Calls to regulate ‘ brutal’ hair trade

Demand for extensions exploits poor Chinese girls, say critics

Human rights advocates are calling for New Zealand’s million- dollar hair industry to be regulated in light of a Herald investigation into the secret behind hair extensions.

Every year New Zealand imports more than $ 2 million of human hair — the equivalent of about 62,500 ponytails — to meet growing demand for hair extensions, which can cost thousands of dollars.

Most of the hair comes from China, according to Customs Services data obtained under the Official Information Act.

In October, the Weekend Herald travelled to Taihe County, in China’s Anhui Province, to investigate this industry and shine a light on the women behind the hair.

Workers in hair factories are paid as little as $ 2 an hour and exposed to dense amounts of volatile peroxide. Young girls in the countryside are left in tears after being forced to cut off their ponytails by their desperate families.

Because the hair is imported as a beauty accessory and not as a body part, it moves freely into the country without any restrictions, regulations or prohibitions.

This means that there is no way of knowing who grew the hair or whether it was ethically donated.

The investigation has prompted the Human Rights Commission ( HRC), Trade Aid and Fairtrade Australia New Zealand to call for change.

Dr Jackie Blue, of the HRC, said the hair trade was exploiting young girls “in a very brutal way”.

“For many cultures long hair is part of femininity and their hair is being hacked off in a violent way in the middle of the street.

“It’s appalling: they are human beings and they have human rights,” said Blue, the HRC’s equal employment opportunities commissioner. Fairtrade Australia New Zealand chief executive Molly Harriss Olson also weighed in by phone from Melbourne. “I think [ this] is symbolic of the problems of a world where we don’t really understand the impact of our own consumption,” she said. It was “extremely important” for consumers of hair extensions to know where the product had come from and how it was obtained. “It’s up to consumers to be aware and for the authorities to ensure this kind of information is made available.” Customs New Zealand told the Weekend Herald there were no import restrictions in place for human hair because it was specifically excluded under the Human Tissue Act.

The act enforces a one- year prison sentence or a $ 50,000 fine for those caught trading in human tissue, but section 56 states that the law does not apply to “human hair collected from living people”.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said the hair trade was “not currently on our policy programme”, but added that the Herald investigation would help to increase awareness of issues regarding hair extensions.

Trade Aid buyer Justin Purser, who has worked for the organisation for 20 years, said the concept of regulating a product such as human hair might be frowned upon but “working within a set of rules provides safeguards against exploitation”.

“Without any kind of ethical guidelines, people in trading systems tend to seek to optimise their product and we see all sorts of problems arise such as slavery, exploitation and aggravated inequality,” Purser said.

For the human rights advocates, the big question now is who should take responsibility.

The small businesses and salons that use these products in New Zealand “don’t have the resources to audit the supply chain”, according to Blue.

“In order to find a solution this conversation needs to include suppliers, businesses, consumers and the Government. We can’t let the status quo carry on.”