History:
Matter
of Trust is collaborating with thousands of salons throughout the US and
abroad, that donate their hair clippings to soak up
oil spills. Last year over 2,600 oil spills occurred in the world. They weren't all are
high profile, but most had an impact on the environment. Phil McCrory, a hair stylist from Alabama, first discovered how hair can help. He was watching CNN coverage on the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. He noticed the fur on the Alaskan otters completely soaked with oil. He began testing how much oil he could collect with the hair clipping from his salon. Phil then invented the hairmat which has other uses as well. Hair also provides a slow protein release which is excellent
for flower growers. For more information on hair as a natural fertilizer,
please see Phil and our friends at SmartGrow.
The US has
over 300,000 hair salons and each cuts an average of a pound of hair
per day. Salons
generously pay out of pocket for postage to send their swept up hair clippings
to our donated warehouse spaces. We do the fundraising for this program and outreach through placing our posters in participating salons and with the help of the press.
*** INSTRUCTIONS FOR HAIR DONORS***
BUSINESSES:
Salons, Barbers, Pet Groomers, wig makers, waste wool...
(One time individual donors, please see link below)
- FIRST, please sign up with our donor database program www.ExcessAccess.org by clicking on the link below for the BUSINESS SIGN UP LINK
- Sign up is FREE for this program (just select "Hair Salon List" instead of entering a credit card on payment page)
- OR, if you want our posters, there is a one time $15 charge ($20 for shipping to Canada), and do enter your credit card
-
Or choose the "Pay Later By Check" option and mail in your check with your account # and salon name.
- There is no obligation to get the posters
Sign up ensures that we can alert you for:
-
an emergency oil spill near your area requesting hair
- a warehouse mailing address change
BUSINESS
SIGN UP
- NEXT, set aside a designated box (salons usually reuse a box in which shampoo was delivered)
- line the box with a plastic garbage bag
- ideally, donate shampoed hair
- any length is fine
- every type of hair is fine (straight, curly, all colors, dyed, permed, straightened...) but only HEAD hair, please!
- sweep in all hair clippings, JUST HAIR, but please NO other garbage (gum, metal clips, paper cups, wrappers...)
- tie the top of the bag and tape the box shut
- we also accept washed, used (even with runs) nylon stocking donations in a separate bag, please.
- we also accept other "natural fibers" such as dog fur from groomers, horse hair, feathers, waste wool... again, please, no other garbage or contaminants in with the hair/fur/ wool fibers...
- mail boxes in to the address below:
Mailing address for hair clippings and nylon donations:
Alert: April 28, 2009
WE ARE CURRENTLY MOVING TO A NEW WAREHOUSE. PLEASE DO NOT SEND HAIR TILL WE PROVIDE THE NEW ADDRESS.
PLEASE BE SURE TO BE ON OUR DATABASE PROGRAM www.ExcessAccess.org SO THAT WE CAN CONTACT YOU VIA EMAIL WITH THE NEW ADDRESS AND REGARDING EMERGENCY SPILLS IN YOUR AREA. - Thank you
ONE TIME HAIR DONORS - How YOU Can Participate: (business donors, please see link above)
- Please, wash hair first
- any length is fine
- every type of hair is fine (straight, curly, all colors, dyed, permed, straightened...) but only HEAD hair, please!
- use mailing address above
Individuals: Please tell your hair stylist / barber about our program and website. We love personal hair donations, but for practical reasons, hair in bulk from salons saves processing time.
Teachers and classrooms: We love getting hair from schools! Please collect and mail all the hair in one bag, rather than lots of little envelopes, saves processing time. Also, you may want to check out our Teacher's Demo Page
Pet owners: Fur, horse hair and waste wool is fine. It does seem that human hair is more efficient in certain studies, but we are grateful for all the donations. Pet hair doesn't have to be shampooed - but we ask that it not be filthy, please.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE HAIR NEXT?
Loose hair can be stuffed into nylon stockings which we double up and tie together to make "booms" that surround and contain as well as soak up oil spills.
We also sort through boxes of hair to make sure there is no garbage and then pay to send it off to nonwoven needlepunch factories to make batches of hairmats. These mats are for emergency oil spills and for oiled bird and mammal cages.
We are fundraising for our own needlepunch machine here in California to make hair mats on a continual basis. This will provide jobs and training - a pathway out of poverty for those transitioning out of foster care (at risk youth 18-22 years old). To help please check out our contribute page.
We are also collaborating with the The East Bay Depot For Creative Reuse and San Francisco Carpet Recycling to create a national hair recycling system like those in other countries. China has been purchasing hair from salons and wigmakers for centuries to make doll hair and paint brushes... Hair could be a commodity here, too. But for now, most oil spill clean up methods use oil based plastic pads, booms, soapy chemicals and other products. So, salons are generously mailing in their hair clippings to us at their own expense. THANKS TO YOU WONDERFUL SALONS AND ALL DONORS - FOR KEEPING THE WATERWAYS CLEANER!
Also see DID YOU KNOW? OIL SPILL FACTS