Have you ever wondered what salons and barbershops do with all the hair that falls on their floor daily? Well, aside from sweeping it off to the trash or donating it to make wigs, hair is also sold and bought for other unconventional purposes. Below are a few examples of the creative, albeit sometimes peculiar, uses of human hair and items made out of it.
1.Make a diamond. Yes, you read it right. A company called Heart in Diamond specializes in highly unique and personalized synthetic diamonds made from carbon extracted from a lock of hair or the ashes of your loved one. Its website markets these lab-made diamonds as ideal gifts fit for any special occasion such as anniversaries or the arrival of a new baby.
2. Eco-friendly eyeglasses. Designed by graduates of the Royal College of Art-London, these sustainably fashionable eyewear, aptly called Hair Glasses, make use of human hair with bioresin as a binding agent.
3.Create jewelry. Kerry Howley, a contemporary British jewelry designer, designed a collection of jewelry, particularly neck pieces, made of human hair.
4.Hair gowns and dresses. Designed by Thelma Madine of UK’s Big Fat Gypsy Weddings TV show, the gown pictured below is made out of a total of 820 feet of hair. Another designer/artist, Charlie Le Mindu, whose celebrity clients include Lady Gaga, also works with human hair as the main material for his fashion pieces.
5.For home and structural improvement. In some rural areas in Asia and Europe, human hair is mixed with clay and other binding agents for plastering walls. A study on the various uses of human hair claims that human hair provides extra reinforcement and “significantly reduces cracking.”
Sources: •https://unconsumption.tumblr.com/post/7015576405/royal-college-of-art-london-graduates-azusa •https://www.incrediblethings.com/style-and-gear/wedding-dress-made-of-human-hair/ •https://www.npr.org/blogs/theprotojournalist/2013/11/22/246152187/9-good-things-to-do-with-human-hair •https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6129774/Woman-builds-house-out-of-human-hair.html •https://www.oddee.com/item_98142.aspx •https://www.artsthread.com/profile/kerryhowley/ •https://www.kerryhowley.co.uk/ •https://www.popsugar.com/beauty/Five-Things-You-May-Realize-Can-Made-Human-Hair-4415195#photo-4415195 •https://thebeautybrains.com/2007/12/30/top-10-strange-uses-for-human-hair/ •https://www.modernsalon.com/news/salon-industry-news/Paris-Fashion-Week-Haute-Coiffure-Creations-by-Charlie-Le-Mindu-268534402.html •https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jwm/2014/498018/ •www.heart-in-diamond.com
