Beware of the chaos behind the emergence of "bald" "hair loss economy"
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In recent years, hair loss has gradually become a hot topic.
In order to maintain the image, some people buy products such as anti-hair loss shampoos, hair growth liquids, some people choose to wear wigs, and some people choose hair transplants, thus driving the rise of the "hair loss economy".
However, industry insiders pointed out that some chaos behind the wig and hair transplant industries need to be vigilant.
In recent years, hair loss has gradually become a topic of concern.
According to the latest data from the National Health Commission, there are more than 250 million people with hair loss in my country, and on average less than 1 in 6 people have hair loss.
In order to maintain the image, some people choose to wear a wig, others choose to transplant hair.
A reporter from the Workers’ Daily found that the "hair loss economy" has become more and more popular with the increase in the "hair loss army", but some of the problems behind it should also not be ignored.
"Bald" business opportunities
Zhao Zeyu, 28, works for a cultural advertising company in Beijing. He recently discovered that his hair fell a lot more than before. After going to the hospital, the doctor said it was seborrheic alopecia.
"I have stayed up late lately. It may be related to lack of sleep and work pressure. I am really worried about my baldness in the future." Zhao Zeyu said helplessly.
In reality, there are not a few people who have the same troubles as Zhao Zeyu. Some people lose their hair because of staying up late and working pressure, some people lose their hair because of anxiety and tension, and some people lose their hair because of hereditary hair loss.
In this case, some people start to buy products such as anti-hair loss shampoos and hair growth lotions.
Wigs have also become a major beneficiary of the "hair loss economy".
Relevant data shows that the current domestic wig industry has annual sales of 60 billion yuan, with more than 1 million employees.
The reporter conducted a search on an e-commerce platform with "wigs" as a key word. The results showed that there were more than 370,000 products. Many stores had monthly sales of more than 10,000. The products included wig sets, wig pieces, etc. It ranges from ten yuan to thousands of yuan.
Industry insiders pointed out that hair loss will cause physical disturbance and psychological impact on people. Hair growth and wigs can no longer meet the needs of some patients with hair loss, and hair transplants have quietly emerged.
According to the company's data, the average annual number of new registrations of hair transplant companies in the past five years has reached 105.
As of December 2020, there are a total of 811 hair transplantation-related companies nationwide (in operation and in existence).
Cao Dalong, 33, is engaged in technical work at an Internet company in Beijing. His high-intensity work has made his hair loss more and more serious. He chose hair transplant last year.
"The FUE hair follicle planting technique I chose was 10 yuan per follicle unit, and I planted 3,000, which cost about 30,000 yuan."
However, the reporter learned during the interview that although the "hair loss economy" is hot, the new crown pneumonia epidemic has also had a certain impact on the wig and hair transplant industry.
Some wig manufacturers said that during the epidemic, the factory's inventory was severely insufficient, and dealers often came to order goods, but they could only return empty-handed.
"In the first half of last year, many commonly used products were often out of stock, and the delivery speed and delivery cycle were affected." said Mr. Chen, a head of a wig manufacturer in Shandong.
Behind the product shortage is that the production side cannot keep up because of insufficient labor.
"When the epidemic is severe, employees have to take vacations, resulting in a high turnover rate. The current shortage of labor still exists, and we have been recruiting new employees." Mr. Chen introduced.
During the epidemic, although offline stores selling wigs were greatly affected, they promoted the development of online channels to a certain extent. On the contrary, sales of wigs by some companies increased sharply.
It is understood that during the epidemic, fake delivery unexpectedly became a popular item for export e-commerce.
On a cross-border e-commerce platform, the turnover of wigs in major markets such as Europe and the United States nearly doubled in April last year.
The chaos behind the hotness cannot be ignored
With the increase of the "hair loss army", the "hair loss economy" has become more and more popular, but some of the problems behind it cannot be ignored either.
The reporter noticed that some anti-hair loss shampoos, hair growth liquids and other products were exaggerated and sold to consumers at high prices. Consumers reported that they had little effect after use.
According to information from the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, a cosmetics company in Shanghai was fined 10,000 yuan by the Shanghai Chongming District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau in June last year for falsely promoting the anti-loss function of shampoo in its online shop.
It is understood that the whistleblower purchased Fasco shampoo in the Tmall online store opened by the company.
The online store claimed that the shampoo had anti-hair loss function, but could not provide relevant evidence.
In terms of hair transplants, the person in charge of a hair transplant institution in Beijing said that the current level of employees is uneven, and there is a serious shortage of professional hair transplant personnel, and there is even a chaos that nurses replace doctors.
"In some institutions, graduates who have been on the job for a very short time dare to perform hair transplant surgery and do experiments on patients."
The person in charge also said that with the reduction of labor costs, the low-cost marketing phenomenon of the hair transplant industry has been born.
This is because professional hair transplant personnel have a long training time. If you want to train a qualified hair transplant surgeon, you need at least six months of continuous practical experience from separation to implantation.
Some media inquired about the complaint content of "Biliansheng Hair Plant" on the third-party complaint platform and found that the agency was involved in issues such as "no effect after operation", "compulsory consumption, no refunds" and other issues.
In addition, the slogan that the hair transplant organization claims "transplanted hair follicles will never fall off" is suspected of false exaggeration.
"In recent years, new technical terms and patents have emerged in the hair transplant industry in an endless stream. Hair transplant concepts such as microneedles and 3D hair transplants are dazzling. Some institutions have a variety of technology packages, but they deliberately raise the barriers of understanding for consumers.” Beijing Li Man, a physician at the University People's Hospital, said.
Insiders pointed out that some wig products companies are engaged in OEM production and operation, and lack independent intellectual property rights and awareness of own brand cultivation.
At the same time, the OEM production model has also increased the dependence of wig manufacturers on foreign brands and cannot participate in the direct distribution of huge profits from terminal sales.
In addition, there are no mandatory regulations on the collection and disposal of wigs in the industry, and there is no accurate division of product grades, so low cost and high price are the characteristics of this category.
Manufacturers of wig products often compete for raw materials and price wars among themselves, which affects the international market and greatly reduces the profit margin of the industry.
Experts predict that after the epidemic is over, the hair transplant industry will accelerate the survival of the fittest, and only professional and formal hair transplant institutions can survive.
Zhou Yi
Zhou Yi