Aside from the fact that old clothes can be sold like crazy in Africa, what else does China export the most to Africa? Wigs, domestic mobile phones, computer game accessories. Domestic mobile phones and computer game accessories have a certain scientific and technological content, China's electronic products are developing rapidly, exports to underdeveloped African regions are still reasonable, wigs seem to be out of place in it.
China's wig export volume is the first in the world, the export of wigs is mainly sold to the Americas, and Africa ranks second. Europe and the United States have a high demand for high-end wig products, China's export wigs mainly cater to the low-end market, and the high sales in North America are mainly due to African descent.
Why are wigs so popular in Africa?
The demand for wigs in African people is almost just what they need, because of the influence of African climate on racial genes, African hair is generally not long. Long hair is easy to accumulate heat, which is fatal in hot Africa, so African hair tends to be curly and fluffy during growth, which is convenient for heat dissipation. Long, straight hair is rare in Africans, genetically determined.
In order to reduce the number of cleanings and keeping the hair as clean and tidy as possible, many Africans will braid their hair into small braids, which is what we call dirty braids.
Influenced by the trend of African descent in Europe and the United States, the aesthetics of African people have also changed, a soft hair has become the target of the majority of African women, and wigs have become the mainstream products of fashion consumption in African society.
Wigs are not used much in China, and most of them are actual needs, and bald middle-aged people and elderly people with sparse hair may need a wig, and wigs may be used for show performances. Rather than wigs used as decorations, people are more likely to go to barbershops to dye and style their hair. Many countries in Africa are not economically developed, compared to maintaining their own hair, expect it to be long and bright, it is better to buy a wig to be real, but also can be replaced at any time.
Most countries in Africa are economically underdeveloped and have the money to buy wigs?
There are two kinds of materials for making wigs, one is chemical fiber and the other is real hair. Wigs made from hair are expensive and are a luxury in Africa, only for the rich. A normal person's hair volume is between 80,000 and 100,000, and the number of wigs made entirely from hair is certainly not up to this number. Hair transplantation into the hair net requires manual completion of the crochet needle one by one, and about 200 hairs are planted per square centimeter of hair net, which takes more than a month. On the international market, a high-end wig made entirely from hair costs $500 to $600.
Such a high price is certainly not something that ordinary people can buy, the mainstream of African people's consumption is in the chemical fiber wig, and the mid-end market also has a wig made with chemical fiber and hair. Wigs do not have to be sold on top of the whole roof, depending on the use of different uses, can also be processed into clockwork, hair sets, hair blocks and so on.
Wig production plant in China
What was once made in China has become created in China, and the development of the wig industry is the same. China's population is large, there is no shortage of wig hair, before the reform and opening up, has been doing raw material exports, when girls with a long ponytail, can be worth a lot of money. After the reform and opening up, vigorously develop the manufacturing industry, wigs as a high-yield export commodity, is a key project of the country, we introduced foreign enterprises and local enterprises joint ventures, learn advanced production technology, in the 90s of the last century to complete the technological innovation industry upgrading.
In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization, and the wigs independently developed and produced by China successfully entered the international market. By 2014, China's hair products exports accounted for 68.03% of the global hair products exports, Xuchang became the world's largest hair products production base, accounting for 70% of the world's hair products production base
China is the world's largest exporter of hair products, of which the proportion of real hair products is greater than that of chemical fiber products, this situation occurs, one is China's hair raw materials production is rich, real hair products production is high; the second is because it does not fully grasp the production technology of high-end synthetic textile materials hair products, and cannot compete with Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Hair-made wigs monopolize the high-end market, this industry characteristic allows Chinese hair products companies to enjoy a certain degree of popularity in the world, Rebecca, Hengyuan, Ruimei and other brands in the wig consumption of the new force - Africans and North American Africans are more influential, in the European and American markets less influential.
As a scarce resource for making wigs, how to recycle hair?
Since ancient times, chinese people have a tradition of long hair, the body hair skin is subject to the parents, the hair can not be cut easily, only away from the dust and shaving this more reasonable way. In modern society, there is no such statement, most men's hair is also maintained at short hair, and women's long hair is more common. Guinness World Records, the world's longest haired man is China's Xie Qiuping, the official record of 5.627 meters.
In the 1990s, the purchase price of raw materials per kilogram of human hair was only a dozen yuan, and in the 21st century, the purchase price of human hair raw materials reached a few hundred yuan per kilogram, and in recent years, it has reached a price of several thousand yuan per kilogram. With the economic development and population growth of the African region, their demand for wigs is rising, and the price of raw materials is also steadily rising.
Now that the people are richer, basically no one will exchange long hair for years, and high-quality raw materials are becoming more and more scarce. Merchants who collect their hair can only go to remote rural areas and some ethnic minority areas to buy hair, in addition to these places there are barbershops, and the hair collected is also a drop in the bucket. After all, hair is not a leek, raising a stubble to cut a stubble, hair growth and maintenance time-consuming and laborious.
Long hair is more valuable for making women's wigs, and short hair is used as male wigs and other hair products that are not in as high demand. It is easier to get short haircuts, and some barbershops have accumulated haircuts that have been purchased by special people, but the price is not high, and there are requirements for quality. The hair cannot be mixed with the hair of the elderly and children, and the quality of the dyed hair is not good, and there are also requirements for length. Now the barbershop is more and more high-end, the hair cutting method is more and more changeable, there are not many haircuts that meet the requirements, and the boss can't see this benefit.
Chinese hair raw material production gradually declined, if you can not adjust the industrial structure, the transformation into high-end synthetic materials, supplemented by real hair, the future road will be narrower and narrower.
Hair raw material factory - India
When it comes to hair raw materials, it is necessary to mention the population. India, the world's second most populous country, is also a major producer of raw materials for wigs. If you look back at Indian film and television works, you will find that the hair of Indian women is also mostly long hair. India now is very similar to our early China, focusing on the processing and export of hair raw materials, 70% of the world's hair raw materials come from India, and most of these hairs are sold to China.
Indians have softer hair than Chinese, and they produce so much each year, mainly because of religious activities. Religious believers in India generally agree that donating hair is a kind of devotion, and shaving is a process of purifying oneself. I don't know how these devout believers would feel if they knew that their donated hair had been sold.