Mats made of hair were used to sop up the recent oil spill in San Francisco Bay. Phil McCrory, inventor of the hairmats with Lisa Gautier, Executive Director and Founder of Matter of Trust.
Submitted photo
Sonoma’s beauty salons, haircutters and barbers are helping save the lives of sea life by the simple act of collecting the sweepings of the hair they cut each day.
The first “Salon Summit” was held recently at Grazia Bianchi Salon with representatives from Matter of Trust, the Economic Development Partnership and nine of the 53 salons in Sonoma present. Lisa Gautier, executive director and co-founder of Matter of Trust, explained that, “Hair is very efficient at collecting oil off surfaces, even petroleum oil. Hair is adsorbent (‘clings to,’ unlike absorbent which is to ‘soak up’).” The organization has established a production process and supply chain to divert discarded hair from the waste stream, and use it to weave “hair mats” that soak up oil spills and can even be used in the garden for compost and weed control.
Event organizer Ally Ox of Grazia Bianchi Salon got the idea at a local “Green Drinks” meeting. “It’s hard to save the whole world,” said Ox, “but if you focus on very doable projects like this, you can collectively have a huge impact.” Ox says four more salons have signed up and she is hoping all 53 will eventually participate in the free program. Grazia Bianchi will act as a collection station. “We encourage every person who is having their hair cut to ask their salon to sign up for this free and simple program that can really save the day in case of emergencies like oil spills.”
There are over 320,000 salons in the U.S., and each cuts about a pound of hair each day. The goal of Matter of Trust is to convert that hair into products that can play a critically important role in preventing the terrible loss of life from oil spills.
For information, contact Ally Ox at 707.996.6002 or visit www.matteroftrust.org.
