Newly Published Article ‘Making a Global Beauty Business: The Rise and Fall of Hong Kong Wigs in the 1960s’

(只有英文版 English version only)

Author:

Jason PETRULIS

Title:

Making a global beauty business: the rise and fall of Hong Kong wigs in the 1960s

Journal:

Entreprises et Histoire (article published in English)

Date: September 2023

Link to article:

https://www-cairn-info.ezproxy.eduhk.hk/revue-entreprises-et-histoire-2023-2-page-92.htm

Abstract: 

This article analyses how a beauty business from the 1960s went global. During this time, the wig industry in Hong Kong degenerated, from a lucrative global beauty business that was worth US$1 billion, into collapse. Analysis of this episode is used to re-evaluate how the history of globalisation is currently presented. Rather than accepting Hong Kong as an example of laissez-faire, dematerialised global capitalism, this industry illustrates how a set of relationships emerged over time due to connections built between Hong Kong and India and China. It goes on to explain how Cold War politics led to a surprise US embargo on what was considered to be ‘communist’ Asian hair. Finally, Hong Kong businesses found themselves under the surveillance of an intrusive British government. By guaranteeing quality and origin, Hong Kong businesses in this industry had managed to overcome the strong level of distrust inherent in global trade. However, this was not enough to prevail given subsequent unexpected events.