Lisa Gautier, President of Matter of Trust (Photo Credit: Skip Baumhower)
Human hair. We shampoo it because it collects oil so why shouldn’t it be used to clean all the petroleum that has spilled into our water from the recent oil leak? That is the idea that sparked the creation of hairbooms. A “boom” is collected hair that is stuffed in nylons and many times covered with orange mesh.
Watch this video to see how quickly hair can soak up spilled oil and this video on how to make your own hairboom.
While I thought that making booms was a great idea, I quickly realized that even if I shaved my head I still wouldn’t have enough hair to make a single boom, let alone a string of them like the one pictured below:
So how can you and I help with our limited resources? Here are a few ideas:
1) We can donate online to Matter of Trust. (According to their website: $5 provides two sets of masks and gloves, $25 pays two interns for one hour, $50 buys 150 feet of mesh for booms, and $100 covers two days of storage space)
2) We can spread the word using social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
3) We can visit local hair salons and pet groomers in our towns and let them know about this program.
4) We can purchase something from their online store (proceeds go to Matter of Trust).
5) We can donate hair at a local participating salon.
If you have the ability, and resources, Matter of Trust is also looking for people to help make booms.
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When I got my hair cut a couple weeks ago, I checked with the salon first. She said all Great Clips are participating. Of course, that could mean all salons in my local franchise, but it’s a simple way to contribute – get a haircut at any participating salon and it automatically gets boxed up for Matter of Trust!
actually, I heard on CNN that they are asking NOT to send hair anymore. it isn’t as effective as other booms, and after getting water logged-sinks…dragging all of the soaked up oil right back into the ocean. Best check into it.
Matter of Trust has been using hair booms for many, many years around the world. I just talked with Great Clips last week. They have sent 3 boxes this month and plan to send more.
I haven’t seen anything that suggests otherwise. I’ll keep reading, but the pictures & video breaks my heart.
Sorry I wouldn’t have posted it if I knew they were asking people not to donate hair. This program has been around for a while and I spent a few hours researching it because I’d never heard of it before. I found this piece from CNN’s website today but it only had positive things to say- http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/05/06/n_hair_oilcleanup_bp.cnnmoney/index.html Maybe they looked into it further after this was taped in May?