Health & Beauty

In Africa, you will find that most African locals, both men and women, love to weave fake springs into their real hair and braid them into all kinds of braids: there are twisted African braids, street boxing braids, and ground ditches. Close-up braids, big wavy twisted braids...

Rachel Attino, a female college student from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, told reporters that African girls love beauty, but because of their special hair quality, their hair is hard and curly and grows slowly, so braiding and wearing wigs become love. The necessities of beautiful people, African girls are very willing to spend money on their hair.

Attino, 23, said that in a barber shop in a slum in Nairobi, it costs about 1,500 Kenshills (approximately RMB 90) for a woman to braid her hair with a wig made of chemical fiber. If you go to a high-end barber shop in the center of Nairobi, the price of raw materials such as labor costs and wigs will be more expensive, or even doubled.

Atino said that some parents take their children to the barbershop to braid hair even when they are one year old. Generally speaking, every two weeks to a month, the girls who love beauty go to the barber shop to have their hair freshened. For the average Kenyan who earns only 10,000 Kennedy per month, hairdressing is a huge expense.

She said that in Kenya, better-looking human hair wigs are very expensive, so generally only high-income people will buy human hair wigs. According to the reporter's observation, ordinary Kenyans usually use chemical fiber wigs to braid their hair, and some middle-class families choose human hair hoods.

Susan Audro, who runs a barber shop on the outskirts of Nairobi, told reporters that most of the hair products in her shop are from China. These "Made in China" products are of high quality and cheap, and are very popular among women of all ages in Kenya. welcome. She said: “Of the women who come to my salon to do their hair, less than 5% of them only use their own real hair for styling, and the remaining 95% will buy wig products for their hair.”

Wanbui Mbarel, head of the Kenya Retail Trade Association, said that at present, the most imported products from China in the Kenyan retail industry are clothing, hair products, shoes, electronic products and mobile phones.

China is the world's largest wig manufacturer and exporter, and many Africans use wigs from China. Relevant data shows that in recent years, China’s total hair products exports have been maintained at a high level of more than 3 billion US dollars. The global hair products market is still resilient despite the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic; North America and Africa are still the top two export destinations for China’s wig products. , Accounting for about 75% of China’s total hair products exports, of which North America accounts for about 38%, and Africa accounts for about 37%; the United States, Benin, South Africa, Nigeria, and Japan are the top five exporters of China’s wig products; China’s hair products manufacturing and Export trading companies are mainly concentrated in five provinces including Henan, Shandong, Hunan, Anhui, and Guangdong. Among them, Henan accounts for about 50% of the country's total hair products exports.

The 2020 annual report of Rebecca Hair Products Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Rebecca"), a leading Chinese wig export company, shows that since 2003, the company has continuously increased its efforts to develop the African market, with offices in Nigeria, Ghana, and Mozambique. Three factories produce wig products such as clockwork and headgear, and five sales companies in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and other countries are responsible for local sales. The sales method is mainly wholesale.

According to the Rebecca Annual Report, despite the rigid demand of consumers in the African market under the epidemic, most African countries have adopted strict epidemic prevention and control measures due to medical conditions. The epidemic’s impact on Africa lasts for a long time, and people’s consumption is affected. The impact of the epidemic was greater, causing the company's sales in the African market to decline. In addition, in recent years, due to the huge potential and good prospects of the African market, Chinese companies have entered one after another, leading to increasingly fierce market competition.

Data show that in 2020, Rebecca's operating income in Africa will drop by 40.94% from the previous year to 525 million yuan, accounting for 40.63% of the company's total operating income.

Africa is the world's second largest consumer market for hair products after North America. In recent years, the scale of the African market has gradually expanded, and it is expected to overtake North America to become the world's largest consumer market for hair products.

Analysts believe that the local consumer culture and population base in Africa determine that wigs have greater potential in the African market. In recent years, the beauty and hairdressing industry is one of the fastest-growing consumer industries in Kenya due to income growth, lifestyle changes, and the development of "her economy".

According to a report released by AfroUrembo, the online market for hairdressing in Kenya in 2018, Kenyan women spend as much as US$500 on their hair each year, accounting for about 20% of their annual income, up from 15% in 2016.

According to data from AliExpress, a cross-border e-commerce platform under Alibaba, the sales of wigs on the platform have exploded in recent years. One wig product can be sold every 2 seconds, with annual sales reaching billions of yuan.

The epidemic has caused a certain impact on Kenya's beauty and hairdressing industry, but people's pursuit of beauty has not weakened. Saloya Archien, a hairdresser from Nairobi, told reporters that for most of last year, it was difficult to see the long lines of women in front of the hairdressing salon, but now the customers are slowly returning, and the worst may be the worst. It has passed.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently warned that the third wave of epidemics has recently appeared in Kenya. Before widespread vaccination is achieved, uncertainty and downward pressure on the epidemic will continue to weigh on Kenya’s economic prospects.

The World Health Organization said on the 24th that Africa is currently experiencing a third wave of epidemics, and the number of new confirmed cases is increasing rapidly. It is expected that in early July, it will exceed the record set during the second wave of epidemics at the beginning of this year. At present, the epidemic situation in 12 countries in Africa has rebounded, and 14 African countries have reported the discovery of the Delta strain.