On National Hair Day, Oxfam is urging Australians to act to address the global hunger crisis currently impacting millions of people. 

Millions of people have access to fewer nutrients each day than many shampoos that ‘feed’ our hair in every wash.  

Nutritious ‘ingredients’ such as pineapple extract, almond oil and milk proteins are now commonplace in shampoo, while almost 28 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan are experiencing extreme hunger. 

This is the kind of inequality that Oxfam is rallying Australians to ‘unaccept’, by changing the way we think about this level of global inequality and to take action to create a more equal future without poverty. 

“It’s staggering to think that, here in Australia, many shampoos contain more nutrients than millions of people have access to every day,” said Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Lyn Morgan.  

“We want every Australian, as they wash their hair today, to think about the global inequality that has led to tens of millions of people not having enough to eat – and to start conversations with their friends and colleagues, to get people talking about the unacceptable hunger crisis that is gripping East Africa and beyond.” 

The global hunger crisis is the result of multiple, overlapping humanitarian crises driven by regional conflict, climate-induced shocks like flash flooding or drought, disease outbreaks and economic challenges.  

These all impact food and nutrition security, and access to water, healthcare, feed for livestock, education and protection services. 

On National Hair Day, Oxfam has launched the ONLY SHAMPOO initiative – a fake product to talk about a very real food crisis, and to urge all Australians to take a stand in the fight to unaccept inequality. 

Menchie Khairuddin

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Menchie Khairuddin is a writer Deputy Content Manager at Akolade and content producer for Third Sector News. She is passionate about social affairs specifically in mixed, multicultural heritage and not-for-profit organisations.

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