A few years ago I ended up getting a pretty bad haircut. My hairdresser put in way too many layers and, while mullets seem to be making a comeback, it was not something I wanted and I definitely could not pull it off. I spent the next few months with my hair up, constantly. Not that this was too much of a hassle – it was my go-to up-do anyway, but it was still annoying.

Long story short, I made a choice to grow out my hair in order to get all of it one regular length. It was  during this time, when I’d finally got my hair to a length and style (not that I had much of one) that I was content with, that I started to understand how much waste I produced and the implications of this. This was also a time when I was developing extreme anxiety, that very quickly fell into the realms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and I can get stuck on an idea which quickly defines everything that I am for an indeterminate amount of time. 

You can probably guess where this is going. I got incredibly ‘stuck’ on how much of my hair was just being thrown away. Now I’ve never died my hair or treated it beyond a simple shampoo and conditioner, and my hairdresser would regularly lament about how thick and ‘virgin’ my hair was. I never took much stock it in, thinking it was just their way of being polite and making conversation during the awkward 30-45 minutes we spent together every few months. But one day it struck me that maybe, just maybe, they had a point and my hair was good for something other than hanging on my head, with barely any attention given to it. With that in mind, I couldn’t face the sight of inches of perfectly good hair being swept up and chucked in the bin. I decided to donate it to someone who wanted or needed it – a much worthier cause than throwing it in the bin.

I think it’s important to illustrate that I am not someone who spends an awful lot of time on my appearance. I keep clean and tidy, but my hair is usually up in a bun or a ponytail so that I can get on with things that I feel are more valuable to me, like my garden. Don’t get me wrong, if I had any skill or patience for making myself more presentable, than I would, but I have neither. I am in constant awe of people who are able to do makeup or intricate hair styles. But that’s not me. I prefer to keep my hair short and simple. Neither of which I felt was sustainable if I was going to prevent the waste of my hair. So, I stopped getting haircuts. Three years later my hair was waste length and I hated it. I didn’t feel like it suited me, but I was too afraid of feeling like I was failing the planet by cutting it off. Don’t worry, I know how that sounds. I’m in a much better headspace now. 

So, three years of growing my hair out, I finally was in a position to get it cut and donate it this year. And donate it I did. I cut 16 inches of hair off and sent it off to the Little Princess Trust, a UK charity that provides wigs made of real hair to young people and children who had lost theirs due to medical conditions. I did a fundraiser too, and raised  a fair few hundred pounds to support the cause. I felt great about it. I believed I had done the right thing, saving my hair for a good cause, plus I had short, simple hair again – it’s a win-win situation! The waste guilt lifted and my mind moved on to other things in my life to focus my anxiety on. The problem is that it’s been a few months, my hair is growing and the compulsive thoughts around how to manage my hair have started up again. Its lead to a lot of personal exploration into the environmental impact of human hair, but also into how societal pressure to do as much as possible can be quite damaging to us as individuals, especially in the face of such a large and scary problem, such as the climate crisis. I have more to explore around the impact of the climate crisis on mental health in the coming months – I have too many thoughts to share for this one article.

Okay, so hopefully I’m not alone in not realising that there are actual environmental impacts to the disposal of human hair. I mean, it makes sense. Everything on Earth has an environmental impact, man-made or natural, but I honestly didn’t even consider it until I started to write this article. Human hair, despite the popular belief that it continues to grow after death, can decompose, but it does take several years to do so. Hair often ends up on landfill inside plastic bags and as a result, as it decomposes, it can release a significant amount of methane gas into the atmosphere – not great, to be honest!

Okay, so can we mitigate this? Is hair recyclable? Well, yes! Hair is organic matter, but it is incredibly stable. People have been relying on this to use human hair waste in some incredible ways. Recycled hair is being used to create hair mats which are placed at the locations of oil spills to absorb oil from the water, capitalising on the scaly outer layer, that allows oil to stick to the strands. Hair can be used as biodegradable oil traps for sink holes, as well as drain buffers to prevent motor oil running off roads and into waterways. But to me, the idea that human hair can be composted and used in the garden as a fertiliser or mulch, due to its high nitrogen content, really shook me. It’s definitely something I’ll be looking at to implement in my own vegetable garden.

Alright, so it might actually be work that awkward conversation with your hairdresser, asking to collect your own hair after your trim, but hey, it’s your hair after-all, they’re only going to throw it away. Alternatively, why not look into finding a salon which will recycle our hair for you. They’re already out there! Why not see if there’s one near you by using Green Salon Collective’s Green Salon locator.

But what point am I trying to make here? In short, making a journey towards reducing your waste and your carbon footprint is a really positive mission, but if it comes at the cost of you feeling lost or forced into making choices about your body that you don’t feel comfortable with, or if you are seeing a genuine negative affect on your mental wellbeing, then things may have gone too far. I’m incredibly proud of contributing towards a worthy cause by donating my hair, and I’d encourage others to do the same, but it took far too many therapy sessions to realise that I’m allowed to also choose to style my hair however I want, even if it means some of my hair might go into the bin.

This journey we’re on in the fight against the climate crisis is one that is going to require us to figure out a fine balance between making a difference, and self-preservation. We deserve to find ways to be happy in the face of scary and daunting things, so put your best way forward and use your best judgement and let me know how you’re looking after yourselves, while also making a positive impact on Climate Change.