(Thumbnail Image: CNET/Matter of Trust)

Across the nation people are giving their blood, sweat and — hair — to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf Coast. Matter of Trust, an eco-educational organization, is promoting the idea of using hair to absorb the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. 

 
Many salons are supporting the cause and KIFI, an Idaho ABC affiliate, reports it's more hair than you might think.

"With about 400 clients per week, this Sport Clip Store can fill a 33 gallon canister full of hair about four times just in one week."

Our hair acts like a sponge and just like it absorbs the oils from our body, it can absorb crude oil as well. Matter of Trust shows one pound of hair can soak up a quart of oil.

Human hair is not the only kind that will work. One veterinarian tells WLFI, West Lafayette's CBS affiliate, four legged animals are also doing their part.

"Veterinarian Todd Clark says dogs and cats are thinning their coats because of warmer temperatures. He says that gives pet owners the opportunity to keep the hair animals lose while they are brushed and donate it."

This is not the first time hair has been used for such a disaster. The BBC reports New Zealand sent hair for the oil spill during the first Iraq war and Philippine prisoners shaved their heads in 2006 to help out. Matter of Trust is grateful for any donation but they do have one request:

"... It prefers freshly washed hair and fur, and hair to be from the head only. This is because each boom is hand-made, and its volunteers are unlikely to want to handle filthy- or intimate- off cuts."

Some are applauding the ingenuity of the idea but Stephen Colbert says it's just another scatterbrained solution that proves no one knows what they're doing.  He devised some solutions of his own.

"So British Pertroleum I am happy to present Stephen Colbert's oil containment solution randomizer."

"Round and round she goes how you solve the problem nobody knows. It will be bundled, used futons, delivered by let's say the hot chick from Myth Busters."

So what do you think? Is using hair a creative solution or a pipe dream?

Writer: Veronica Wells