In 1901 when the earliest pioneering Foochow women came to Sibu with Wong Nai Siong, they were mainly poor farming people who needed to find work and food. Hair style was not top priority for them . They were accompanying their husbands and only very few were young girls accompanying their parents.
Like most Chinese from the rural areas of China, these women kept their hair long and straight. Perming of hair was not even heard of yet.
According to Foochow tradition then, girls could wear their hair in plaitsm or tie in two little pony tails while married women kept their hair in buns, ie. tied up in a knot at the back. If the married women could afford it, they could have a pretty hair pin, or a gold pin. Flowers like Bai Yu Lan would be the most natural decoration for the the elderly's hair.
Whether some women kept their hair short is hard to tell now as there is no record but in the 1920's, widespread news came that women were not allowed to cut their hair short!!
( Sichuan Warlords forbade women to cut their hair short, July 1921)
But according to some sources, many progressive women, especially in Chengdu and Chongqing cut their hair short in protest.
Many Singaporean Chinese women also cut their hair short, but if any Chinese woman in Sibu cut their hair short, we would not know because most of the photos in those early days showed women with hair tied at the back, in a bun.
Later years saw well educated wemen sporting short hair. Under the influence of Mary Hoover, the Yuk Ing students were well groomed with short hair. (See photo below)
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| 1930's Sibu - Girls in Yuk Ing Girls' School sported short hair |
By the late 1930's , Sibu Foochow girls were already planning to go for college education in China, Singapore, and Hong Kong. However very few did go, although the young men had already be educated in China at college and even university levels.
The permanent wave was introduced to the Chinese women in the big cities of China. Calendars from Shanghai with women in wavy hair were very appealing. Even cigarette advertisements showed women with short and wavy hairstyles.
Sibu's first hairdresser trained in Singapore was Madam Lu Ai Ding who set up a hair salon soon after she came back.
My second aunt, on my mother's side, being Fuzhou city born, was very fashionable and she was one of the first in Nang Chong to have permed hair!! Several other ladies who were well educated also had their hair permed and after that, it was really quite common to have hair "done" in Sibu.
My grandmother never had her hair permed until she died.
21st Century
On a more serious note,today Malaysia does not control how long or how short women's hair can be but Islam recommends Muslim women to have their hair covered, while non Muslim women can do whatever they like with their hair.
My second aunt, on my mother's side, being Fuzhou city born, was very fashionable and she was one of the first in Nang Chong to have permed hair!! Several other ladies who were well educated also had their hair permed and after that, it was really quite common to have hair "done" in Sibu.
My grandmother never had her hair permed until she died.
21st Century
On a more serious note,today Malaysia does not control how long or how short women's hair can be but Islam recommends Muslim women to have their hair covered, while non Muslim women can do whatever they like with their hair.
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