Hair sales so sensitive that ministry which handles morality issues burnt tonne of human strands in January
\n KABUL
\nUntil Taliban authorities took power in Afghanistan, women like Fatima were able to freely sell their hair to be made into wigs, bringing in crucial cash.
\nBut a ban last year has forced the 28-year-old and others to covertly trade hair \u2014 collected from shower drains or the salon floor \u2014 braving the risk of punishment one strand at a time.
\n\u201cI need this money,\u201d said Fatima, 28, one of the few women still in paid private employment in Kabul after the Taliban regained control in 2021.
\n\u201cI can treat myself to something or buy things for the house.\u201d
\nThe woman, who withholds her last name for security reasons, sells every 100 grams of hair for little more than $3, a small addition to her monthly salary of $100.
\nBuyers who want to export the locks for wig production abroad \u201cwould knock on our doors to collect\u201d the hair, she said.
\nOne of those buyers is a man, who also requested anonymity, sending the manes to Pakistan and China from Afghanistan, one of the world\u2019s poorest countries.
\nTaliban authorities have cracked down on the rights of women, imposing what the UN calls a \u201cgender apartheid\u201d.
\nThey banned women and girls from universities and schools, effectively strangling their employment hopes.
\nWomen have also been barred from parks and gyms, while beauty salons have been shut down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hair sales so sensitive that ministry which handles morality issues burnt tonne of human strands in January KABUL Until Taliban authorities took power in Afghanistan, women like Fatima were able to freely sell their hair to be made into wigs, bringing in crucial cash. But a ban last year has forced the 28-year-old and others […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-469227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n