Women in Indian villages believe they are offering the hair from their shaved heads to the gods, but what really happens to the hair raises some troubling moral questions.

NEW YORK, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- "The Locks Market" is a disturbing report that looks at how the hair-extensions industry has made it easy to get lush tresses. Answering the moral questions it raises is more complicated. In the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, thousands of women each year make the pilgrimage to visit the temple Tirumala, where devout Hindus have been coming to pay respects to the resident deity. And for many of the female pilgrims, a visit to the temple is not complete without a ritual shaving off of all their hair as a gesture of devotion to their god (tonsuring). The devotees believe that, if they give up their hair, the god will grant them any wish. This practice has helped to make Tirumala one of the richest religious pilgrimage sites in the world.

What these women do not know is what's really happening to their hair, which many have not cut since childhood. It is being sold to a high-end hair-extensions maker, to help fill Western demand for "temple hair" (hair that is long, healthy, and washed for years with nothing more than fresh coconut oil). In the United States, women who do not fully understand where their extensions have come from pay upwards of $3,000 for the highest-quality hair in the world, which is donated by Indian women who think they are donating their hair to god.

This story is an in-depth look at the ethics of our beauty consumption and is disturbing on many levels. Here are some additional points that Allure has discovered:

• Innocent women on both ends of the spectrum are not aware that many people (mostly men) are making money of off them.
• The American perspective on this issue is that you pay a lot for human hair, and you imagine that the woman who gave it up has been compensated for it (not true in this case at all).
• There is a long chain of people involved with shipping, stripping, and selling the hair.
• Many don't realize that once a woman shaves her head, it can affect her marriageability, which culturally can have a tremendous effect on a woman's life and financial standing.

For more information or to set up an interview please contact Elizabeth Bliss at Allure.

Allure, the first and only magazine devoted to beauty, is an insider's guide to a woman's total image. Allure investigates and celebrates skin care, hair, makeup, fragrance, and fashion with objectivity and candor, and places appearance in a larger cultural context.