This introductory chapter presents the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the book. The first strands of theoretical insight come from the tradition that emphasises the importance of cultural context and the agency of things. Next, I consider how the globality of hair is connected to inequality and how its meanings and practices are shaped by neoliberal capitalism and coloniality, as well as patriarchal structures, which affect subgroups of women differently. After that I explore the entanglement of hair with worth, in other words dignity, recognition and belonging, and the way worth and economic inequality interlink. Following this is an investigation into the global routes of hair as a commodity. Having presented the conceptual framework of the book, I explicate the methodology in terms of how the empirical data came about and were analysed: this also covers the rationale behind the choice of countries, namely, India in the Global South as the providing country and Finland in the Global North together with South Africa in the Global South as receiving the hair. The introduction ends with a breakdown of subsequent chapters.