BENGALURU: As Marishetty Kumar is busy making wigs at his shop near Kurubarahalli in Mahalakshmi Layout, there is joy on his face. He has found work after a long pause in his business due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, post-pandemic, people working in the wig-making industry including hair pickers, are able to earn a livelihood.
In Karnataka, there are about 1,900 hair pickers who are associated with Hasiru Dala, an NGO that works with waste pickers by giving them jobs. Meenakshi M, who works with the NGO, told The New Indian Express that hair pickers collect hair from dry waste where people dispose of hair and also from people's houses. They buy hair by paying a meagre amount and sometimes give small vessels in exchange for hair. They collect and segregate grey and black hair and sell it to wholesale dealers.
According to Meenakshi, the price of hair had dipped to Rs 2,500 per kg during the pandemic which has now increased to Rs 5,000. "On an average, each hair picker collects a quarter kg of hair and on a monthly basis it crosses five to six kg of hair. It is even exported to different countries, including China.
The wig makers and exporters are also a happy lot post-pandemic. "The texture and colour of Indian hair is different from western people. In the last few years, our business took a beating. I used to make two to three wigs a month when the pandemic was at its peak. Most of it was meant for cancer patients. Things are now improving as I end up making 12 to 15 wigs a month. Wigs made here are sent to Lucknow, Kolkata and Delhi," Jairaj N R, a wig maker said.
Kumar says he buys hair from Tirupathi at Rs 25,000 per kg and sometimes the price shoots up to Rs 85,000 per kg, depending on the length of the hair. "We can make five to six wigs with one kg of hair, and each wig is sold for Rs 10,000 onwards and can even go beyond Rs 25,000," he said.
Kumar hails from Malavalli where Shimsha Falls is located where many artistes wear wigs while shooting for Kannada and other language movies. He went to Chennai along with a wig artist there and learnt the art of making wigs."As we have restarted our business which is a small industry, we request the government to provide us with some facilities like ESI,'' he said.