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Hair care has undergone a sea change in China in the past two decades.

"An awareness came about only in the early 1990s," says Xie Hong, a beauty reporter and editor of a Beijing-based Luxury magazine.

It was at that time that major hair-care brands made their appearance in this huge market - Rejoice in 1989, Pantene in 1992 and L'Oreal Paris in 1996.

Rejoice's shampoo-cum-conditioner was a big hit.

"Till then, I had no idea what conditioner was," says Beijinger Wang Haiying, 49, adding that most people then would just use soap to wash their hair.

"Now with more choices in the market, people go for separate shampoos and conditioners," says Xie.

For example, Wang's daughter Su Xiaoming, a college student of 21, uses three hair care products: Sassoon VS Premium Shampoo, Sassoon VS Premium Conditioner, and L'Oreal Paris Rinse Out. Su visits a hair salon once a month, and experiments with colors, highlights and other sophisticated hair products.

Hair styling is also becoming popular and Eric Choong from Tony & Guy, a global hairdressing chain from Britain, says:

"The Chinese hair care market is more familiar with styles from Japan and South Korea. But we strive to promote hairstyles that have a heavier Western touch.

"Since more Chinese consumers are curious about new trends in fashion or beauty products, our styles are becoming popular," he adds.

Brendan joined The China Daily in 2007 as a language polisher in the Language Tips Department, where he writes a regular column for Chinese English Language learners, reads audio news for listeners and anchors the weekly video news in addition to assisting with on location stories. Elsewhere he writes Op'Ed pieces with a China focus that feature in the Daily's Website opinion section.

He received his B.A. and Post Grad Dip from Curtin University in 1997 and his Masters in Community Development and Management from Charles Darwin University in 2003. He has taught in Japan, England, Australia and most recently China. His articles have featured in the Bangkok Post, The Taipei Times, The Asia News Network and in-flight magazines.