Young Workers Turn Mobile Hair Washing into Hospital-Ward Service in China

A growing number of young workers in China are turning a basic hospital-care problem into a niche business: washing people's hair when they cannot easily leave bed.

The mobile hair-washing service has appeared over the past year in cities including Wuhan, Xi'an and Yinchuan, according to Jiupai News. Practitioners carry folding shampoo beds, basins, dryers, towels and hair-care products to hospitals and homes, offering washing, drying and scalp care to customers who often have no simple way to do it themselves.

The main customers are post-surgery patients, bedridden patients, pregnant and postpartum women, though some young consumers are also paying for the convenience of having the service brought to their door. Hospital wards have become the most important venue.

For 22-year-old Zhu, who works in Yinchuan, the business began after he saw similar services promoted on short-video platforms. He had previously worked in a hair-care shop, delivered food, worked on construction sites and taken jobs in a vegetable market. Now he runs a three-person team: he handles the washing, a friend shoots and edits videos, and his sister manages operations.

Customers almost all come from short-video platforms, he told Jiupai Finance. On busy days, Zhu takes eight or nine orders. Fees range from 88 yuan (US$12) to 168 yuan, and he said net profit reached about 20,000 yuan last month. About 60 percent of his orders are in hospitals, especially from patients recovering from fractures or surgery and mothers in postpartum confinement.

Before taking an order, Zhu said he checks a customer's scalp condition and physical situation. For pregnant and postpartum customers, his team keeps water at about 38 to 40 degrees Celsius and shortens the washing time to reduce the risk of catching a cold.

The work, he said, is less like a beauty treatment than a basic care service. Some hospital patients have gone one or two weeks without washing their hair. A clean wash can make them feel more comfortable and regain a little dignity during recovery.

In Xi'an, 29-year-old Xu entered the trade after seeing how difficult it was for his own mother to wash her hair while she was hospitalized. A hairdresser for more than 10 years, he now works full time in mobile hair washing, while his wife helps shoot and edit videos for online promotion.

Xu usually takes four or five orders a day at about 100 yuan each. He travels with a 28-inch suitcase packed with shampoo, hair oil, towels, a hair dryer, gloves, waterproof mats and disposable items – effectively a small shampoo room on wheels. Some jobs take far longer than a salon wash, especially when a patient's hair has been tangled for weeks.

In Wuhan, a man in his 40s known online as Yu Ge said he moved into the trade after his previous IT and hardware business failed. He learned basic techniques from a friend who worked in head therapy and from online videos, then upgraded his tools as orders increased.

Yu said he now handles 70 to 80 orders a month, mostly in hospitals, with orthopedics and maternity wards providing the largest share. His standard price in central Wuhan is 158 yuan. Some orders are placed by adult children for parents or relatives, which he calls "filial hair-washing" orders.

The business is still largely driven by short videos. Practitioners said viral clips can bring orders within days, while those who fail to attract online traffic often struggle to find customers. Offline marketing appears to play only a minor role.

Zhu said he hopes the trade can eventually develop standardized training and partnerships with hospitals or maternity-care centers. Yu said he wants to form a team in Wuhan and build a more formal company.