COVER STORY: THE GLOBAL HAIR TRADE: For hairstyle, many go to great lengths

Kim Zolciak, the massively blond cast member of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” has famously dodged questions about just how she comes by her impressive mane. But she needn’t have been so cagey —- she and her monumental strands are in good company.

Hollywood stars such as Halle Berry, Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton routinely wear hair enhancements —- hair from another source fused, sewn, bonded or clipped into a woman’s own hair to make it appear longer, fuller or healthier.

But now more everyday women are seeking the same high-end hair services, creating a recession-defying surge in demand that has helped build a multibillion-dollar global business. It’s a trend that’s drawn the attention of lifestyle diva Oprah Winfrey (she wears them) and comedian Chris Rock (he doesn’t), whose film “Good Hair” just played the Sundance Film Festival.

And it’s fueled a hair-extension boom in metro Atlanta. Stores and salons offering the highest quality hair —- harvested from religious ceremonies in India —- have grown rapidly in the past two years. And many of these businesses say their customer base has evolved —- from women in the spotlight to suburban moms.

“I used to do more models and celebrities,” said Renee Cerro, owner of Gloss Salon in Sandy Springs. “Now a lot of my clients are soccer moms… . They literally just wanted a thicker ponytail when they were playing tennis.”

Cerro, who trains stylists for HairDreams, a well-known distributor of top-quality hair extensions, said Atlanta has become something of a hair mecca, with some clients coming from as far as Birmingham and New York for their hair fix.

No bad hair days

While celebrities have always used wigs or extensions for temporary changes, the extension industry took off in the 1990s among women who desired longer-term solutions to bad hair days.

In the early days, the inexpensive human or synthetic hair available to most consumers had to be replaced as often as twice a month. In contrast, the virgin hair behind this latest hair boom costs on average $400, but it can be reused for about a year.

On a recent weekday afternoon at Sunny’s Hair & Wigs in Buckhead, a steady stream of customers, male and female, flowed into the year-old boutique. The family-owned company, with five locations nationwide and an online following, stocks trendy and glamorous wigs as well as extensions.

The store earned a reputation for matching blondes with the perfect multitonal extensions, boutique owner Dafina Memberr said. For many women, she said, hair is so important and powerful that they are willing to commit to a little high-end help.

“Until you are in this business,” Memberr said, “you don’t realize how widespread it is.”

‘Like a secret society’

Leslie Leland, founder of Hair-Ex in Sandy Springs, remembers the precise moment she discovered hair extensions. It was 1987, and she was mesmerized as pop star Janet Jackson tossed her jet black mane in a video dance sequence. Leland called her hairstylist the next day hoping to re-create the look.

Now, more than 20 years later, she has turned hair extensions into a 2-year-old mini-empire, with two Atlanta stores, an Arizona location and plans for stores in New York, Memphis and Lagos, Nigeria. Leland works directly with exporters in India to import the high-quality hair most sought for extensions and wigs.

“It was almost like a secret society,” Leland said. “No one knew where this hair was [coming from]. I decided to go see for myself.”

Leland embarked on a journey similar to the one Rock made in his documentary. Rock interviewed hair industry experts, including attendees of Atlanta’s Bronner Brothers International Hair Show, an annual gathering of hair industry professionals taking place this weekend, and he tracked the hair trade all the way from India to women’s heads in Los Angeles.

In India, so-called “temple hair,” Leland discovered, was the secret to celebrities’ fabulous-looking hair. The hair comes from Hindu temples where women sacrifice their hair as part of their religious practice. Unlike lower-quality hair —- stripped of its cuticle and gathered from salon floors, hair brushes or even animals —- temple hair is healthy, unprocessed and blends well with a range of hair textures.

Leland watched as the hair shaved from women’s heads was processed by workers pulling bunches of hair from bins and dragging it through a device that looks like a bed of nails. She decided she would become directly involved with the business of importing the hair to Atlanta, but she didn’t expect some of the reactions she would receive back home.

“When I show my video on my Web site … [people] feel it is a sweatshop and that Americans are coming to India to take advantage of the people and making a slew of money,” Leland said. She says that the money she pays for the hair she imports is poured back into the temple community in the form of food, housing and hospitals.

Viren Mayani, business manager for the Atlanta mayor’s office, has visited Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, where hair donating is practiced. He says there is little controversy in India about the hair being sold.

“Hair, from the Indian perspective, is considered like the mane of a lion. It has pride and a lot of beautification aspects. Devotees think that when they go to pray, by shaving their heads they are unloading their pride to God,” he said.

Hair brokers, a handful of which dominate the industry in India, free the temple from having to deal with the hair. And donors, if they ever learn their hair has gone to someone who needs or wants it, are generally pleased that it has served a purpose, Mayani said.

From ‘trash’ to ‘pleasure’

According to data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics, the United States imported $444 million worth of human hair in 2006, an increase of almost 30 percent from the previous year.

Several times a year, Leland travels to India and returns with burlap bags full of hair. Her bounty often baffles U.S. Customs agents. Though human hair falls under the purview of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a representative said the agency does not assert jurisdiction over wigs for use on humans. At Leland’s store, customers craving gorgeous locks are willing to pay top dollar for hair that behaves —- even if it comes from someone else’s head.

“To me, if they are going to throw the hair in the trash anyway … what may be one person’s trash is another person’s pleasure,” said Sharonda Perry, 34, of Kennesaw, who has traded up from less expensive extensions.

Where Perry once spent $200 each time she augmented her hair, she now spends $500 for what she considers the best hair she can get.

“Hair is recession-proof. Financially, [salons] are doing well. In our salon, about 35 percent of our service is weaving,” said DeShawn Bullard, owner of Insignia Salon in Fayetteville. The top-quality hair extensions and wigs she offers range from about $300 to $1,000 for the hair alone. Customers pay more to have the hair installed.

Some women seeking hair augmentation have suffered hair loss from chemotherapy or conditions such as alopecia, but those account for less than a third of their clients, some store owners said. For the majority of women they serve, it’s all about appearance.

Melissa Hightower, 27, of Tucker got her first extensions last summer —- after she had donated 12 inches of her own hair to Locks of Love, a nonprofit that provides hairpieces to children suffering hair loss.

“I had a bob for two months, then I was over it, and my hair doesn’t exactly grow 12 inches in two months,” she said. Her husband thought she would be freaked out about wearing someone else’s hair, but Hightower says she wasn’t hugely bothered by it.

“I loved the look of it, and I loved that I never had to do anything to it. When I woke up in the morning, I looked fabulous,” she said. “Porn-star fabulous.”

RED-CARPET HAIR FOR EVERYONE

What do celebrities such as Eva Longoria Parker, Carrie Underwood and virtually any other female in the spotlight have in common beyond fame and fortune? Most have at some point worn hair extensions or wigs.

Whether it’s thicker or longer hair desired for a night or six months, there is a hair type and installation method that can work depending on the condition and texture of a client’s natural hair. Atlanta’s extension experts helped unravel the tangled world of hair weaves.

Strands: Used in fusion technique, strands of hair placed about 1/4 inch from the scalp are individually attached to the client’s hair with protein- or nylon-based bonds. The extensions grow with the hair, last up to six months and are undetectable.

Wefts: Used for sew-in or bonding techniques, the hair is banded into a weft and sewn with a needle and thread into the client’s hair, which has been braided or bound with a rubber band. In bonding, the weft is attached to the scalp with glue. The downside? There may be detectable lumps. The style lasts three months.

Clip-in: Made famous by Jessica Simpson, the hair has tiny clips attached that can be secured to the roots of the client’s natural hair. Clip-ins should not be worn long-term.

Wigs: Hair is made into a full or partial wig that is either traditional or a longer-wearing, lace-front wig, in which a lace netting covers the natural hair. The front is cut to create a natural hairline then secured to the head, allowing the client to part the wig into different styles or pull it into a ponytail. The style must be redone at least once a month.

—- Nedra Rhone