Clever Uses for Your Hair Clippings
Each time you make a trip to the hair salon, you watch idly by as your clippings get swept away by your stylist. But wait! You can do something with those clippings. Don’t let them pile up in a landfill when they can be put to good use! There are plenty of ways to reuse trimmed locks, so speak up next time you’re at the salon. I bet you won’t be the first person to ask them for a doggie bag.
*How about to clean up an oil spill? As long as we have a fossil-fueled economy, there will be a need for tools that can clean up those oil spills. And while there are a lot of high-tech solutions out there, the citizens of San Francisco have been using, of all things, mats made of human hair. Lisa Gautier gathered the hair from local salons and had them fashioned into mats for use for the San Francisco Department of the Environment. The hair naturally separates the oil from the water, leaving behind big tar-filled glob of hairy toxicity and happy, fresh ocean water. Mushrooms are then seeded on the tar globs, they grow, digesting the oil into non-toxic organics, which can then be composted into soil…y’know…to grow your veggies.
* Add it to your compost bin. Although it takes awhile to decompose, human hair is rich in nitrogen.
* You can even skip the composting and spread it around your garden to keep snails, rabbits and raccoons at bay. Plus, it will enrich your soil with nutrients like protein and calcium.
* Planning to trade in your flowing mane for a cute crop? You can donate 10 inches or more to Locks of Love. Just make sure to review the requirements before you chop off your ponytail.
*A cooky way to keep your hair clippings out of the dumpster is by leaving it out for the birds. This sounds crazy, but birds will build nests with your hair. They will also build nests out of your pet’s hair.
* If you like to sew, stuff homemade pincushions with hair instead of cotton filling. Its natural oils will prevent pins and needles from rusting between projects.
