Over Half of Chinese College Students Are Losing Their Hair, Study Finds

Some hair-raising statistics have got Chinese netizens flipping their lids about stress and education.

According to a survey conducted by China Youth Network, over half of college students (55.68%) are experiencing hair loss. In addition, a little over half of the students reporting hair loss said they only started to lose hair during college, and cited stress, diet, and lack of sleep as some of the main contributing factors.

Image: China Youth Network Beijing

The Chinese Internet naturally exploded with discussion. Some jumped at the opportunity to criticize college students’ bad habits, saying they needed to “eat less sweets” and “stop playing on mobile phones.” Still more said living in dormitories was the culprit (effectively saying, “who gets any sleep in those, anyway?”).

Image: Weibo

One Weibo comment said, “I’d be more worried about worsening eyesight than baldness. Staying up late can cause severe myopia.”

China is known worldwide for its rigorous, test-based education system — particularly for its college entrance exams, or gaokao, that high school students often feel immense pressure to prepare for.

Related:

Is China’s Infamous Gaokao College Entrance Exam as Scary as it Seems?

Work-life balance has also become a major talking point in China surrounding the controversial “996” work schedule promoted by Alibaba and other technology companies, after a recent protest on Github went viral.

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At the rate things are going, Chinese tech companies should look into redirecting some of their AI-powered beauty into hair loss treatments.