Did you know that hair can help clean up spills like the one threatening the Gulf Coast right now? Oh yes, I’m not pulling your leg. Or hair, for that matter. (I’ll be here all night, folks!)

Seriously, Matter of Trust** is an ecological charity established in 1998 which essentially turns hair clippings into mats that help soak up oil on our beaches. Salon owners from all over the world support this Hair Mat Oil Spill Program by sending hair clippings in recycled shampoo boxes lined with large plastic garbage bags. The swept-up hair is then shipped to specific US manufacturers who weave them into mats that help to clean our beaches and harbors. Pretty ingenious, right?

Besides the mats, recycled hair clippings are also made into hair “booms” which are sausage shaped and are then tied together and used to encircle and contain oil spills. These “booms” could be an integral part of helping the Gulf Coast right now.

Here’s the deal, though. There are over 370,000 hair salons in the US that collect an average of 1 pound of hair a day. Right now, most of the hair goes into the waste stream, but it could ALL be made into hair mats if we could spread the word about this fantastic program!

How can you help? Well, first off, watch this video** to see how you can get involved. Let your salon know about this program and direct them to Matter of Trust’s website,** which has detailed instructions on how they can ship their hair clippings. All donations are being used for the Gulf Coast situation, and they could use as many donations as possible.

**You are leaving the FilterForGood Web site. The Brita Products® Company is not responsible for the content or data collection of that independent site.