A Hair-y Tale For Friday...!

As you may know, many strange things are done in the name of religion or some mystical belief. Many times these things are done to make money.

I don't have a problem with that, as long as it doesn't cause anyone harm in some way. In fact, some money making for the cause is downright creative! Here is a case in point from India.

Temple Hair

Many places of worship rely on donations and offerings for their income. Yet there are some Indian temples that have cornered an unusual and lucrative market—selling human hair to the West. Many Hindus shave their head, as they consider giving up their hair to be an offering to Vishnu. India’s richest temple, the Venkateshwara Temple in Andhra Pradesh, takes advantage of this on an industrial scale.

In the temple there are two halls filled with barbers. They shave the hair from 12,000 pilgrims every day. That produces 75 tons of hair every year, which makes them $6.5 million. The hair is prized by many in the west, and a lot of it goes to Italian wig manufacturers. Short hair is sent to China, where the amino acid el-cystine is extracted for use as a food preservative.

I'm not sure I really want to know about the part where they extract amino acids from the hair to add as a food preservative, but other than that the whole thing seems harmless enough to me. After all, if folks want to raise money in this fashion, it's no hair off my head! (Sorry...i just couldn't help myself!)

Coffee out on the patio this morning! How about some lemon pudding cake to go with the coffee?