This archive report was first published on 4 August 2020.
At Nairobi's Dandora dumpsite, a team of scavengers sorts through piles of waste, searching for valuable items to resell. Among the discarded masks, rubber gloves, and food waste, they find hair extensions, which they carefully clean and resell to customers.
Stylist Julia Wanja, a mother of three, has been selling second-hand hair since 2008. However, the pandemic has reduced demand, and she is now cutting down on costs by cleaning and reselling hair from the dumpsite.
According to Wanja, she washes the used hair extensions carefully using detergent, Dettol, and hot water. Most of her customers trust her to wash the hair well, she said, although a few like to clean it themselves as well.
Wanja's customers, such as Cecilia Githigia, say that as long as the hair has been cleaned, they do not mind where it is from. The hair looks new, with long, luxuriant locks hanging from the walls in Wanja's stall or perched on a battered styrofoam head.
As of 2020, Wanja's business has seen an increase in demand due to the affordability of second-hand hair. "New hair is more expensive than second-hand hair," Wanja said. "People don’t have money."
