A Fashion Twist: Asians See Hair to Dye For
International Herald Tribune
May 26, 2001
Thomas Fuller

Years ago, when black was black, East Asians viewed light-colored hair as a mark of poverty, a sign of malnutrition or too much exposure to the sun.

But try to tell that to East Asians today.

The region is going blond — and burgundy and auburn and chestnut.

Makers of hair dye report double-digit sales increases in Asia's wealthier countries. Today, about 60 percent of the women in Japan and South Korea color their hair, according to Vianney Pivet, marketing manager for Asia at L'Oreal, the world's leader in hair-coloring products. That is roughly the same level as in Europe and the United States and includes people who dye their hair black to cover up the gray.

Trendsetting Japanese women and some men began coloring their hair about five years ago. Last year more than 30 million kilograms of hair dye were sold in Japan, according to Ritsuko Tsunoda, an analyst with Merrill Lynch in Tokyo. That's about 500 grams — more than a pound — of hair dye for every Japanese woman older than 15.

Japanese fashion gurus describe the trend as liberating, adding a new variety and flair to notions of beauty and fashion where there was once only black.

But as hair coloring becomes more common in Asia, the trend is creating some expressions of concern. Across a continent where everyone's hair, in its natural state, looks similar, some have voiced concern about what will happen when everyone has the choice to look different.

Schools that value cohesion and order are weighing in on whether students may color their hair — and to what degree. Companies face similar decisions, especially those in service industries. Often rules are left unspoken, but sometimes they are not.

Singapore Airlines, which has worked hard to burnish its reputation as the very symbol of Asian hospitality, says light-colored hair is banned for its female flight attendants, the much-advertised "Singapore Girls."

"Stewardesses are able to color their hair as long as the hair coloring is a natural color such as black or dark brown," said Innes Willox, manager for the company's international public affairs. "The rule of thumb is that the coloring should be subtle, so streaking the hair in different colors is not acceptable."

A flight attendant on a recent flight from Singapore to Manila said the light-hair ban was a question of cultural identity. "We need to keep the Asian look," she said.

Fashion experts say colored hair works well in some professions but not in others.

"It's very acceptable in creative fields: advertising, design and publishing," said Susanah Cheok, the chief editor of Female Magazine in Singapore. "But of course if you're a lawyer and you're going to streak your hair blond and go to court it might not go over very well."

From 30 percent to 40 percent of the women in Singapore color their hair, according to Mr. Pivet at L'Oreal. The same proportions apply to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In less-developed countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Vietnam, less than 20 percent of women color their hair.

Hair issues are social lightning rods in most societies around the world, whether among military recruits, high school students or police officers.

But the politics of hair is perhaps more meaningful in East Asia. The fact, for example, that Asian children in a school yard can appear almost identical from the standpoint of hair can foster homogeneity.

Coloring one's hair is sometimes associated with decadence or a lack of discipline, especially to members of the older generations. Malaysia's 75-year-old prime minister, Mahathir bin Mohamad, traveled to Japan earlier in the year and heaped scorn on the country's young people for daring to look different.

"Japanese youths want to be blonds, work less and play more," he said. "The traditional Japanese and Eastern culture is being discarded and replaced with Western culture with disregard for filial piety and discipline."

In Malaysia, children attending public schools must adhere to strict guidelines about their hair. Schools often send booklets to parents informing them of what is acceptable: For boys, hair must not touch the collar. Girls with long hair must tie it with a ribbon that is either blue or black.

Coloring one's hair is explicitly banned and the rules also prohibit students from "styling their hair in a fashionable way that reflects current trends," according to the national rules.

Malaysian school administrators say these rules keep students from being too distracted by fashion.

A school principal in Singapore, who in January sent home students with colored hair, was more explicit.

"We want them to be proud of the hair color they were born with," Marcel Lee, head of the Assumption English School, told the Straits Times. "We also want to stress discipline and conformity."

Farther north in Asia the emphasis is on a lighter side to the hair-coloring trend.

In Japan, colored hair has changed the way people think about fashion, industry experts say.

"The Japanese had a complex," said Yoshiko Ikoma, deputy editor of the Japanese edition of Vogue. "We couldn't change the color of our hair. We're short and we all have the same color eyes."

"Now we can change the color of our hair, change the color of our eyes and wear platform shoes!"

From a business standpoint, hair-coloring products have been one of the brightest spots of the Japanese economy during the past decade of slump, impressively beating depressed consumer trends.

In terms of volume, the amount of hair dye sold in the 12 months to March increased 20 percent, according to Ms. Tsunoda of Merrill Lynch.

"The biggest change in Japan in the past 10 years has been the diffusion of mobile phones and the coloring of Japanese hair," she said.

As the market has grown, Western companies such as L'Oreal have introduced more sophisticated — and more appropriate — products.

Although many bottles of hair dye sold in East Asia today portray Western women on the labels, the formulas are usually different from the European or American products.

When stripped of its natural pigment, Asian hair has reddish undertones, according to Mr. Pivet of L'Oreal. Caucasians' hair, by contrast, has yellow or orange undertones.

To compensate for this, chemists use green in Asian formulas to cancel out the red, while violet is added to Western hair dyes to cancel the yellow-orange undertones. The result is a more pleasing color.

There are, of course, holdouts in the trend toward colored hair. The dark-suited men and women who ride the subways to work every day in Tokyo are among the last vestiges of strictly black-haired culture.

But among the hip and trendy in East Asia, there is a notion, perhaps exaggerated, that the holdouts will soon become the standouts.

"Nowadays, if you don't color your hair you're the one who's different," said Ms. Cheok of Female Magazine.

Copyright © 2006 the International Herald Tribune