Green with Children

Hair Clippings Saga, Part II

My hair clippings have shamed Dexter's hair clippings, currently sprinkled in my garden as an animal repellent. Mine are going a step further by saving the world's oceans and wildlife from oil spills.

Yesterday I got my hair cut at Fringe, the hippest salon in my little village of Maplewood. Fringe is the subject of many conversations at the pool and playdates--a little oasis of cool amidst the more rococo standard of beauty so prevalent in the Garden State. Gals said they were "green." Beyond using Aveda products, what else could a hair salon do to be eco-friendly? As it turns out, apparently there's a lot.

But allow me to digress for a second. The truly fantastic discovery about this salon for me was the playroom. For my kids. My children were welcome there while I got my hair cut. I think most of the moms reading this right now are staring at their computers, mouths agape with awe and wonder. It's simple yet remarkable.

I'm here to write about going green, however, not about falling madly in love with a business owner. My hairdresser said how supportive the salon was of the philosophies driving Aveda's business--fair trade, renewable energy, organic ingredients, etc., yada yada yada. We all know how Aveda is the paragon of virtue, and how great it all smells. Then she mentioned that they ship all the hair clippings off to a group that turns them into giant mats to soak up oil spills. What?

That I did not anticipate. Thousands of salons are involved in this project to create ottimats, invented by a hairdresser who saw how otter fur stuck to oil during the Exxon Valdez spill--and wondered if human hair worked the same way. What's more, the oil soaked into the hairmats can be wrung out and used, and the mats can ultimately be burned for energy as well.

Think of all the unwanted hair being swept from the floors of salons across America. Each salon and barbershop in America produces about a pound of hair clippings every day. Sure, a giant rug made out of human hair is truly repulsive to ponder, but so is an oil spill. It's not like we have to lay on it. We don't have to do anything but get a hair cut--a treat for most women I know.

The Matter of Trust website encourages everyone to get their salon or barbershop involved, with posters and an easy registration process.

I love how the most random encounters can expose you to truly amazing stuff. Excess Access is a ten-year-old organization that works with Matter of Trust to connect people who have stuff they don't need with people who need that stuff. That is almost as brilliant as putting a playroom in a hair salon.

© The Green Guide, 2008

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