Post by pelicanguy on Feb 21, 2007 16:39:49 GMT -5
LADIES, PAY ATTENTION
Product placement
* A new documentary has people talking about who controls the black hair-care market
By Vanessa E. Jones, (Boston) Globe Staff
Black women wear their hair in a multitude of ways. They may start the week with straight or curly hair, then move on to twisted or braided styles. And when they grow bored with that, they'll add wigs, weaves, or hair extensions to create even more looks.
It can cost a lot of money for women to keep up this pace. In 2004 , sales of black hair- care products exceeded $1.7 billion , according to a report by Mintel International Group , a consumer research company. And that doesn't include the synthetic and human hair additions that are also extremely popular.
Women don't usually buy these products at their local CVS or Walgreens. Instead they travel to beauty supply stores, often in urban neighborhoods. A new documentary called "Black Hair" by Newton native Aron Ranen sheds light on an old but little-discussed phenomenon in the industry: The predominantly black consumers of these products often buy them from stores owned by Korean immigrants.
"You always hear jokes about it," says Tiffani Odige , 23, a black woman who lives in Cambridge, who suspects she spends $2,500 to $3,000 a year on hair and hair products. " 'Go to the Koreans and get my hair' -- it's something we all hear about."
In "Black Hair ," Ranen reveals that Koreans dominate not only the beauty supply store business but the distribution companies that sell to the beauty supply stores and the wig and extension manufacturers as well. The situation can make it difficult for non-Korean store owners -- particularly fledgling ones who don't have established contacts -- to obtain products .
The Korean distributors maintain their presence, Ranen's documentary suggests, by relying on their language to exclude non-Korean customers. Ranen 's film shows that the informational magazines handed out to the beauty supply stores are written in Korean. The store owners Ranen interviews complain that the distributors answer their phones in Korean and circulate product order sheets written in Korean. They also claim that the Korean distributors sell their goods to them at higher prices -- if they sell to them at all.
While the documentary, which Ranen began filming three years ago, focuses on this phenomenon in California, Texas, and Illinois, it is a nationwide situation witnessed by beauty salon owners in the Boston area as well.
Phillip Cooper owns Venus Cosmetics , in Central Square in Cambridge, a family-owned beauty supply store started in 1975 . His business's veteran status helps him keep the shelves full, but he says he's had problems getting supplies from Korean-owned companies . "They won't sell to us," says Cooper, 59, who is white. "They really only sell to their own. They will not say that, but they make it very hard."
It's difficult to get a response to these allegations from Koreans in the industry. Sensationnel , a major Korean-owned wig and extension distribution company in the United States, did not return a detailed phone message requesting an interview. When Korean owners of local beauty supply stores were asked about the documentary, they said they didn't know about it. When questioned about the Korean dominance in the industry, the response was silence or a shake of the head.
Asked why he chose to enter this field, Janki Kim, 52, owner of Hair City, a beauty supply store in Mattapan, says, "I'm [an] immigrant, so I have to work . . . I have to survive to live."
The documentary has been screened at national hair shows, huge conferences that bring salon stylists, consumers, and product manufacturers together to look at the latest hair styles. In May, Ranen also uploaded it onto YouTube , where it has been viewed more than 160,000 times. The film has elicited mixed responses.
"White people think the film is unbalanced and unfair," says Ranen, 45, who is white and now lives in San Francisco. "When I show it to mixed audiences I'm sometimes attacked by white people and hugged by black people. There is fear from white people about exacerbating Korean/black tensions."
Some consumers who have seen the documentary have responded by calling for a boycott of Korean-owned stores, although no official move toward a boycott has occurred. Industry insiders want to resolve the situation in other ways. The Black Owned Beauty Supply Association, whose founding in 2004 was captured by Ranen's camera, hopes to create a black-owned distribution chain as well as Internet and brick-and-mortar stores. So far it has about 300 members, says Sam Ennon , the organization's director, representing beauty supply stores, distributors, manufacturers, and beauty salon owners.
Ennon estimates it will cost $5 million to $6 million to stock one distribution warehouse. He plans to use the Koreans' example to build his organization.
"They communicate together," says Ennon, 52, who is black. He believes there are 9,000 beauty supply stores in this country, 1,000 of them black-owned. "They share information. They co-op buy together. They work together as a unit and a community too."
The strength of that community becomes obvious when Kim explains how he became the owner of Hair City two years ago. He heard about the availability of the shop, which had been a neighborhood fixture for 12 years, from a relative who owns a beauty supply store in New Haven. "He just recommend [that I operate] the same [type of] store," says Kim, explaining his choice of business, "so he can help me."
Sung Cho , who didn't wish to reveal his age, has a similar story. He decided to enter the beauty supply business on the advice of a friend who owned a beauty supply store in Orange, N.J. Cho's Beauty Supply Supermarket opened in the South End 10 years ago.
A century ago, African-Americans created and dominated the industry. Some say Madam C.J. Walker became the first African-American millionaire in the early 1900s by selling black hair- care products. Since then , black -owned companies such as Soft Sheen emerged to manufacture and/or distribute conditioners, shampoos, and relaxers. But by the late 1990s, the Mintel report says, these owners began selling their businesses to mainstream corporations. Today L'Oreal, Alberto-Culver, and Proctor & Gamble are the top three sellers of black hair- care products, Mintel said.
The independently owned companies that remain -- such as Dudley Products Inc. , Luster Products Inc. , and Bronner Brothers -- haven't embraced the battle yet. Ennon understands their lack of interest. Those businesses can withstand changes in the industry because they either sell directly to beauty salons or have long- established connections with distributors. "We're not in the same league as they are," says Ennon. "We're small potatoes."
For most non-Korean beauty supply store owners, the biggest problem is acquiring the wigs, weaves, and extensions, says Ennon. Although South Korea was once the largest supplier of hair to the United States, China surpassed South Korea in hair exports around 1993, according to the US Commerce Department. These days most packages of wigs, hair extensions, and weaves sold at beauty supply stores have the words "Made in China" stamped upon them. The problem, says Ennon, is that the Korean distributors who retain control over the business "bring hair from China but won't sell certain brands of hair" to non-Koreans. When Ranen shot his documentary, he says he found that the black-owned beauty supply stores were "poorly stocked."
Marelyn Davis , 73, the owner of Looking Good in Dudley Square, has no trouble finding stock, but she does feel the competition. A Korean- owned beauty supply store opened a few doors down from hers.
"They're trying to . . . sell cheaper than us," says Davis, who is white. But she says the competition hasn't affected her so far.
For Katherine Wilson , 51, of Newton, who is black, it's the convenience of the store location that helps her decide which beauty supply store to use, not the ethnicity of the store's owner. But Odige, who praised the affordable prices of the products at Beauty Supply Supermarket, often finds herself at Venus. There she can rely on the knowledge of Shirley Hunter, 33, a black woman who has worked there for 18 years.
"She knows what she's talking about," says Odige. "She wears the stuff."
Product placement
* A new documentary has people talking about who controls the black hair-care market
By Vanessa E. Jones, (Boston) Globe Staff
Black women wear their hair in a multitude of ways. They may start the week with straight or curly hair, then move on to twisted or braided styles. And when they grow bored with that, they'll add wigs, weaves, or hair extensions to create even more looks.
It can cost a lot of money for women to keep up this pace. In 2004 , sales of black hair- care products exceeded $1.7 billion , according to a report by Mintel International Group , a consumer research company. And that doesn't include the synthetic and human hair additions that are also extremely popular.
Women don't usually buy these products at their local CVS or Walgreens. Instead they travel to beauty supply stores, often in urban neighborhoods. A new documentary called "Black Hair" by Newton native Aron Ranen sheds light on an old but little-discussed phenomenon in the industry: The predominantly black consumers of these products often buy them from stores owned by Korean immigrants.
"You always hear jokes about it," says Tiffani Odige , 23, a black woman who lives in Cambridge, who suspects she spends $2,500 to $3,000 a year on hair and hair products. " 'Go to the Koreans and get my hair' -- it's something we all hear about."
In "Black Hair ," Ranen reveals that Koreans dominate not only the beauty supply store business but the distribution companies that sell to the beauty supply stores and the wig and extension manufacturers as well. The situation can make it difficult for non-Korean store owners -- particularly fledgling ones who don't have established contacts -- to obtain products .
The Korean distributors maintain their presence, Ranen's documentary suggests, by relying on their language to exclude non-Korean customers. Ranen 's film shows that the informational magazines handed out to the beauty supply stores are written in Korean. The store owners Ranen interviews complain that the distributors answer their phones in Korean and circulate product order sheets written in Korean. They also claim that the Korean distributors sell their goods to them at higher prices -- if they sell to them at all.
While the documentary, which Ranen began filming three years ago, focuses on this phenomenon in California, Texas, and Illinois, it is a nationwide situation witnessed by beauty salon owners in the Boston area as well.
Phillip Cooper owns Venus Cosmetics , in Central Square in Cambridge, a family-owned beauty supply store started in 1975 . His business's veteran status helps him keep the shelves full, but he says he's had problems getting supplies from Korean-owned companies . "They won't sell to us," says Cooper, 59, who is white. "They really only sell to their own. They will not say that, but they make it very hard."
It's difficult to get a response to these allegations from Koreans in the industry. Sensationnel , a major Korean-owned wig and extension distribution company in the United States, did not return a detailed phone message requesting an interview. When Korean owners of local beauty supply stores were asked about the documentary, they said they didn't know about it. When questioned about the Korean dominance in the industry, the response was silence or a shake of the head.
Asked why he chose to enter this field, Janki Kim, 52, owner of Hair City, a beauty supply store in Mattapan, says, "I'm [an] immigrant, so I have to work . . . I have to survive to live."
The documentary has been screened at national hair shows, huge conferences that bring salon stylists, consumers, and product manufacturers together to look at the latest hair styles. In May, Ranen also uploaded it onto YouTube , where it has been viewed more than 160,000 times. The film has elicited mixed responses.
"White people think the film is unbalanced and unfair," says Ranen, 45, who is white and now lives in San Francisco. "When I show it to mixed audiences I'm sometimes attacked by white people and hugged by black people. There is fear from white people about exacerbating Korean/black tensions."
Some consumers who have seen the documentary have responded by calling for a boycott of Korean-owned stores, although no official move toward a boycott has occurred. Industry insiders want to resolve the situation in other ways. The Black Owned Beauty Supply Association, whose founding in 2004 was captured by Ranen's camera, hopes to create a black-owned distribution chain as well as Internet and brick-and-mortar stores. So far it has about 300 members, says Sam Ennon , the organization's director, representing beauty supply stores, distributors, manufacturers, and beauty salon owners.
Ennon estimates it will cost $5 million to $6 million to stock one distribution warehouse. He plans to use the Koreans' example to build his organization.
"They communicate together," says Ennon, 52, who is black. He believes there are 9,000 beauty supply stores in this country, 1,000 of them black-owned. "They share information. They co-op buy together. They work together as a unit and a community too."
The strength of that community becomes obvious when Kim explains how he became the owner of Hair City two years ago. He heard about the availability of the shop, which had been a neighborhood fixture for 12 years, from a relative who owns a beauty supply store in New Haven. "He just recommend [that I operate] the same [type of] store," says Kim, explaining his choice of business, "so he can help me."
Sung Cho , who didn't wish to reveal his age, has a similar story. He decided to enter the beauty supply business on the advice of a friend who owned a beauty supply store in Orange, N.J. Cho's Beauty Supply Supermarket opened in the South End 10 years ago.
A century ago, African-Americans created and dominated the industry. Some say Madam C.J. Walker became the first African-American millionaire in the early 1900s by selling black hair- care products. Since then , black -owned companies such as Soft Sheen emerged to manufacture and/or distribute conditioners, shampoos, and relaxers. But by the late 1990s, the Mintel report says, these owners began selling their businesses to mainstream corporations. Today L'Oreal, Alberto-Culver, and Proctor & Gamble are the top three sellers of black hair- care products, Mintel said.
The independently owned companies that remain -- such as Dudley Products Inc. , Luster Products Inc. , and Bronner Brothers -- haven't embraced the battle yet. Ennon understands their lack of interest. Those businesses can withstand changes in the industry because they either sell directly to beauty salons or have long- established connections with distributors. "We're not in the same league as they are," says Ennon. "We're small potatoes."
For most non-Korean beauty supply store owners, the biggest problem is acquiring the wigs, weaves, and extensions, says Ennon. Although South Korea was once the largest supplier of hair to the United States, China surpassed South Korea in hair exports around 1993, according to the US Commerce Department. These days most packages of wigs, hair extensions, and weaves sold at beauty supply stores have the words "Made in China" stamped upon them. The problem, says Ennon, is that the Korean distributors who retain control over the business "bring hair from China but won't sell certain brands of hair" to non-Koreans. When Ranen shot his documentary, he says he found that the black-owned beauty supply stores were "poorly stocked."
Marelyn Davis , 73, the owner of Looking Good in Dudley Square, has no trouble finding stock, but she does feel the competition. A Korean- owned beauty supply store opened a few doors down from hers.
"They're trying to . . . sell cheaper than us," says Davis, who is white. But she says the competition hasn't affected her so far.
For Katherine Wilson , 51, of Newton, who is black, it's the convenience of the store location that helps her decide which beauty supply store to use, not the ethnicity of the store's owner. But Odige, who praised the affordable prices of the products at Beauty Supply Supermarket, often finds herself at Venus. There she can rely on the knowledge of Shirley Hunter, 33, a black woman who has worked there for 18 years.
"She knows what she's talking about," says Odige. "She wears the stuff."