Here’s another thing you’ll have to explain to me…
By Sergey Zolkin
Hair has become the new art medium. I understood why Tom Hanks used his hair to weave a rope in The Castaway , but why….
Are people using their hair to weave hats and coats? Knitters? Weavers? Help me out here.
As much as I hate sending you somewhere else to look at this weirdness … there’s too many pictures of it.
Take a peek then please stagger back here because I really want to know….
Before Morning Breaks 
Hair shirts used to be known as hideously uncomfortable things, suitable for wearing as penance. Maybe that’s what that wife really had in mind? To cause suffering and misery?
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Wow and Wow. Not sure if I’d done hair art, but I have fleece jackets, which I believe contain recycled plastic. Definitely interesting and creative use of a new fiber.
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Yeah, you’d think fleece would have…well…sheep wool, but my content tag says it’s synthetic and cotton. I just tried on a lovely poncho. Looked like wool but it was actually a synthetic made out of wood pulp. After reading that, I thought it was itchy. (Of course the itch didn’t start until after I read it.
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Wow – you’ve managed to stumble on something I would never have thought about! It got me thinking, though, about how some people would gladly wear a wig made of real human hair, but might not be so willing to wear something knit from human hair!
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Holy wig-me-out, Batman. You’re right. We wear other people’s body cast-off’s on our heads. Good point.
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WOW. Just “wow” – I had a collie as a kid and one of my chores was to brush her weekly. Well, a typical brushing would net you a pile of hair the size of a chihuahua. So one day, I decided to use the hair to make myself a pillow, with the dog hair as the stuffing. It was a very nice smushy pillow. I was in fourth grade and very proud of my new pillow. Until the smell. Yeah, an outdoor dog has a certain, shall we say “aroma”. Human hair, in general, is not typically soft to the touch; it is more like touching an Airedale than a bunny, for example. And NO, even if I tried to justify it, all I come up with are scenarios based on a sequel to “Silence of the Lambs” – (involuntary shudder). And whose hair would it be? So………..NO.
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Did your collie sleep in the dog pillow? On a different tactic, I’m often going around to neighbors collecting dog hair to sprinkle on the borders of my garden, hoping it’ll keep the %$@%&* DEER away.
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This would also make an excellent follow up post:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/14/486003503/frances-socialist-president-pays-nearly-11-000-a-month-for-haircuts
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You’re absolutely right. There’s a story here.
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He spends more on his tresses in a month than I will in a lifetime!
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Sounds rather icky to me. I have no desire to wear something made of human hair.
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Recie, I’m wondering if we tried it on without knowing what it was, we’d be all complimentary and say, “Isn’t this interesting and unique?” I guess that her hair was VERY important to the woman in the article, if she saved every strand that fell out. Me? I’m staring at my brush wide-eyed, hoping no more comes out.
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Eww, no. My own hair is itchy when it goes down the collar of my shirt! We won’t even talk about it getting up my nose or in my eyes and mouth…
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That would be a mean trick to pull on someone, wouldn’t it? Put hair in their bed?
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I’d prefer a human hair vest to gorilla hair or dog hair vest.
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Of course, a master spinner like yourself has moved past the uggh factor and is evaluating the pros of gorilla hair vs doggy fur. What’s the matter with sheep anymore?
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I’ve got no problem with someone knitting a garment from their favorite pet’s hair… or their favorite human’s. Whatever floats their boat. That doesn’t mean it has to float MY boat. I’ll stick with store-bought yarn. 🙂
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I suppose it’s good to know there are people in the world who get a kick out of spinning hair. At least it makes me feel righteous about the weird stuff I do (like save tin foil)
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Sigh and shudder. Some people have waaaaay too much time on their hands.
My ever-loving partner gave me a book of crafts to make from cat-fur and I thought that was bad enough. This is the next OCD step.
All power to them, but I won’t be joining in and don’t want a present from them.
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Honestly? A book a cat fur projects? That is true love. I expect to see some of those projects on your blog, Sue. Be generous with the glitter and glue. Nothing looks better on a cat than sparkly stuff.
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Perhaps I will resort to this type of garment to keep me warm if Trump is elected and I survive the nuclear war he will start when he gets annoyed at his buddy Putin. Until then, no. Just no.
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Sweetie Cat, we may all be saving our hair and making blankets out of it if the election goes badly.
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😬
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I looked at the hair dress photos and was reminded of how I itch when I come home after a hair cut. I cannot imagine all that hair scratching my entire body!!
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Oh Myra, ain’t it the truth. I swear my stylist cuts off a 1/16 of an inch at a time. Hair gets in everything. I even bring an extra shirt to change into after a hair cut. I go to the bathroom and shake like a dog, then fuzz my hair with my fingers until I look like Einstein, then put on a new shirt. Doesn’t matter. In 10 minutes, I’m itching at the collar.
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Here speaks your favorite fiberista, the master knitter and novice spinner. Fiber is fiber. Whether it comes from a sheep or a camel or a bunny or a dog or a human, it’s all material to work with. I tell my soldier friends that if they give me enough steel wool, I’ll knit a muffler for their tank. I have spun and knit dog hair into mittens for the owner to wear on those wintery dog walks. Most human hair would be hard to work with because it’s so straight and slick.
If, however, you feel the spirit of a person clings to their hair (or to the body after death) then you might feel too much reverence for the fiber to put it to mundane use. Feelings count, too, and if it would feel creepy to you to wear a scarf knitted from human hair, then by all means, don’t do it!
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Roxie, I was hoping you’d chime in. Now anytime I look at the hair sicking out of a bird’s nest, I’ll think of you and instead of going….Ewww, I’ll tell myself fiber is fiber.
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I’m going to start saving my hair . . . now!
I mean NOT now.
Unless I was Rapunzel, trapped in a tower with NOTHING to do, I wouldn’t waste time weaving my hair or Yak hair or anyone’s hair. That’s one reason why I moved to Florida ~> I can be comfortable in cotton.
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I’m just grateful to have hair considering…and I can’t knit worth a darn! 🙂
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N.R. Are there a lot of yaks in Florida that need hair weaving? I’m with you. Given a choice between cotton and a hair shirt, I’d readily start starching and ironing cotton shirts again.
Alice, you doll. After what you’ve been through, you put the best perspective on having hair. It’s just nice to have some. Thanks for reframing the idea.
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No yaks to speak of . . . just the occasional alpaca.
Maybe for your next post you can find somebody doing something weird, wild, and wacky with toenail clippings or ear wax. 😀
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