12 JANUARY, 2022
Generally people are more concerned with their hair when it’s firmly attached to their head, but I am writing this post to get you thinking about what you can do with it either after you cut your hair or on cleaning your hair brush.
You may not realise, but the average person loses around 50-100 strands of hair a day – that’s 350-700 strands a week! All this hair typically ends up in the bin, down the drain, or in my case, stuck in the hoover. However, if you want to make rowing against the tide of climate degradation integral to your life, there are some easy things that you can do with your hair, helping others and the environment in the process.
Suggestion 1:
Give your hair to the birds!
During nesting season (in the UK this is usually from March through to August) birds all around the country are looking for soft things to line their nests with. Human hair (as long as it hasn’t been chemically treated) can be a great resource for these birds. However, it’s really important to note that because human hair is very strong, it must be cut up into chunks smaller than 1cm before being offered to birds. Longer hair can become entangled around birds’ legs or wings and can cause serious injury. So, give it to the birds, but remember to chop it up first (a surprisingly satisfying task!)
Suggestion 2:
Donate it to the Little Princess Trust *
This is a great one if you have long hair and are getting it cut. Hair donated to the Little Princess Trust is used to make wigs for children and young people in need of wigs due to illness. These wigs are the highest quality, which does mean that there are a few requirements of the hair you donate. It must be:
• At least 17cm long (they encourage you to grow to 30cm or more)
• In good condition (no split ends)
• Natural or dyed in a permanent natural colour (they won’t accept non-natural colours eg blue or pinks or hair dyed with semi-permanent hair dye)
• Clean and dry with no styling products in it
This fantastic charity hand makes their wigs for children who need them and what a wonderful new lease of life your hair could have in this form! It’s the ultimate recycling.
Suggestion 3:
Donate it to the Matter of Trust Foundation**
This awesome charity collects donations of hair (of any quality), repurposing it to make mats which in turn help clean up oils spills. We use shampoo to clean our hair of oils; Matter of Trust use hair to clean the oceans of oils!
You can collect hair from your hairbrush or clippings from your haircut to donate, their only requirement is that it is debris free. We at An’du particularly love this project as it fits so well with our circular economy philosophy and lends a helping hand to our oceans, something we are very passionate about.
We believe in little steps towards big changes and all of the above are simple steps towards a more sustainable life. Of course, the other great way is to purchase an An’du Back to Basics Shampoo Bar which saves three plastic bottles from entering landfill, 750ml of water and 0.25m2 of rainforest being destroyed – but we don’t need to tell you that…
*https://www.littleprincesses.org.uk
** https://matteroftrust.org
Written by Lizzy Grayson