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New Delhi Times:

ASSOCIATED PRESS:
Hindu religious authorities have ruled this week that
it is forbidden for Hindu women to sell their hair to Orthodox wig
makers. "We have asked our women to put their hair on holy altars as a
sacrifice to our gods. Instead, they ship it to Boro Park. Is this the
way to show honor to our gods, by shipping hair to New York?" The Hindu
Association for Indians who are Religious (H-A-I-R) had all their major
authorities as signatories on a new proclamation forbidding these
shipments.
Young women, however, feel more ambivalent than the local authorities:
"What's a good idolater to do?" said Irfana Patel, a nineteen year old
resident of New Delhi whose long hair is soon to be shorn. "I know my
options. My parents want me to cut it at the local Temple and have it
burn for our family shrine. My fiancé learned about the cost of
highlighted wigs in Meah Shearim. He wants me to sell it to put the down
payment on a new apartment." These issues are clearly complex.

Down a long alley in this large Indian city is a salon where run-away
teenage girls and older widows have flocked for years to have their hair
cut in a confidential and private setting. The salon owners, who spoke
only on the condition on anonymity, said that they have had contact with
ultra-Orthodox Jews for the past ten years. "They are our best
customers. Indian hair is thick and easily dyed. When they came here to
visit, we introduced them to chapaties. They brought us gefilte fish. My
husband loves chrain. He makes dal out of it now. We are sad that
business might change for us." The economic fall-out of this decision
has yet to be fully assessed, but small Hindu businesses everywhere are
suffering.

The human hair industry has grown exponentially since Orthodox women
discovered that snoods were used in idol worship in Thailand. The Thais
would "tie" the snood around small birds that were sacrificed on
mountain tops. Straw and wool hats have also been worn by idol worshiper
for centuries, but modern Orthodox Jews have never been particularly
concerned about it. A spokesman for the Orthodox Union said that there
are bigger issues to worry about, like whether or not Campbell's
vegetable soup will retain its heksher. "We don't really care if
modern Orthodox women are wearing hats once used by idolaters as long as
they aren't davening in women's prayer groups."
India is not the only source of human hair. In New York Times
best-seller, Hair Today: Gone Tomorrow: The Hindu Hair Scandal,
historians say that sheitel machers originally went to the Far East, to
places like Singapore and China as their hair source. Investigative
reporters have now shown that the Kai Feng community was started to
xport human hair, perhaps inspiring the enduring love of Jews for
hinese food. "The hair was cheap but hard to work with," says one
anonymous sheitel maker. "More expensive hair comes from Russia. I
personally did not use Russian hair until all the refusniks were out of
the former Soviet Union. Not everyone was so principled."

European hair has become very popular and expensive. But Europe is a
big place. For example, many ultra-Orthodox women today would rather
have hair from Belgium than Lichtenstein. German and Austrian hair still
carries taboos, and some women refuse to use French hair until France
becomes more supportive of the war in Iraq. Relations with Tony Blair
have been particularly good so English hair - although its off the
continent - has become especially prized. So many countries have been
involved in the production of human hair sheitels, that the U.N. is
considering an international resolution. The United Nations will permit
the sale of all European hair on condition that business exchanges
involve the Euro and that Israel dismantle its security Fence.
Despite all the politics, religious Hindus feel that their right to
worship idols has been severely compromised by this new scandal.

"Orthodox Jews don't want us, and we don't want them either. We have
our own humras in New Delhi. Wait until they find out where all their
tefillin is made!"

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