|
 Hair
today.
Photo: Nicole Christie
Vishnu Coiffure
An Indian
head-shaving ritual has helped one local start a lucrative
business. In the never-ending quest for beauty, some women are
turning to a technique once held secret among a small group of
socialites and A-list celebrities: the use of hair shaved from
the heads of Indian women.
This head-shaving
occurs during the tonsuring ritual, in which women remove
their hair as a sign of respect for the deities. Once affordable
only to very affluent Westerners; a full head of these extensions
can go for more than $5,000, but Nicole Christie’s Miami-based
Hairinaminute, Inc. is making what she describes as authentic hair
from Indian temples available to the masses.
“Most hair
extensions are not flattering,”
says Christie, who specializes in the sale of Indian temple hair
over the Internet.
Despite being young
(though not willing to have her age in print), she has worked in the
trenches of the fashion industry, including beauty pageants like Ms.
America.
“If you went to
certain galas and functions and soirées you noticed that, most
likely, the more affluent crowd was wearing extensions that were
beautiful and pristine and perfect. Me and my friends in the beauty
industry couldn’t figure out what they were doing.… But you know,”
she says, “a beauty secret doesn’t stay a secret for long.”
A friend, whom
Christie calls a “socialite,” let her in on the secret.
She began
researching Indian temple hair, then selling it to agencies and
models, and now, she says, she sells to “everyone.”
Instead of
$5,000 for a full head of the hair, Christie charges $400. She
says her rates reflect the large supply of hair available.
 “In
India, every single day, up to 4,000 people line up for days to get
their heads shaved. This has been going on for thousands of years,
and previously the hair was dumped.”
It was once “linen
shirts and cotton that [were] India’s biggest exports; it’s no
longer that. Human hair has been bringing in more money,” she says.
Christie thinks
there’s more to the hair’s popularity than meets the eye. “I think
with a certain sect of people, anything from the East is so
intriguing.… There’s a mystique about it. … One client of mine
says she feels more at peace spiritually when she wears the
Indian hair. …”
Christie admits
there’s no shortage of critics of the hair-exporting industry.
“Many people are
appalled by the fact that we in the West are capitalizing, for a
lot of money, on Indian hair and the workers who have to work
in Indian factories, and the people donating their hair don’t get a
penny, or get paid an amount so minuscule that it’s embarrassing.
But that’s the story all over when it comes to developed
countries versus developing ones. It will always be that way,”
she explains.
According to
Christie, there’s a black market for Indian hair, in which the
strands are forcibly taken.
“But we only buy
directly from the temple.… We’ve had other sources try to sell
to us — in fact every day I get calls and e-mails saying, ‘Buy from
us, our hair is the best’… but we don’t need to go that way.”
She says the temple
she buys from now has its own hair brokers. Apparently business is
booming. “I haven’t even advertised,” she notes. “People seem to
find my Web site” (www.hairinaminute.com). (Murmurs learned
of the venture via a press release.)
Body on the Beach
A lot of folks
disappointed about the cloud coverage that partially blocked
Saturday’s lunar eclipse should probably count a few
blessings — their night could have been worse.
A witness called
Murmurs that evening to say police had blocked off about a 10-foot
by 10-foot area on the beach. “And they were digging about a
4-foot-deep hole in the sand,” the witness, a SunPost
contributor, told Murmurs, who followed up with the cops.
No foul play is
suspected after a corpse was discovered floating in the Atlantic
near the 300 block of Ocean Drive Miami Beach on Saturday around
7:45 p.m., a police spokesperson said.
The unidentified
white male in his 50s “may have died of a drowning,” Det. Bobby
Hernandez told the SunPost. “There were no signs of foul play
or obvious signs of drug use, like track marks.” The man was
described as having gray hair and a beard.
A passerby pulled
the 5-foot 7-inch, 145-pound man, whom officials believe to be
homeless, onto shore. No identification was found on the beach with
belongings — described as a backpack containing clothing and
toiletries —believed to be the man’s.
Officials are
checking fingerprints and dental records to identify the man and
determine if he was suicidal, Hernandez said.
Although the
witness said he was only about five yards away from the scene, he
admitted, “It was really dark; I couldn’t even take pictures with my
camera it was so dark.”
The man’s body had
already been removed from the scene.
According to the
observer, officials were standing “knee-deep” in the alleged hole,
and the city’s Crime Scene Unit was on-site as officials videotaped
and looked for evidence.
He said they told
him there was a “possible dead body.”
“I don’t know
anything about any digging,” Hernandez said. “But there’s no
indication of foul play here. We’re trying to figure out if he was
here on vacation, or came to live here.”
Murmurs’ source was
surprised when told that officials believed the fatality was from
suicide or accidental drowning.
“Wow. Dead bodies
are washing up in my back yard,” he said.
Fence-Walled In
Last Friday, the
Miami Beach Board of Adjustment passed The Waverly at South Beach
Condo Association’s application for a gate height variance so
they could build a perimeter fence at the rear of their property
facing Biscayne Bay. Existing code allows for a 5-foot-tall fence
when facing a waterway, but the association bargained for a 6-foot
fence. Rob Curtis was on-hand on behalf of the association,
as Planning and Zoning Manager Richard Lorber described the
perimeter fence as an effort to maintain “the safety and security
of the residents of the Waverly.”
The fence and gate
with a one-foot glass top are planned to solve the blocked-off
baywalk woes of the Waverly building at 1330 West Ave. Miami Beach
planning officials insisted the fence was illegally blocking a
public baywalk (which, the city planners insisted, was required
to remain, um, public as part of the Waverly’s approval in 1997).
Waverly residents fired back that the baywalk fence stood there long
before they moved in and begged for it to stay up, arguing security
concerns.
Will the newly
approved perimeter fence mean that The Waverly Condominium
Association will feel secure enough to remove the baywalk-blocking
fence? That’s what planning officials hope. “… Our understanding is
that they intend to permit and install it and allow public access
[on the baywalk]. However, to date, they have not formally indicated
any intention to withdraw their opposition to the public baywalk
requirement,” wrote Design and Preservation Manager Tom Mooney
in an e-mail to the SunPost. The Flamingo, incidentally,
is “still opposing [the baywalk],” Mooney said.
Despite that, the
Planning Department backed the creation of the perimeter fence.
“Staff is very
supportive of this application,” Lorber said, who allayed some
fears by adding that the 5-foot-wide baywalk behind the current
fence would remain intact.
Lorber also
insisted that the “glass fence-wall, which will be very esthetically
appropriate,” will allow people to look through and see the water,
and the gate will allow residents to access the baywalk “without
permitting members of the public to go onto the private property
inappropriately.”
The approval of the
“fence-wall” was conditional based on a landscape inspection and
compliance with all requirements of the Public Works Department
which must approve the permit for the fence. The association has
18 months to obtain building permits.
Bikes on the Beach
The Beach goes bicycling. File photo by Mitchell Zachs/Magicalphotos.com
South Florida commuting is marred by bumper to bumper traffic,
noisy car horns and frustrated outbursts. “I have to sit in traffic
every day on my way to work for almost an hour because of
construction,” says Giovanna Calenzani, a North Beach
resident. “It’s the most irritating part of my day.” As an
alternative to fighting traffic, the city of Miami Beach wants
residents to participate in Bike to Work Week, which began on
Monday, March 5, and continues through Saturday, March 10.
While many areas of
Miami-Dade have been participating for almost a decade in the
cycling event, which was founded in 1956 by the League of
American Bicyclists, this marks only the second year for the
program in Miami Beach. When approached by Murmurs, Beach resident
Yankel Guzman exclaimed, “I didn’t even know we had a
program like that! I think it’s great, especially living on the
Beach, since everything is so close anyway you might as well ride a
bike,” Guzman exclaimed.
On Monday the city
held an open information session at City Hall so residents could ask
the Florida Bicycle Association and the Miami-Dade Transit Authority
about the safest ways to commute by bike. Hmmm, perhaps wearing a
flak jacket?
Got a murmur?
E-mail editorial@miamisunpost.com. Comments? E-mail
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