Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Chairman, Dominican Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit may well have ‘picked a row’ with a sizeable portion of the region’s female population when he used the forum of the CARICOM Summit in Trinidad and Tobago to send a ‘less fake hair’ message to the fashion-conscious women of the Caribbean. Against the backdrop of a seemingly unstoppable avalanche of fake hair being imported into the region, Prime Minister Skeritt, in the process of making a presentation on the issue of the region’s need to reduce its volumes of extra-regional foods, threw in, for good measure, the continually rising tide of hair imports, which he correctly contends, adds considerably to the weight of an already burdensome extra-regional consumer goods’ bill.
While it may be true that hair imports set the Caribbean back a ‘pretty penny,’ not a few fashion-conscious women in the region are bound to take issue with what they might see as ‘picking on the passion of Caribbean to ‘look good.’ Media reporting in the region in recent years has been making reference to the costs associated with foreign hair imports by Caribbean countries, though, insofar as we are aware, this is the first time that a Caribbean Head of Government has ‘thrown in’ imported hair alongside foods as factors that add considerable weight to the region’s overall extra regional consumer imports’ bill. In alluding to the specific issue of the proliferation of extra regional food imports, an issue that is currently on the front burner of political debate in the region, the Dominican Prime Minister reportedly said that, “the power of reducing the food imports bill is in the hands of the people/consumers.”
While the presentation by Prime Minister Skerrit would appear to have made no direct reference to hair extensions and other beauty products, the coincidence between his call for a reduced food import bill and what is known to be the continually growing imports of hair extension and other beauty products would appear to have gotten the attention of the vast army of both beauty-conscious women in the region, not least, here in Guyana, as well as sections of the regional beauty industry. That said, the current CARICOM Chairman’s presentation appeared firmly tethered to the much broader and more profound issue of the insatiable appetite in the region for foreign foods. His address to the recently concluded CARICOM summit reportedly spoke directly to the importance of the region making greater efforts to consume what we produce in the wake of heightened concerns about food security. That is certainly a well-made point.
On the issue of fake hair imports, Prime Minister Skeritt is quoted as saying as follows; “We see a major importation of fake hair and eyelashes in the Caribbean because we are buying it … but if we can buy the agricultural produce and demand more regional products — then the supermarkets, restaurants and retailers will have to sell what is being demanded. So aside from our purchases of acrylic nails and other items, let us also demand the items from Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados and St Lucia in order to see how quickly we can reduce the food import bill in the Caribbean.” That, unquestionably, is a well-made point.
This newspaper’s conversations with four local hairdressers elicited a near identical response to Prime Minister Skerritt’s ‘fake hair’ comment. Each of them, in markedly different ways, sought to make the point that to cease the inflow of hair imports into the region would amount to not only seriously displeasing many thousands of women but (as one respondent put it) “digging a hole” in the regional beauty industry.
Prime Minister Skeritt’s remarks appeared to be located, substantively, in his wider view that something-has-to-give in the wake of what has become heightened concerns about regional food security. In working towards this, he reportedly called for the sharing of knowledge, expertise and resources, noting however that countries if they are to truly achieve the objective, must first begin to embark on a united front to improve and increase the production and quality of agricultural and other products in the Caribbean community. Contextually, the Dominican Prime Minister’s comments must be taken holistically and seriously.
