The concept – like many brilliant discoveries – is deceptively simple: human hair attracts oil. This is the reason why so many people seek oil-reducing shampoos. So with this in mind, why not use human hair to help curb the damage to natural areas resulting from oil spills?
Several years ago, salon owner Mario Maiolano, owner of Creative Hair Studio on Avenue C, was reading an article in a trade magazine of Phil McCory, an Alabama hairdresser, who was trying to figure out how to extract oil from water.
“I read about it in a trade magazine,” he said. “So when the spill happened in the Gulf of Mexico, we though we could do something to help.”
“There are more than 2,600 spills a year around the world. – Mario Maiolano
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Because of the current oil spill, Mario and his staff looked into finding out if there was any way they could help. After researching on the Internet, they found the Matter of Trust organization. They are currently involved in collecting donated hair from salons.
Creative Hair Studio has joined the Matter of Trust organization to become a part of the International Natural Fiber Recycling Movement. Members of this organization have shipped hundreds of thousands of pounds of hair and nylons down to the Gulf of Mexico to help absorb the oil.
It is estimated that each salon sweeps up about one pound of hair clippings a day.
Matter of Trust is an environmental non-profit that helped clean up oil spills around the San Francisco Bay area by reusing donated hair clippings from hair salons, barbershops, pet groomers and wool farms.
Currently, the group is coordinating activities of people throughout the nation to bring the hair into the Gulf Coast region.
“We just sent down our first box,” Maiolano said.
The fibers are stuffed into recycled nylons and covered in mesh to make booms or, when possible, woven into hair mats, he said
Nylons, according to Matter of Trust, are ideal for holding the hair in place while allowing oil to get in.
“Simply put, we shampoo because hair collects oil,” said Lisa Craig Cautier, executive director of Matter of Trust. “It soaks up skin oils, grabs oil from pollution in the air, and it can soak up petroleum in oil spills.”
As of early May, the group has collected about 400,000 pounds of hair for the Gulf Coast cleanup.
“There are more than 2,600 spills a year around the world,” Maiolano said. “There is always a need.”
Once the hair is used to collect the oil, it is composted with the use of worms.
The salon will continue collecting hair from all haircuts over the next few weeks, so if you would be interested in helping out, visit Creative Hair Studio to get a haircut and donate to a cause that needs your help.