Hair to clean up oil spills.

Thousands of oil spills happen every year, but they are small and don’t even spill a barrel of oil. Though one big oil spill happens each year. Oil is horrible for ecosystems and animals, when there is an oil spill the oil can get on marine life as well as some shore life like segals and otters.When oil gets on animals like birds, their feathers are covered in oil and its hard for them to regulate their body temperature and they could also drown. Birds could also ingest the oil, poisoning them. Oil can affect ecosystems by making food for sealife poorer quality or less available. 

A study from University of Technology Sydney showed that fur and human hair are the best for cleaning up oil spills. Which makes sense, our hair gets oily and absorbs the oil, and then of course we shower and wash it out with shampoo. So people have been donating their hair to get turned into hair mats. So when there is an oil spill, they collect the oil just by running the hair mat through the oil, the hair absorbs the oil. Even hair salons are donating their extra hair they cut off. The company cleans the hair and sorts it then turns it into mats.

I think this is great for helping oil spills.  It would be great if our hair salons donated their extra hair to this good cause. I wish I could donate my hair, but I get my hair cut at a salon and I cant really just pick my hair off from the ground...

if you would like to know more here is a video that explains the prosess really well. https://youtu.be/k8fsVzyj-PA

 

QUESTIONS 

Would you donate your hair to help clean up oil spils?

Do you think our local salons should donate the hair they cut?

What are your thoughts about oil spills. 

 

 

You need to be a member of History 360 to add comments!

Join History 360

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies

  • Good topic choice and good summary Allyson! You only replied twice though to student comments.

  • I do not cut my hair short enough to donate it. However, I believe our local hair salons should donate the hair they cut to help clean up oil spills, rather than throwing it away. Hair can soak up around five times its weight in oil. 

  • In my opinion, I think that using human hair to soak up oil spills is incredibly inovative and smart. Using a resource that is so readily available and will never run out to solve such a prominent issue in the world right now is ingenious. I would one hundred percent donate my hair to soak up oil spills.

  • I think that using human hair for problem that very much needed a solution. Salon can choose whether they want to donate the hair they cut off because that's their business. Oil spills aren't a common problem but they are a very dangerous problem.

  • I would not donate my hair for oil spills because there is many soulutions to clean up oil spills that happen all the time. Anyways I think oil spills are very common and not as harmfull as we think they are unless they spread in the water way too far.

  • I would because it's for a good cause. I think that we can do whatever it takes to help clean up the oil. It could save a lot of environments and animal habitats. I think That everyone male or female should donate their hair at least once. Like if you are planing on cutting it anyway might as well donate. 

  • During the summer of 2021 before school started, I decided to cut off a good amount of my hair.  My hair had been not very far past my shoulders, but it just so happened that I had enough hair to donate so we took it home. After a while, we waited long enough that I could no longer donate my hair, and we had to throw it away looking back I really wish I had known of this opportunity so that I could be a part of this very cool idea. I think that it would be a very good idea for our local hair salons to donate their hair to help clean up oil spills. Oil spills are very dangerous for all marine life and even animal life that live near the sea.

  • I think that donating hair and using it for a good cause wouldnt be such a bad idea. I think that hair salons should start saving all of the hair because all of the hair will just go to waste since they just throw it away. Oil Spills are bad because it isn't good for the environment. 

  • I would donate my hair because I'm not gonna need it. The salons should because all they do is throw it away. Might as well use it for a good cause. I think that oil spills are bad because obviously it kills animals.

  • I think that donating hair and using it to clean up oil spills is a good idea, if it will actually work. Oil spills are terrible for the neviornment and if everyone could donate hair or different things that would help it clean up wouold be wonderful. I would donate if it would actually help the situation.

This reply was deleted.
eXTReMe Tracker