Coast residents getting hair cuts may be contributing to oil spill clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico or helping provide wigs for cancer patients, thanks to the efforts of Elphinstone's family-run hair salon Hair We Are.
Since early summer, co-owners and sisters Lynn Nestman and Laura Christmas have been carefully sweeping up and saving "every hair that hits the floor," in order to send them to non-profit Matter of Trust's Natural Fiber Oil Spill Booms project. As of July, the program had made 20,000 booms through the labours of 650 volunteers.
"It just soaks it up like a magnet," Christmas said, of the hair's oil absorbency.
Nestman and Christmas note that the program also accepts nylons, fleece and animal fur, and they're challenging other Coast businesses to get involved in the efforts.
Nor is this the first time the women have endeavoured to put hair trimmings to good use. For nearly a decade, they said, they've been saving ponytails measuring a minimum of 25cm long for wigs for B.C. cancer patients. In fact, they said, they'll offer a free haircut to anyone if the cut will result in a ponytail of that minimum length.
Nestman and Christmas' community-oriented hair initiatives also include providing wigs to people coping with cancer. Hair We Are has amassed a collection of wigs it can provide, free of charge, to people suffering from chemotherapy-induced hair loss. Or they're happy to order in a wig and sell it at cost to anyone coping with that disease.
The women say they find themselves playing a support role to people - generally women - who have decided to shave their heads and adopt a wig, rather than continue to face the devastation of incremental hair loss due to chemotherapy.
"We walk people into taking it all off because otherwise you have to wake up in the morning and see your hair on your pillow," Nestman said.
"It gives them a little power back," Christmas said. "They can decide, 'it's coming off,' and not the chemo drugs."
To keep the wig program running, they said, they're always eager for donations of wigs in good condition.
