"All Kollar has to do is collect it. But all the processing that comes afterward is expensive, especially because Human Material Loop is a start-up producing fabrics in small batches.... For the human-hair textile industry to take off, it would have to collect massive amounts of hair, which can be a logistical challenge.... 'If you look in the garbage can of a hair salon, it’s 95 percent hair,' said Lisa Gautier, who founded Matter of Trust in 1998. 'All we have to do is get that 5 percent of debris out of there. It’s really very doable.'... [A]rchaeologists have found mummies with
human hair wigs that are thousands of years old. 'Imagine a sweater you can buy that will last 9,000 years,' she said. 'The products we will produce will outlast humanity.'"
From
"Would you wear a sweater made from human hair? Entrepreneurs are looking for ways to recycle human hair, including weaving clippings swept off the floor of salons and barbershops into clothes" (WaPo).
My sweaters tend to wear out at the elbows. Mummies don't lean on their elbows. And mummies don't utilize laundry services. Cleaning takes a toll on one's sweaters. But a hair sweater — not to be confused with
a hair shirt — might be nice. I have a
yak hair sweater that I like a lot. Not counting on it lasting 9,000 years though.
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33 comments:
Imagine a sweater you can buy that will last 9,000 years,' she said.
So it's back to loincloths?
There is a need by humans for fashion, and it's not going to be met by wearing your great-great-great-great-great grandmother's sweater.
I've got socks made from dog hair, but I think I'd draw the line at human hair.
If it's anything like wool the moths will get it.
Salon clippings would be the worst pieces of hair: over-bleached, split, dulled by conditioners. Textures -- coarse, fine -- would vary, absorbing dyes differently.
A human hair sweater sounds repugnant to me, but it also sounds like a silly business model. If they were serious, they'd need to pay for long hair the way wig manufacturers do.
Too soon.
Black women routinely buy wigs made from Indonesian women's hair. When you want it straight without the chemicals or heat...
See Chris Rock's film Good Hair (2009). He was funny, tough, and incisive even back then:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213585/
https://www.ebonyline.com/wigscategories/human-hair-wigs/brand/vanessa.html
I get to concept of 'reusing' everything to avoid just loading into landfills. However, hair and wool are quite biodegradable. The mummies also don't have to contend with moths.
Based on Super Bowl observations, I think fewer people are paying to have their hair washed and shorn.
Wait. Why isn't literally everything covered in human hair?
It was fun watching the ratio of brown v. gray clippings decrease every haircut over more than a decade, until I achieved solid gray up top. But that was mine own hair off mine own head.
A sweater of human hair is a bit too close to Nazi SS Konzentrationslager memorabilia for me.
Human hair is also useful in gardening for pest deterrence. For an animal, if they smell like a bunch of people, stay away from the tomato plants. I'm OK with that.
Ditto to the professor, there's a reason its called wearing out.
three keys.. to making ANY item of clothing Last and Last and LAST!
1. do NOT EVER wash it. Washing==wear. NEVER wash clothing. The key to allowing this is:
2. do NOT EVER let clothing get dirty.. Dirt requires washing; which causes wear. The key to this is:
3. do NOT EVER wear clothing.. Wear is what causes dirt, which causes washing which causes wear.
WEAR CAUSES WEAR.
be like a mummy.. Keep your clothing inside a tomb, out of the sun, and away from the elements..
THEN, it will last; for THOUSANDS of YEARS!
according to a quick search, there are "over a billion" sheep in the world. I'll take that as "around a billion or so". Based on hairy surface area, I'll bet we're outnumbered by a lot.
Imagine a sweater you can buy that will last 9,000 years
Oh brother. As if fashion is stagnant. (Or waistlines!)
I do have a (wool) sweater made for me 30+ years ago, that I still wear. It's a sleeveless vest however. I suspect elbows will suffer.
When I was a kid we kept huskies. Boy do they shed, especially in Spring —the undercoat is engineered for -60 F. My mother was a spinner, knitter and weaver. She once had the notion of harvesting husky hair, spinning it into yarn and knitting it into a sweater for me. Unfortunately the yarn contained not just the soft undercoat but also the outer coat of bristly guard hairs. Which poke into the wearer. Not a success.
I wish they would make sweaters & other shirts with leather elbow patches! I would pay extra for that. Of course, you can add them yourself but it's hard to sew leather.
"mikee said...
It was fun watching the ratio of brown v. gray clippings decrease every haircut over more than a decade, until I achieved solid gray up top."
When I moved from Colorado to Alabama 11 years ago, I went to the DMV office to get a new driver's license. The lady there asked me the routine questions, including my age, weight, height, eye color, and hair color. For the last one, I said my hair was brown. This lady, in a very thick Southern accent, said to me, "Honey, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but your hair isn't brown anymore." It was the best laugh I had in a long time.
Would you wear a sweater made from human hair?
How do they make sure there are no lice or nits in the hair?
Anyway, my answer is “no.”
My takeaway, Biden bleats.
Where can I buy a yak hair sweater?
Mummies are treated with a lot of chemicals then buried in sealed caskets - multiple layers of same in fact - in one of the driest places on earth. Anything in those conditions will last. In our disposable economy even if they could make clothes last longer they sure as heck wouldn't.
When Gulliver lives among the wise horses, he tells them that back home, in the modern Britain of Swift's time, people wore clothing made out of the "hairs" of animals. This might describe wool, but not of course leather, to say nothing of cotton or silk. Given our pathetic bodies, the horses might buy the idea that we need clothing for inclement weather, but out of shame or vanity? Does not compute.
Harvesting hair or wool gives the impression that you do no real harm to the animal. This is of some importance to the horses. Leather is a bit of a nightmare, but also of course unbelievably comfortable in boots. Paul McCartney addressed that once: his vegan wife wanted him to give up leather boots, and he almost cried. Something especially sharp in leather jackets and vests, to say nothing of belts?
The making of blue jeans is very bad for the environment--one of the many hypocrisies of the woke. Is there something gross about cotton and silk? In a poem Swift (defending the wool trade) said cotton is made from weeds, and silk from maggots.
Is Swift making some comment on hair shirts? More crazy human behavior?
Mummies don't lean on their elbows.
Well, not when you're lookin'.
For a decade or so I'd grow my hair for two years and hack it back, sending the foot long or so shocks to Locks of Love. Screw someone wanting to make a profit off my hair. the kid's actually needed it. This went on until "Thank you for your patronage but you have too much gray hair now." I was actually sad I couldn't continue.
One TikToker I like is a gal who shears sheep. She posts all kinds but her most interesting are the sheep and alpacas that have been neglected. Being bred so long, they require shearing. You can see the animals relax and enjoy the heat and weight reduction.
One ram hadn't been shorn in four years, winding up with 50+ lb of wool. At the underbelly she had to be especially careful around the pizzle and scrotum.
Once done, she looked up, smiled and said "You've just had a lesbian show you how to safely landscape a ram's private area." I damn near slid out of my chair the first time.
A shout-out to sheeple.
Oligonicella said...
For a decade or so I'd grow my hair for two years and hack it back, sending the foot long or so shocks to Locks of Love.
Back at the turn of the century, there was this Gorgeous Redhead that worked down the hall from me.
She was just a kid (19y), but DAMN her locks were out of this world. The MOST Flame Red, with just the perfect amount of curl, and LONG!
One day, she came in with a pageboy (or some such) cut.. It was ALL (mostly All) gone.
I sadly asked her WHY she'd hacked off her hair.. And she told me about Locks of Love.
I smiled, thinking of some poor cancer victim, sad and unhappy; going through HELL..
and then opening up the package; and finding THE Most AWESOME wig, in the WORLD.
Are they gonna recycle pubic hair also? Environmentally friendly Brillo pads, maybe?
I'm not a neat freak, but this sounds disgusting.
If they become popular, no crime lab could ever use hair as evidence again...
Feels too Treblinka for me. Sorry, but it does.
@gilbar:
People donating natural red is uncommon. Nice.
The LoL people sent me a thanks on the first donation and told me my hair was so thick it would make three children's wigs. Glad I could do it those five times. This post series made me feel good.
Night all.
@gilbar 7:12pm
Nice story...for a good cause : )
Non-human animals that supply hair/fur for clothing are bred and raised to have consistent high quality hair/fur. Humans aren't. Yet.
Oligonicella: you lead an interesting life.
I'm partial to Victorian hair locket landscapes, less interested in wearing human hair. Most weaves and also wigs for Orthodox women come from Chinese prisoners, not voluntary but certainly ironic. Making silk is also problematic, for vegetarians and vegans.
Wool seems benign.
I tried making locket hair art with my beloved Labrador's hair. I lacked the patience and skill. Then again, they lacked cable television and ROKU channels.
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