really wanted to know

is if I could make any money

at all selling black hair.

Black hair!

Black hair!

How you doin', sir?

Okay, sir. How are you?

Pretty good.

So you sell a lot of hair here?

Yes.

What kind of hair?

We have Malaysian.

We have the lndian hair.

We have synthetic hair.

We have so many different hair.

Wow. Do you have

any hair from Africa?

Really?

Can I see the African hair?

Where is that?

This is--

That's not African hair.

That's lndian hair.

It says ''lndian.''

lndia is Africa from lndians.

That's lndian hair?

For African women?

See, I was tryin' to sell--

I had lndian hair,

and I sold it easy,

but the black hair, nobody--

Would you like to buy

some black hair?

I have all sorts

of black hair here.

Some of this hair is from Cleveland

and Cincinnati.

This hair is from Detroit.

Well, you might want

to take it back.

So this is not good hair?

Uh-uh.

ls that off of someone else's...

This hair was

cut off at a Baptist temple.

Uh, well, I couldn't--

It wouldn't be healthful

for me to sell that hair here.

You think somebody's

going to get sickle-cell

or something

from wearing black hair?

Oh, yes.

The hair's no good.

But it's black hair

for black people.

But black people

don't wear that no more.

So my nappy hair's

not worth anything?

They don't want to look like,

you know...

like, you know, Africa, like this.

They want to look the style.

You know, right now,

you look at all the magazines,

all the style,

what kind of styles they have.

They want sexy-looking.

So this is sexy?

Nobody walks around

with nappy hair no more.

No more. You see,

how many people, they do it?

No. You make sure

the hair's straight.

Look more natural.

As far as black women

wearing hair from other nationalities

or the hairstyles

of other ethnicities and races,

you know, I would just say

that European and Asian hair,

the texture

seems to be the style

that all women seem

to be trying to achieve.

I always

was bothered by women

that had it

and used it as a power thing.

It's kind of like, if I'm wearing

somebody else's jewelry,

but I'm flexin' it on you,

that's kind of fake.

So if you got a wig on,

but you flexin' your hair

like I'm supposed to give

you points for that hair,

I'm not giving you those points.

l'll give you points for your ass.

l'll give you points

for your legs or your skin,

but you don't get points for that.

But you whippin' it at me like--

And a real pimp can always

look at a girl

and know what she

looks like baldheaded. Be like...

You could see through the cap.

I have alopecia,

which causes hair loss

on your head or on your body.

I chose not to wear a wig

for a number of reasons.

There's this feeling

about somehow hiding,

and I never wanted to feel

like I was hiding something.

I wanted to deal with sort of

accepting who you are

and look in the mirror

and feeling

as though

you're beautiful and legitimate.

So I think the reason

hair is so important

is because our self-esteem

is wrapped up in it.

It's like a type of currency for us,

even though those standards

are completely unrealistic

and unattainable,

especially for black women.

You know, you're going to

be graduating soon,

going out into the real world.

You might have

to pay your parents back

for the weaves at some point.

Do you think...

you have a chance of getting

a good job with natural hair,

or are you going to need a weave

to get a good job?

Even though I think

your Afro is kind of cute,

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