The Global Demand for Hair
The Global Demand for Hair
Author: Jenna White | San Francisco Hairstylist
October 30th, 2020
October 30th, 2020
I’ve personally always been a huge fan of hair extensions. For years I’ve been fascinated with this hair fixture because it helps you achieve styles that are otherwise unattainable. For my 30th birthday I wanted longer hair, so I began to search for hair extension brands. It was surprisingly difficult to learn where brands were sourcing their hair from. As I dug deeper into the global supply chain behind hair extensions, I was inspired to write a post detailing where these products come from. It’s the first in a series of posts I’ll be working on related to the global supply for hair.
Manufacturing
The Journal of Remanufacturing published an article in February of 2019 titled “Capturing the life cycle of false hair products to identify opportunities for remanufacture” that claims the world is entering into a shortage of real hair, which will cause major disruptions to the hair supply chain and market. It takes human hair thirty days to grow one centimeter, making production and collection excruciatingly slow. China, Japan and Korea are global leaders in the production of synthetic hair, and, according to the Journal of Remanufacturing, have been the countries filling the gap between time to market and demand around the world, particularly for the West.
In 2016 BBC News published a story titled “Untangling where your hair extensions really come from”, where they interviewed an anthropology professor named Emma Tarlo who spent time in China studying this topic, and published a book titled “Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair”. She helps detail the different channels used to obtain hair, the majority of which ends up in China as part of the hair extension supply chain. One type of hair, dubbed “standard”, is nothing more than hairballs collected from individuals who have saved hair from brushes and shower drains to sell to “hair traders” around the world. It’s all sorted, cleaned and dyed to become the sleek shiny hair extensions seen in stores.
Manufacturing
The Journal of Remanufacturing published an article in February of 2019 titled “Capturing the life cycle of false hair products to identify opportunities for remanufacture” that claims the world is entering into a shortage of real hair, which will cause major disruptions to the hair supply chain and market. It takes human hair thirty days to grow one centimeter, making production and collection excruciatingly slow. China, Japan and Korea are global leaders in the production of synthetic hair, and, according to the Journal of Remanufacturing, have been the countries filling the gap between time to market and demand around the world, particularly for the West.
In 2016 BBC News published a story titled “Untangling where your hair extensions really come from”, where they interviewed an anthropology professor named Emma Tarlo who spent time in China studying this topic, and published a book titled “Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair”. She helps detail the different channels used to obtain hair, the majority of which ends up in China as part of the hair extension supply chain. One type of hair, dubbed “standard”, is nothing more than hairballs collected from individuals who have saved hair from brushes and shower drains to sell to “hair traders” around the world. It’s all sorted, cleaned and dyed to become the sleek shiny hair extensions seen in stores.
Source: Top Exporters of Wigs, Beards and Eyelashes, worldstopexports.com
Before digging deeper into the story behind the global demand for hair, it’s important to understand how hair extensions are used, which is the need driving this market.
Meeting the Demand
Hair Extensions - Real vs. Synthetic
The same Journal of Remanufacturing article published in February of 2019 shared that hair extensions, also known as false hair products (FHPs), are made from either (1) real human hair, (2) animal (often yak) hair, (3) synthetic hair (derived from polymers) or (4) a mix of all three. People are drawn to the allure of hair extensions because it allows them to control their image and identity. Societal pressures are frequently the driver behind this. Some common uses of hair extensions include:
- Making hair appear fuller, thicker and/or longer
- Changing the appearance of hair texture (done through weaves and/or wigs)
- Altering hair color without chemically coloring your own
- Concealing medical conditions that have led to baldness (done through wigs)
Additionally, blends of real and synthetic hair are also used to train hairstylists via mannequin heads prior to state board exams during cosmetology or barbering school. Most people don’t realize that real human hair is needed to practice cutting and chemical services because synthetic hair will rest/sit differently after being cut - which can disrupt your understanding of haircuts - and will frequently melt if used for practicing chemical treatments like colors, perms or relaxers - preventing you from understanding a technique’s end result.
Extensions made from 100% human hair have a reputation of being higher quality because they look and function similar to natural hair. Additionally, installs for hair extensions on someone’s head can take hours, and are intended to last up to 8 weeks. This long-term lifespan can only be supported via real hair, versus synthetic, as outlined below.
Source: What Are the Different Types of Hair Extensions? Luxuryhair.com
The Future of Manufacturing Hair Extensions
According to an article published by ABC News in 2018 titled "The curly story of how hair extensions are made", most hair extension suppliers are reliant on hair brokers, who keep their sources shrouded in mystery. This leaves brands struggling to know where their products come from because they have no visibility into the sourcing, processing, manufacturing and distribution of their hair’s supply chain. We may see manufacturers being asked to provide more details around this in the future.