Market Research Shows African Women Spent $1.1 Billion on their Hair Last Year

Wow! That is a lot of Benjamins.

If you take a quick look at the BellaNaija Events page, you will notice that when it comes to hair, the Nigerian ladies – young and old, always present their best.

A new market research by Euromonitor International has revealed that last year (2013), women in Nigeria, South Africa and Cameroon alone spent a whopping $1.1 billion on their hair, Reuters reports.

It also includes purchases on shampoos, relaxers and hair lotions.

In a quick chat with a woman, Esther Ogble in Abuja, she said “I need to braid my hair so that I will look beautiful”. The 25-year-old said this while wincing as her hair was being combed, tugged, and woven.

The reporters also made reference to Muma Gee who recently said that she spends half a million Naira on her hair.

According to the report, the boom has attracted global brand likes L’Oreal and Unilever.

37-year-old Josephine Agwa in Wuse, Abuja says “The ones that don’t want to come (to the shop), they call us for home service.”, while a 20-year-old South African student says “I get bored if I have one style for too long.”

The report also says daring styles are part of the reasons for the high price, and hair extensions are mostly gotten from India and China.

The demand for hair products and human hair extensions is constantly growing. The analysis does not include sales from other sub-Saharan countries.