The Garden City Telegram

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Hair clippings aid in oil cleanup

Published 5/12/2010 in Local News

By SHAJIA AHMAD

sahmad@gctelegram.com

Your greasy hair collects oil.

That's why several local salons have begun collecting hair clippings.

It's part of a nationwide effort to help clean up the massive underwater oil release following an explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig 23 days ago in the Gulf of Mexico.

In her 18 years of cutting hair, Illusions Hair Salon owner Rosie Swick has thrown away a lot of hair, she said.

But since Thursday, she's been collecting the brown, blond and black locks swept off the floors of her Main Street salon in a box, to send off to a Hair for Oil Spills donation center in Florida. There, the hair strands from her customers along with clippings from thousands of other salons, groomers and wool farmers are being made into mats that will help soak up the oil government officials say is leaking at a rate of about 5,000 barrels per day off the coast.

"Normally we just throw the hair away, so I thought we might as well use it for this," Swick said. "It doesn't matter if it's colored, permed, straight or curly or what length it is."

Swick has managed to get other area salons to collect their customers' hair clippings, too, through this Friday. She plans to collect and ship the hair this weekend, a timely request of the San Francisco-based ecological public charity, Matter of Trust, which is coordinating the cleanup efforts.

According to Matter of Trust, the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in Alaska inspired Alabama hair stylist Phil McCrory to invent the hair mat in 1989. The fibers are woven together to efficiently collect and contain petroleum spills.

Since 2000, the ecological charity has partnered with McCrory and thousands of salons to help decontaminate water ways, prevent soil erosion and create green jobs, according to its website.

The investigation into the cause of the April 20 oil rig explosion continues. Both British Petroleum, the company that operated the oil rig, and Swiss-based Transocean Ltd., which owned the drilling rig and key well safety equipment, are conducting separate investigations.

The Associated Press reported this week the gulf's spill has grown to an estimated 4 million gallons, threatening both wildlife and wetlands off the coast.

A national survey released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that the public is critical of the response to the crisis by the federal government and BP.

According to Pew's survey, 54 percent of people surveyed say the federal government's response has been only fair or poor, comparable to the government's initial rating for handling Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. BP gets even more negative ratings for its handling of the oil leak: 63 percent of individuals feel the company's response is fair or poor, according to Pew.

An average of 370,000 American hair salons collect an average of one pound of hair daily, most of which goes into the waste stream, according to Matter of Trust.

Salons Collecting Hair

The following salons will be collecting hair clippings for the Gulf Coast oil spill through Friday:

• Illusions Hair Salon, 218 N. Main St.
• Garden City Community College School of Cosmetology, Penka Building for Practical Arts and Sciences, 801 Campus Drive
• Legends Salon, 109 Grant Ave.
• Curtis Anthony Salon, 112 E. Chestnut St.
• M.J.’s Barber Shop, 302 N. Main St.
• Main Street Salon & Spa, 523 N. Main St.
• La Villa, 2001 E. Spruce St.
• Tammy & Company, Ste. A, 402 N. Seventh St.
• Another Look Salon & Spa, 1902 E. Mary St.
  
  

View a video of how both animal and human hair is being used to help clean up the oil spill.

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