LaReese’s Beauty Salon in Nebraska City is encouraging customers to help protect the beaches and wildlife sanctuaries of the Gulf Coast with a hair cut.
The cut hair, which naturally absorbs oil, is being pressed into mats and stuffed into nylon tubes that are used to clean-up oil bursting into the gulf from the Deep Horizon drilling disaster.
“Hair naturally collects oil, that’s why we wash it often,” said LaReese’s owner Laura Reese. “This is an awesome way to do something, even if it’s just a small part,” she said.
Over 600 volunteers with the organization Matter of Trust have made enough tubes, called booms, to stretch 10 miles. Its 19 warehouses in the Gulf of Mexico have enough hair now to make 25 more miles and the organization is hoping this is just the start.
The hair mats soak up the oil from the ocean and booms are stretched across waterways to keep oil from seeping inland.
“People are thrilled to be a part of the clean-up, even if it’s just by getting a haircut,” Reese said.
“It feels good to do something, especially here in the middle of the country where we feel helpless. So many people want to be a part of the clean-up. Maybe we can put a dent in it,” she said.
Matter of Trust estimates that U.S. salons cut over 300,000 pounds of hair each day. Donations are also accepted from fleece farms, groomers and pet owners.
