Shave Your Tail, Save A Whale
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Other than spiking it into mohawks, braiding it into cornrows or letting it fester into dreadlocks, what is hair really good for? Donating your ponytail to cancer victims for wigs is a common philanthropic use, but they want lengths of 8-10 inches, which disqualifies most guys. Rather than weaving your own merkin or pirate ship why not send your leftovers to the gulf!
Hair evolved to trap oil, which helps the skin retain moisture. The outer layer (cuticle) of each hair shaft is covered by a single layer of keratinized cells- the stuff your fingernails are made of. The cells overlap like house shingles and are intricately arranged, providing a great deal of surface area for oil to cling to.
Hair is so good at trapping oil that it is being used to help deal with the Deepwater Horizon disaster. A non-profit company, Matter of Trust, is collecting hair from groomers, salons, farmers- even regular folks who might want to pitch in a few pubes ponytails to help a good cause. The hairs are stuffed into nylon pantyhose, woven into mats, and used as booms to collect oil as it nears the beaches. Some of the oil can even be recovered by squeezing it out- and the hairy booms used again. (Hairy Booms is my male stripper alter ego!) 
Any animal hair can be used, but human hair works the best because it is less oily naturally (as most of us do tend to wash it frequently) and can thus attract more environmental oil. The company claims it doesn’t want your short and curlies though. Not because they won’t work, but because the workers don’t want to handle them.
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Well I’ll be . . . Perhaps all the employees of BP, TransOcean and Haliburton could donate every hair on their bodies by way of an apology.
I just had my haircut and I really don’t think my German shepherds would best be served by shaving off their protective coats. I do have a poodle that is coming up for grooming in a couple of weeks. What the hell! I will talk to the groomer.
I think I can get about 5″ of length, as long as they take back hair.
“but they want lengths of 8-10 inches, which disqualifies most guys”
Excuse me?????
I admit to being at the shorter end of this statement but, never the less, I will not be excluded!!! That is ‘below the belt’ young lady!….in so many ways!
Oh…er….hair…yes…oops…um…misread…vodka…soz
The ‘workers’ are eminently sane.
You must have some gorgeous hair if cutting six inches off still leaves it bra-strap length! I’ve got such pathetic and thin hair they could use it for baby wigs. So many people on here have animals, plus it is shedding season- it makes sense to put something up. Plus I had to use that baboon ass thumbnail!
It is really long dark and very curly, to the point of hey J, did you get a perm? It is a good time to cut anyway, with summer coming up to go a little shorter. Right now I have been wearing it SWMNBN style up in a banana clip. I think one of the bios must have had really curly hair, and it is one of the few good things they did, by passing those genes to a new generation.
I’ve been promoting this all over the place since the other day. I even suggested, *ahem* that people could contact beauty salons, dog groomers *oh Mike* to get the fur and clippings from them to ship out. I have an appointment Friday to get about 6 inches cut from mine, to ship with what they have collected over the past week or so there. I don’t want to go any shorter than my bra strap and that should do it.
Locks of love(wigs for cancer patients) I have given to in the past and I did contact them last week, to see if they had enough and I could donate to this one. They have more than enough right now and are telling people to donate to matter of trust, so there is that.
Thanks for the reminder about this though, I’ll send it on to some people, that could really use a hair change right about now. Aunt Becca, I’m talking about you, if you decide to lurk here, like you said you would. Get that hippie hair cut and join us in the 21st century woman.