世論 What Japan Thinks

Men’s hair, of course, in this Day Research by Research Panel into if you had to choose one which do you prefer on men; thinning hair, white hair, or long hair? 16,821 women from the Research Panel monitor group answered.

The top choice was white with 69.7%, 26.2% for long, and just 4.2% for thinning. Sadly I fall into the last category only. 46.7% of teenage girls selected long hair, dropping to 34.6% for those in their twenties, and from thirty upwards it was in the twenties range. However, even amongst teenage girls, white hair was the top preference. This photo might be one reason thinning hair is not popular…

japan.internet.com reported on a survey by TIMES-CURRENT into Japanese women’s hair; although the article wanted to draw the conclusion in the headline, I would reckon it is more that women who are attractive put more effort into their hair. The full Japanese-language report may be accessed here.

Demographics

At some unspecified point in time and by some unspecified sampling methodology, 358 businesswomen and 353 businessmen living within the Tokyo area (Tokyo itself plus Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures) completed a survey. 33.5% of the women were in their twenties, 33.5% in their thirties, and 33.0% in their forties; for the men, 31.7% were in their twenties, 34.0% in their thirties, and 34.3% in their forties.

I am fortunate that my wife has the traditional Japanese wonderful long straight black hair; well, actually it’s a very dark brown, and she used to get into trouble in school for being suspected of dyeing it…
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The JHMA, Japan HeadTherapy Master Association, performed a scalp and hair condition investigation and awareness survey, and the results of these were published by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

59 men with thinning hair and 58 men without thinning hair were selected by some means for a professional examination of their scalp and hair condition, and also to answer some questions regarding hair care.

Despite my headline, it would be rash, of course, to simply conclude that since people with thinning hair spend longer on average per day on a computer, it is the computer use that is making them that way. It could just as easily be more stress from a longer work day, worse eating habits due to a long work day, snacking in front of the computer, missing out on sleep, or a hundred and one other possible causes that one could come up with.

Furthermore, I didn’t know that massaging conditioner all the way in was bad! I’ll have to fix that from tonight
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A recent survey from DIMSDRIVE Research took a look at women’s excess body hair, and found hairy armpits the biggest concern for them, and ordinary manual shaving the most popular way of getting rid of it.

Demographics

Between the 9th and 24th of June 2010 8,334 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.1% of the sample were male, 0.7% in their teens, 11.0% in their twenties, 31.4% in their thirties, 31.6% in their forties, 16.9% in their fifties, and 8.4% aged sixty or older. Furthermore, 63.2% were married, and of the remaining 3,065, 28.7% had a partner, 63.4% did not, and 7.9% just didn’t want to say.

I don’t think my wife gets too bothered by excess hair; by that I mean that she doesn’t have much in the first place. She’s forever shaving her eyebrows, but that’s for beauty reasons so she can draw them back on with a pencil.
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This recent survey from iShare into hair colouring is working under the presumption that all of its sample has black hair, given that there is no question about one’s natural colour.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 30th of September 2009 562 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.5% of the sample were male, 35.9% in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, and 33.8% in their forties.

Earlier this year I had a more detailed look at hair colouring.

Despite being 100% Japanese, my wife is actually naturally dark brown rather than black, which used to get her into trouble at school as many schools forbid hair dying, along with make-up, etc. She used to work somewhere where she got a light brown dye not because it was in vogue or the like, but actually was a very important part of the corporate image!
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Here’s a subject that I’m covering for the first time on this site, hair. Japanese men don’t seem to lose their hair as much as western people, and there seems to be a high degree of use of hair dyes and hair growth products amongst older men, and far too many young women stain their lovely natural blacks with brown, or even worse blonde dyes. To find out what the average Japanese person does, I now present a report by infoPLANT on a survey they conducted into the usage of hair care and hair styling products.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 29th of May 2007 infoPLANT promoted a questionnaire publicly accessible through the NTT DoCoMo iMode menu system. 6,028 people self-selected themselves, with 65.2% of the sample being female. 3.0% were in their teens, 31.9% in their twenties, 42.7% in their thirties, 19.0% in their forties, and 3.4% aged fifty or older.

I’m personally just setting out on the beginings of your common-or-garden male-pattern baldness, or かっぱ状態, kappa joutai, as my wife so endearingly calls it, namely looking like the legendary frog, only with the bald spot instead of a saucer on top of my head. I personally have no interest in any methods of disguise, and my hair care is nothing more than using a standard cheap conditioner after hair washing.

Note in the headline oyaji means middle-aged man, and the onset can be as early as thirty, as it is as much a state of mind as a physical condition.
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