It is well known that in India, men and women donate their hair for religious reasons. The practice of shaving hair and offering hair as a sacrifice is known as Tonsuring.
The temple town Tirupathi, in South India is the largest pilgrimage spot where thousands of devotees practice tonsure daily. The concept of the Hindus who practice this is that they are paying tribute to the God Lord Balaji for the blessings he may have bestowed upon them. It is their way of showing their gratitude. This practice is also symbolic of sacrifice of material beauty and false-ego by one.
The donated hair become the property of the temple, and the temple rulers sell these hair to hair manufacturers for cosmetic purposes. The beauty industry who uses the hair for various types of hair pieces. The hair donated by the men are largely used for the extraction of l-cysteine; L-cysteine is a semi-essential amino acid that is obtained industrially by hydrolysis of human hair. It is used in the personal care and pharmaceutical industries. The temples contribute part of the receipts from the sale of hair to the local charities and community service.
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