Valery Díaz covers her eyes and holds her breath. Then she glances into the mirror in the hairdressing salon - and sees herself without much of her long black hair, which just before framed her face. The 16-year-old student has received $ 100 for her hair: money to help her family and buy a cell phone.

This scene describes AP reporter Fabiola Sanchez from Venezuela. The Latin American country is experiencing a severe political and economic crisis that has brought the health system, food supplies and electricity to the brink of collapse. Hyperinflation has made wages almost worthless.

Some women wash their hair with dish soap because they can no longer afford a shampoo. That now costs more than the monthly minimum wage. Due to a lack of foreign exchange, the once rich country can barely bring in food, medicines and everyday necessities. Many people are starving and children are dying in hospitals. More than three million Venezuelans have already left their homes in recent years.

photo gallery


14 pictures

Venezuela: Dollars for hair

To make ends meet, some women sell their hair for wigs and extensions. Like Valery Díaz. Silently, the pupil stares into the mirror - and tries to gain something positive from the loss of her hair. She feels light, says the 16-year-old. In addition, it had been difficult at last to care for the long hair.

"Sometimes you can not wash your hair for two or three weeks," says Díaz. The reason is the frequent lack of water in recent weeks - triggered by nationwide power outages, which led to a shutdown of water pumps.

"You do not realize that"

Her mother Yeny Gómez tries to strengthen her daughter. "You do not realize that," says the 43-year-old teacher about the drastic haircut. She herself had not bought lipstick or other cosmetics for over a year because she was saving money wherever she could - for food. Beauty care has become secondary to most Venezuelans.

Carmen Merchani, a 49-year-old barber, knows all too well. The situation has never been worse, she says after decades in her job. She had to adapt to her salon in one of the steep hills of Catia, a quarter of the capital Caracas. About a year ago, Merchani said, she started bartering with her clients: foodstuffs for hairstyling, manicures, pedicures.

International cosmetics brands have disappeared from the shelves of local stores and have been replaced with cheaper Chinese goods and locally made products with honey and other ingredients.

Valery Díaz says she still dreams of one day becoming Miss Venezuela when "my hair grows back".