Chinese Beauty Exports to US Surge Despite Trade Frictions

China's exports of hair products to the United States rose 12.4% year-on-year to $1.3 billion in the first half of 2026, according to customs data, putting shipments on track to exceed 2025's full-year figure of $2.3 billion.

The category ranks among China's fastest-growing export segments, alongside computer parts, scooters and plastic goods. The boom comes as Washington and Beijing clash over high-profile Chinese exports such as cars and batteries — the backdrop to this week's presidential summit — yet the non-strategic beauty sector keeps expanding.

Sales of Chinese-made beauty accessories — from pre-bleached straight hair wigs to wavy clipped extensions and blinged-out coffin-shaped nails — are surging across the United States, Reuters reported on September 23 from Singapore and Lianyungang.

"This market is growing," said Joe Wu, an exporter in Xuchang, the central Chinese city known as China's wig capital. Wu expects his sales to grow 40% this year, driven heavily by US buyers drawn in through TikTok and Instagram.

The demand side is powered by social media. Influencers and celebrities who frequently change wigs and manicures have created a steady pipeline of orders for Chinese exporters, who have capitalized on that visibility.

Nails Move Overseas

There is no customs category for artificial nails — they fall under plastic products — but producers report booming business. Zhang Da, owner of a 200-worker press-on nail factory in the eastern county of Donghai, said exports climbed to 70% of total revenue this year, up from 20% in late 2025, with US sales making up a large chunk.

The manufacturing base behind the surge is deep and hard to replicate. In Xuchang alone, about 300,000 of a population of 4.4 million work in the hair industry, according to state media. Donghai, a county of 1 million people in the eastern city of Lianyungang, hosts nearly 25,000 press-on nail businesses.

"A Problem for the World"

The trend carries broader implications, according to Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group. Beijing occupies "a unique historical position" in using scale and product upgrades to dominate global markets in both advanced and lower value-added goods, she said.

"It is not just competing with the industrial products of one or two countries, it is competing with all industrial products globally," Wang said. That scenario presents a problem for other countries, not for China.

"It is going to be very difficult to see China's advantage replaced for many years to come," she said.

For US retailers and consumers, the surge in competitively priced wigs and nails shows no sign of slowing. With first-half shipments already at $1.3 billion and exporter revenues shifting decisively toward American buyers, the beauty category looks set to keep outpacing the trade rhetoric surrounding it.