Wanting to sell your hair online isn’t as strange as it sounds. In fact, lots of people do this for various reasons, such as making some extra money or contributing to a worthy cause.

If you’re thinking that I want to sell my hair today, take it easy. Before you take out the clippers, there are a few things that you should know. You can’t just lop off some hair and send it out. Don’t worry; we’ll break down the dos and don’ts of the trade so you can successfully sell hair online.

How much money can you make?

You can make anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for a full head of long, well-maintained hair.

In this article, we’ll also look at the marketplaces where you can do your own research and determine roughly how much your hair is worth. But first …

Don’t: Cut Your Hair and Assume That it’s Sellable

Unfortunately, not all hair is created equal in the hair-selling industry. You’ll need to take a close look at your hair to determine if it’ll fetch a good price.

Do: Analyze Your Hair’s Sellability

For starters, take a look at your actual hair length; most places want at least 10 inches before they’ll pay. If you have enough hair to sell, please make sure that you are okay with parting with that much hair. Yes, it grows back, but chopping off a significant amount of hair can be emotional for some people.

Once you’ve determined that you have enough hair to sell, check the quality of your strands. There’s no use in trying to go through the trouble of selling hair if it’s not in good condition. Think about who will be using this hair; do they really want dry, frazzled hair? No, they want smooth and silky locks that are brimming with health! “Virgin” hair, or hair that has never been treated, is a huge plus for sellers.

Besides length and quality, try to get a clear idea of the color or tone of your hair. This will come in handy when you’re listing your hair to sell online. In general, blonde hair is a popular choice for buyers, although natural highlights are a huge bonus. If you have some naturally lighter strands, play that up in your description. These days, hair of a unique color (think lavender, red, or aqua) will fetch a decent price too.

Don’t: Sell Hair Online to the First Buyer That You Get

There are lots of scammers out there and you don’t want to get mixed up with people who don’t have your best interest in mind.

Do: Browse Your Options and Find a Reputable Site

When selling hair online, it can be tough to find a decent buyer but it’s not impossible. In some cases, a website can provide all of the information that you need to make the right decision.

  • OnlineHairAffair is a site that is similar to Craigslist but it is specifically for products such as real hair and beauty products.
  • WorldOfWigs is another safe option, although they require hair to be at least 12 inches long.
  • Hairwork pays fair prices and has expanded their clientele to include artists who work with hair.

You can also try sites like eBay and Amazon; there are lots of people who choose to sell hair there. You might feel better about these sites as well since they’re more familiar to most consumers.

Don’t: Sell Your Hair Today

Don’t jump into a sale. It can be tempting when you receive your first offer but try to hold out. As anyone in business knows, you should never take the first offer but instead negotiate and check out your options.

Do: Spend Time on Your Hair Listing

In order to get multiple offers that you can negotiate on, it’s best to have a stellar hair listing. You can drastically improve your chances of making a great sale by posting several different pictures of your hair. Try to have someone take the photos for you so they can get multiple angles, use great lighting, and arrange the hair in a variety of ways to showcase its volume and thickness.

Buyers want to get a feel for how the hair will look so try posting photos of the hair spread out, in a braid, in a ponytail, and on and off your head. Also, please give the hair a good brushing and maybe a conditioning treatment before taking photos. You want it to look appealing, not fried!

Another listing tip is to use hair-related vocabulary to entice buyers. If the hair has never been treated before, you can say that it is “virgin” hair. Are there any natural highlights? Play that up. Use the kinds of tones and shades that you see on boxes of hair dye at the store. For example, instead of saying blonde, you could say ash blonde or platinum. Red could be worded as auburn or fiery red.

Don’t: Give Out Your Account Information

If buyers want to transfer or wire money to you, decline. It’s unsafe and there is no reason why they should need your account information or credit card number. There are plenty of other buyers out there who are willing to use safer methods.

Do: Use a Safe Billing Service Such as PayPal or Venmo

Trust us; if buyers don’t want to work with PayPal or Venmo, there’s a very high chance that they want to scam you. Just play it safe and you’ll be glad that you did in the end.

These tips and tricks should make the hair selling process go much more quickly. Odds are that you’ll end up snagging more offers than you expected if you follow these hints. Selling hair is a great way to make an extra buck and it’s not that hard when you realize how professionals do it!