An excerpt from Kinoshita Terunobu’s (木下 晃伸) latest e-newsletter discussing the length of women’s hair and its relationship to the Japanese economy :
「。。。 景気が良いほど髪の毛が長くなり、不景気になると髪の毛が短くなっている 。。。」
Essentially, the better the economy, the longer the hair; a weaker economy brings shorter hair styles…
- • 1997 花王 survey shows trend of shorter-hair among 20-year old women; 山一証券 goes bankrupt the same year
- • 1998 Japanese economy falls into minus growth
- • 2002 (August) survey shows longer-hair trend; longest post-war economic growth period begins
- • 2008 ???
「まとめ髪」がこれから増えるという。まとめ髪は景気拡大局面において登場したヘアスタイル。髪の毛の長さからまとめ髪が増えるのであれば、景気拡大も期待が持てる。
In spite of an overwhelmingly bearish market sentiment and deteriorating economic data in Japan, the outlook based on hair length/style tends to be much more optimistic. A Kao brand manager says set-hair is set to take off in ’08, which bodes well for the economy, signifying a point of economic expansion.
This may remind some of the women’s skirt-length correlation to market returns in the U.S.
Steven, I didn’t blog this but I’m glad you did. I wonder if my thoughts on the situation are too simplistic: In times of weaker economic conditions, more women will be looking for work, and thus cutting their hair to look more “professional” – especially given the number of working moms at positions in firms that might require (ahem…request) them to have shorter hair for sanitary reasons.
Hi Ken, thanks for your comment. Seems we’re destined to see a trend towards shorter hair! I guess the question is: how short?