I’ve often said, badly paraphrasing Mark Twain: “Everyone complains about dog hair, but no one does anything about it.” Well, now someone has — and at the exact moment when it can help alleviate the ecological disaster of the BP Gulf oil spill. Turns out there is an innovative charity called A Matter of Trust that has figured out that dog hair — and human hair, as well — are just the thing for mopping up oil spills. Think about it: we wash our hair — and our dogs’ — because they attract oil and dirt. Need to get rid of oil and dirt? Add hair. So this great charity is putting out a call for hair — dog or human — and for used panty hose to create eco-friendly booms to mop up that Gulf Oil.
Don’t you know that this group would be based in San Francisco, Ground Zero for Thinking Different. I mean this is the City that is successfully converting dog poop from our parks into methane to heat our schools. (Hey, even Fox News, which would dearly love to see San Francisco drop into the Pacific, covered that program.)
Anyway, A Matter of Trust is accepting donations from individuals, hair salons, dog salons, anywhere where hair accumulates. Read a news article about the program here. And visit A Matter of Trust’s contact page for information on where you can send or take your unwanted hair. Then pass the word to your hair salon and dog groomer.

Let the Internet know you are a dog! Lucy sez: Spread the word and help the Gulf Coast!
Luckily at Two Terrier Vineyards, we vacuum up enough dog hair every week to knit a couple of new dogs. And the Dyson vacuum cleaner, with its no bag easy empty canister, is going to make collecting dog hair easy. Heck, we can gather enough hair in ten days to form a protective barrier from Pascagoula to South Padre Island.
Join us. Wield the power of the dog brush and save the Gulf Coast!
NOTE: Although this program is in our own backyard, we found out about it from one of our favorite bloggers. Who happens to be a dog. And our own Oscar’s niece, Raleigh Pop, a self-proclaimed Bitch from Brooklyn. I think I’ve mentioned before that, in the end, terriers will save the world.

Raleigh Pop, Oscar’s niece and Lucy’s something several times removed. Check out this blogging dog at the link above.
Additional NOTE: A Matter of Trust didn’t actually invent using hair to mop up spills. NASA has tested it and the EPA has approved it. A Matter of Trust just seems to be the people “doing something about it.” Mark Twain would be proud.
This fun video shows you how this dog hair to eco-solution works.
Apparently hay works quite well, too.
But the protein in hair makes it especially effective. And there is no danger of spreading non-native and potentially invasive grass species. However, that video with the Junior Samples look-alike is pretty entertaining. (Note to self: TIVO Hee Haw on RFD-TV.)
Were there any potentially-invasive hair species, I’d probably stash them under my hat.
Well, I suppose I’d have to get a hat first.
Now THAT is flippin’ remarkable.
Thanks for the special shout out! If shedding runs in the family, we should have this disaster soaked up real soon!
Then when the spill it taken care of you can have the remaining yarn spun into yarn
I yam collegteen’ my copious fors frarm the brosheen’ an’ I weell hab to tell people I gart the idea from a d.a.rg.
Life eesn’t fair.
Were there any potentially-invasive hair species, I’d probably stash them under my hat.
Well, I suppose I’d have to get a hat first.