Donated Hair Helping Protect Gulf Coast

Two Wyckoff businesses are reaching out to assist efforts to help clean up the oil spill that has devastated the ecology of the Gulf of Mexico since a deadly April oil rig explosion.

"We wanted to do something to help," said Kathy Dolan, a co-owner of Vanity Fur, a pet grooming salon on Franklin Avenue.  "We were so devastated by what we saw."  

Hair salon owner Paul Ferraro, of MANE on Madison, said that he was pleased his store could help, as well. 

Both Vanity Fur and MANE on Madison have been in touch with a nonprofit organization, Matter of Trust, that seeks to link volunteers with needy causes. Its Hair for Oil Spills program collects hair to be made into booms, sopping up oil and protecting coastlines as the oil continues to leak.

"What else can we do with hair except use it to keep away animals from the garden?" Ferraro said.  

"We have been collecting at least one bag a day," Dolan said.

The hair is collected into nylon stockings, which creates a floatable device proving quite effective in the Gulf Coast. Matter of Trust reports it has 19 warehouses holding 10 miles of boom, with enough donations to make another 15 to 25 miles of boom.

The hair boom idea came a hairstylist from Alabama, Phil McCrory, who "was shampooing an oily head of hair 20 years ago and watching the news coverage of the otters with their fur covered in oil after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. It clicked for him: You shampoo because hair collects oil," according to the Matter of Trust website. 

While BP is not using the donated booms, (relying on their own synthetic booms), Gulf towns and harbors have accepted them for their shorelines. Some 600 volunteers have donated their time to create the hair booms, donated from virtually every area in North America.

MANE on Madison and Vanity Fur are among hundreds of establishments just in New Jersey who are donating their excess hair to the program.

"You hear so much about how much (oil) is coming out, but not so much about cleanup efforts," said Zoe Cortez-Staricco, owner of Zoku Salon in Summit, which is participating in the effort."It's such a huge problem we've been having, and we just wanted to give back and invest in our own for once."

Kelly Strzalkowski, manager of Strut Your Cut in Scotch Plains, said, "Your help makes a difference to decontaminate water ways, prevent soil erosion, and clean our beaches and harbors.

"Your haircut's a lifesaver," she said.

Michelle Colendra and Danielle Elliot contributed to this report.

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