Press & Recognition
Juttu Extensions was named best hair extensions brand of 2021 by LUX Life magazine’s Health, Beauty & Wellness Awards, recognizing its virgin Remy hair extensions sourced from temples in South India.
Best Human Hair Extensions Brand 2021 — LUX Life Health, Beauty & Wellness Awards
Juttu Extensions®, the retail brand of Tirumala Human Hair Impex LLP, won this award after a feature exploring the state of the Indian hair industry and how the company sources its hair. The feature highlighted Juttu Extensions’ sourcing from temples across South India, including Tirumala Temple — described in the article as the largest ethical bank of human hair in the world, and the temple the company is named after.
As founder Sri Srinivas Prathipati explained at the time: “Our mission is to sell high quality hair extensions at affordable prices. We have never compromised on quality, nor will we ever do so.”
The story behind the brand
The company’s roots go back further than the award itself. What became Tirumala Human Hair Impex LLP began as a single-person business in 2011, selling finished hair products, before formally registering as an LLP in early 2016. Juttu Extensions launched as the company’s direct-to-consumer e-commerce brand in late 2019, built on decades of family experience in raw hair sourcing dating back to the late 1990s.
Why this recognition matters
The hair extension industry has long struggled with mislabeling. The feature pointed out a problem that remains just as relevant today: the term “Raw/Unprocessed” is widely misused, often applied to hair that has actually been chemically treated, or blended from multiple donors and run through machines to align the cuticles. Genuine virgin Remy hair carries none of that — it comes from a single donor, has never been chemically processed, and keeps its natural cuticle direction intact from root to tip.
Being recognized as the best hair extensions brand by an independent publication meant having that standard verified by someone outside the company — not just a claim made in marketing copy.
What makes South Indian hair distinct
Much of what Juttu Extensions sources comes from temple donations, a centuries-old spiritual practice filled with gratitude, where devotees offer their hair as an act of thanks. The hair is shaved rather than cut, which preserves the full strand from root to tip — a key requirement for genuine virgin Remy classification. South Indian hair also has a natural texture advantage, sitting in a middle ground that’s neither too thick nor too fine, and much of it comes from women who follow traditional hair care routines, including regular coconut oil use and far less chemical processing than is common in urban areas.
Global recognition for a global customer base
Juttu Extensions has always served customers across the United States and Europe, and receiving this recognition from a UK-based publication carries particular weight for that audience — it’s independent validation from outside India, in the same markets the brand serves. As the company now looks to expand its reach into the Middle East as well, that kind of third-party recognition matters even more: it gives customers unfamiliar with the sourcing side of the hair extension industry a reason to trust the brand’s claims about virgin Remy hair, beyond taking the company’s word for it.
What’s stayed the same since 2021
The commitment to that standard hasn’t changed. Juttu Extensions continues to source hair through temple donations, maintain the single-donor, chemical-free standard that defines true virgin Remy hair, and educate customers on what separates genuine virgin Remy from the loosely labeled alternatives common elsewhere in the market.
Read the full feature in LUX Life’s 2021 Health, Beauty & Wellness Awards issue (pages 72–73): https://lux-life.digital/issues/health-beauty-wellness-awards-2021/72/
Featured on startup.info (2021)
In 2021, Juttu Extensions founder Sri S Prathipati was interviewed by startup.info about the company’s journey — from a family consulting business in the late 1990s to launching Juttu Extensions as a direct-to-consumer e-commerce brand in 2019.
The interview covered how the business navigated the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, including raw hair shortages caused by temple closures, and the company’s approach to affordable, ethically sourced virgin Remy hair extensions shipped worldwide from India.
Read the full story of how the business was built on our About Us page.
