Area residents looking to get a hair cut and do a good deed at the same time need look no further than Headquarters Hair Design, a Westchester salon that donates shed locks to make hairmats that help clean up oil spills.

Since June, Headquarters owner Marilyn Marcatante has been donating hair clippings swept off the floor of her salon to Matter of Trust, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that develops ecological and educational programs for manmade and natural surplus. The Bloomingdale resident said she first learned about the organization’s program through a salon trade magazine.

“I’m really good at recycling, and it’s something I’ve always done,” Marcatante said. “I’m into recycling ... for the environment. If everyone did their share, we’d live in a better world.”
Matter of Trust said the vast majority of hair now goes into the waste but could be put to much better use.

“With over 300,000 hair salons in the U.S. cutting an average of a pound a day, that’s about 110 million pounds of hair a year that could be diverted from overflowing landfills — and that’s not counting the dog fur from groomers, the waste wool from sheep and alpaca farms, and other natural fibers,” said Lisa Gautier, executive director and founder of Matter of Trust.

Marcatante recently sent in her first box full of hair to the company, and continues to collect hair shed in every haircut given at Headquarters, 3015 Wolf Road.

The program receives the hair clippings from thousands of salons from across the country, according to its Web site. Once it receives the hair donations, the organization weaves them together into mats, an idea conceived by Phil McCrory, an innovative stylist from Alabama, about eight years ago.

The hair mats have multiple uses — to put under leaky cars during an oil change, or to be stuffed into tubes made of recycled nylon stockings, which are then tied together to surround and contain an oil spill.

“There’s the ability to soak up oil when it has been leaked or spilled or dumped in an area that can’t ecologically handle or reabsorb the oil and additives without significant damage,” Gautier said. “If the oil can be removed from a fragile ecosystem quickly without further harm to the area, this is great. ... Over 60 million gallons of oil bubble up naturally to the earth’s surface, so nature does have ways to deal with oil, we’re just looking how to help deal when the spill is manmade.”

The nonprofit is exploring other ways the hair can be used to help the environment, Gautier said.

“Hair can also collect oil out of the air — that is how our hair gets dirtiest — so we’re looking at using hair to protect soil erosion after wildfires along road sides and they can also help clean the air,” Gautier said. “We’re also looking at various ways to compost the oily hair after it’s soiled — a way to help the natural cycle continue and reduce the long-term dangers of the waste.”

Want to help?
For more information about Matter of Trust’s oil spill hair mats or how to help, visit www.matteroftrust.org. To make an appointment at Headquarters Hair Design in Westchester, call (708) 562-7222.