Have you read The Gift of the Magi and said, “That was an interesting way for Della to earn money to buy a Christmas gift for her husband, and I would like to do that, too. But where can I sell my hair for cash?”
I’ll answer that question right after telling you who buys human hair and why.
Those interested in the human hair market include individuals, businesses, and organizations who purchase them to make wigs and hairpieces for the following reasons:
- To wear with a costume
- To help patients hide the side effects of cancer treatments
- To cover signs of alopecia
- To sell at their wig shop or beauty supply store
- To cover natural hair for aesthetic reasons
That being said, some people wonder why others would buy human hair when they could opt for synthetic hair, which is less expensive.
Though synthetic hair is cheaper, it doesn’t provide as many styling options as human hair, plus it lacks the authentic appearance human hair has.
Plus, human hair is very popular in the hair weave industry since it makes up over 80 percent of hair weave sales.
I managed to find some sites that allow you to make money selling hair.
Check them out!
Table of Contents
Sell Hair For Money Online & Near You
Visit the following sites to cash in on your locks.
1. BuyandSellHair
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: PayPal
BuyandSellHair.com has been in business since 2010, and it’s open to sellers and buyers worldwide.
Your hair has to be at least five inches long (and it can be as long as 35+ inches) to sell on its platform. (If you have curly hair, stretch a lock to its fullest length to get an accurate measurement.)
Also, it prefers that you sell virgin (untreated) hair, but some buyers accept treated hair.
Though the site charges a fee of $14.50 for three months, it doesn’t take any commissions on your completed sales.
In addition, BuyandSellHair.com has many resources to aid you, including buyer/seller guides, an FAQ section, and a Facebook page where you can chat with other members.
2. HairSellon
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: PayPal
HairSellon accepts hair of various types, colors, and sizes, even if it’s under five inches long.
All you have to do is create an account, pick an advertising package (pricing varies), post your listing, and wait for customers to purchase your hair.
HairSellon even provides a hair calculator for sellers to assess how much their hair is worth. (Enter your hair’s length, thickness, color, and virgin/non-virgin status to find out its price.)
3. World of Wigs
- Earning Amount: $3 to $5 per ounce
- Payment Method: Unknown
World of Wigs is a wig shop based in Santa Ana, California.
If you like to sell your hair to the company, you have to thoroughly wash, condition, and dry your hair before rubber banding and cutting it into ponytails. (Make sure you rubber band all your cut locks before sending them because World of Wigs will not pay you if you send loose hair.)
As of now, World of Wigs isn’t accepting hair, so you’ll have to check its website often for updates.
4. Sell Hair Store
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: PayPal
Post an ad on Sell Hair Store. (Featured ads get the most exposure.)
This website was created by Nicole Smith in 2008, and it offers helpful tools like hair selling/buying guides, a hair price calculator, and tips on avoiding scams.
You’re welcome to sell hair ranging from ~ five inches to over 40 inches long.
Just make sure you provide at least four crystal clear photos of your hair when posting your ads.
5. Online Hair Affair
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: Varies
If you want to sell hair for money but you’re short on money, consider Online Hair Affair.
It offers three affordable ad packages:
- Silver Package: $12 for one month
- Gold Package: $15 for six months
- Platinum Package: $20 for one year
(You can even place your ad on the top scroll box (feature ad) for $10 more if you wish.)
Furthermore, its blog has posts about fraud protection, hair-selling tips, and more.
Register your new account to get started.
6. Sell My Hair
- Earning Amount: $85 to $700 per 100 grams
- Payment Method: PayPal
Have hair that’s at least 16 inches long?
Consider selling it through Sell My Hair!
The company uses donated hair to make wigs for patients who suffer hair loss due to alopecia, cancer, or other causes.
You just need to measure and cut your hair, rubber band it, snap and send a few photos of your ponytails through WhatsApp, and get paid.
However, there are a few guidelines you need to follow, including your hair needs to be virgin, and it needs to be blonde or light brown Caucasian hair.
Also, Sell My Hair only buys hair from U.S. residents.
7. Pure Tape Hair Extensions
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: Cash & PayPal
Pure Tape Hair Extensions is located in Australia, but it’ll buy hair from the U.S. Europe, Russia, and other regions of the world.
If you have dark brown wavy or curly hair, this is a perfect place to sell your hair. (After all, it’s the only type of hair the company buys.)
To qualify for payment, your hair has to be between 16 and 26+ inches. (If your hair is around 13-15 inches, Pure Tape Hair Extensions will still buy it.)
Also, when you send your hair samples, they have to weigh at least 130 grams — though the company will purchase them if they weigh a little less — and be tied into four to six sections with rubber bands before cutting them.
Pure Tape Hair Extensions will even purchase your hair before you sell it as long as you provide a photo of your hair with a tape measurer.
For questions about earning amounts or anything else hair-related, send an email to tapehairextensions1@gmail.com
8. Banbury Postiche
- Earning Amount: £3 to £5 per ounce
- Payment Method: Unknown
Banbury Postiche is a British-based company that specializes in human hair wigs and hairpieces as well as products like wig brushes and wig liners.
According to this Cancer Research UK page I found, it buys hair that’s at least 10 inches long, and its hair technician determines the value of your hair by length, color, and weight.
I couldn’t find specific information about selling hair on the Banbury Postiche site. (The Cancer Research UK page hyperlinked in the previous paragraph was where I obtained information about hair donation.)
But you can ask for more details by calling 0129 575 7412.
9. eBay
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: PayPal
There are many types of customers on eBay, like cosplay fans, Beanie Babies collectors, and even human hair buyers.
This online platform lets you sell your hair locally, nationally, or worldwide, plus, you can either set up an auction for your hairpieces or allow site visitors to purchase them right away.
Also, you can post up to 250 free ads per month. (If you don’t mind paying extra for your ads to stand out, check out eBay’s Promoted Listings options.)
10. OfferUp
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: Cash; debit/credit card; Apple Pay
Consider selling one or more of your locks through OfferUp.
Why?
Because the site gives you two selling options: you can either meet up with your customer in person or place a “Buy Now” feature on your ad so you can ship an item to their address.
Additionally, you can post free ads (which have limits) or pay extra to promote your item, such as using subscriptions like Promote Plus.
11. Carousell
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: Visa and MasterCard Debit/Credit cards; PayNow; GrabPay; FPX online banking
Carousell is an online marketplace based in Singapore, but it also serves buyers/sellers who live in:
- Australia
- Canada
- Hong Kong
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- New Zealand
- Philippines
- Taiwan
It has a quota for the number of free ads you can post per month.
However, you can purchase Carousell Coins to purchase seller tools to make your ads stand out. (This feature is only available for sellers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.)
12. Etsy
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: Etsy “Currency” – Gift Card, Credit, Coupon; PayPal; credit/debit card; Google Pay; Apple Pay; bank transfer
If you’ve asked yourself, “Where can I sell my hair for cash?” why not check out Etsy?
Though Etsy is known for being a platform for sellers to advertise handmade goods, it lets you sell human hair, too.
Just to let you know, selling on Etsy isn’t free because it charges 20 cents per listing, plus ads charge you on a cost-per-click basis.
But, if you don’t mind paying for ads (and you can afford to do so) go right ahead and sell your hair on Etsy.
13. Craigslist
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: Varies
Want to sell your hair to local prospective customers?
Create an account on Craigslist!
Though there are a few sections to post free ads, other places – especially large cities – charge about $3 to $10 per ad.
Additionally, your ad stays up for up to 30 days or until someone buys your item(s). (You can renew your ad when needed.)
14. Facebook Marketplace
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: PayPal; credit/debit card
If you have a Facebook account, you can sell your hair via Facebook Marketplace.
What’s great about this platform is that it costs nothing to list items.
Also, you can advertise to local and national potential buyers and communicate with them through Messenger.
Begin by clicking “Sell Something,” then pressing “Item for Sale,” and then adding details and photos before clicking “Post.”
15. Mercari
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: Instant Pay; direct deposit
Mercari lets you list your human hair for free, and you only pay if someone buys it.
Best of all, you can get paid within five days via direct deposit or even within a few minutes through your debit card with Instant Pay.
Sign up, take a few good photos of your hair, add a description, and wait for buyers.
When someone makes a purchase, print off the shipping label Mercari provides for you, and ship your item(s) within three days.
16. Gumtree
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: Bank deposits; PayPal; cash; check
Live in the U.K.?
Create a Gumtree account and advertise your hair to eager buyers.
It’s free to post an ad, but it costs extra to use the site’s promotion features.
Once you make a sale, meet up with the customer in person or ship your item to them.
17. Oodle
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: Escrow; checks; PayPal; money orders; credit/debit card; bank transfer
Like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, Oodle lets you sell to local customers. (In fact, its seller guide encourages you to meet with potential customers locally in public places to protect yourself from scams.)
It’s free to post an ad, but it requires new members to have a Facebook account to guard against fraudulent activity.
Plus, each category limits how many active listings you can have in your account. (Since human hair belongs in the merchandise section, you can post up to eight listings.)
18. Shopify (Your Own Personal Website)
- Earning Amount: Varies
- Payment Method: Varies
Don’t want to limit yourself to advertising through other online marketplaces?
Then, consider creating your own Shopify e-commerce website.
That way, you have more control over how you earn money selling hair.
Shopify offers three different pricing packages with a free trial for the first three days. (Then, it’s $3/month for the first three months.):
- Basic: $39/month
- Shopify: $105/month
- Advanced: $399/month
Other cool features include point-of-sales components like inventory tracking and staff management, sales channels, and 24/7 support via email and chat.
FAQ about Selling Your Hair for Money
Here are commonly asked questions about selling hair.
I have short locks. Would I be able to make money selling hair?
Many buyers typically want hair at least five inches long since it’s easier to create hairpieces and wigs with longer hair.
However, sites like HairSellon accept hair shorter than five inches, and if you choose to sell through platforms like eBay and Craigslist, you might come across buyers who want to purchase shorter hair, too.
Does the color of my hair matter when selling it?
The demand for a certain hair color depends on various factors like site requirements, e.g., Sell My Hair only buys Caucasian light brown and blond hair and customer preferences.
I’ve read in other blogs that many people like to buy red hair since it’s such a rare color.
All in all, you should be able to make a profit with human hair, regardless of its color.
How much can I make selling my hair?
The amount you can make for selling hair is based on variables such as length and color.
With that being said, it’s typically around $100 to $1,000.
Do local wig shops buy hair?
Some do, like Pure Tape Hair Extensions, if you happen to live in Australia.
If you want to know whether a local wig shop in your city buys human hair, type “wig companies that buy hair near me” into a search engine and contact the shop nearest you.
What can I do to ensure good hair quality for donation?
Follow these tips to make your hair suitable for donation:
- Depending on your hair type, wash it no more than twice a week to avoid draining your hair of its natural oils.
- Avoid dye or bleach.
- Don’t use curlers, straighteners, or other kinds of heat treatments. (They cause split ends, which is a turn-off to customers.)
I’m thinking of running my own hair business/side hustle via my own Shopify website. I want to know how often hair grows to see if I can make this work.
The average hair growth rate is about half an inch per month.
Nevertheless, factors like gender, age, and genetics play a role in how fast your hair grows.
In other words, tightly curled hair grows slower than finer hair, and men’s hair grows faster than women’s.
Consider these points when planning your side hustle.
Make Moolah from Your Mane!
Human hair is useful for making wigs, extensions, and other hairpieces to hide the effects of cancer treatments, jazz up a costume, or experiment with a new look.
Plus, this gives you an opportunity to put extra cash in your pocket.
So if the question, “Where can I sell my hair for cash?” ever pops into your head, you now know you can start by using the above leads.
