Clothes made from human hair: A way to reduce waste

According to Statista, the average annual expenditure on hair care products per consumer unit in the United States is $64.7 or approximately Tk 5,564 in the year 2020.

We spend a lot of money on the well-being of our hair. Sometimes, our hairstyle defines us.

For example, the hairstyle of a military person and the hairstyle of a Baul will never be the same. However, what if we could dress up with our hair instead of just throwing it away?

It is easy to imagine dresses made from animal hair like sheep’s wool or badger’s hair. Human hair and all animal hair are made from the same ingredient called keratin. So, no matter how novel it sounds, clothes made from human hair is a reality now.

Zsofia Kollar, an Amsterdam-based designer, uses human hair to create textured and patterned fabrics, recycling hair that would otherwise be discarded.

“In Europe, 72 million kg of human hair waste is generated. Waste hair ends up in landfills, accumulates in large amounts in the solid waste streams, choking the drainage systems,” Kollar was quoted as saying by Euronews.

With her brand Human Material Loop, she aims to integrate human waste hair into a closed-loop recycling system, as stated on the brand’s official website humanmaterialloop.com.

In 2018, an exhibition called ‘Hair! Human Stories,’ unexpected objects made from human hair were showcased.

Jenni Dutton's human hair dress, Tabitha Moses' hair purse, Jane Hoodless' tiered hair wedding cake, pictures of people wearing outfits made from their dogs' fur, and a cat hair necklace fashioned from the fur cats were used to investigate these themes. The diverse textures were available for visitors to touch and appreciate.

Appreciation for hair is not new. Locks of hair of lovers, family, and the departed were often carefully put into albums or incorporated into jewellery by the Victorians.

Intimacy could be maintained by keeping one's hair close to the skin. Since early days, selling hair for wigs was considered normal. In addition, this new fashion revolution can change how we dispose of our hair once and for all.

Trading the throwaway and fallen hair has brought solvency to a lot of people around the world and in Bangladesh too.

Hair trade has become popular in Tanore Upazila of Rajshahi, Manda and Niamatpur Upazila of Naogaon district and Shalikha Upazila of Magura district.

The high price of hair is attracting the local people into this trade. Currently, one kg of hair (women’s hair) is being sold at Tk 15,000 to Tk 20,000 in the local market.

According to the American Academy of Dermatologists, it's normal to lose anywhere from 50 to 100 strands of hair per day.

So, financially and environmentally, clothes made of human hair can be beneficial for both investors and consumers.

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