Spinning - part 2 - the choice of the victim...
I've been thinking of spinning my own fibers to crochet, and I was hesitating between growing gossypium barbadense (Egyptian cotton bush), litter training a home angora rabbit or buying a cat. This is part one of the saga " the choice of the victim", but I haven't translated it yet... sorry folks!
So, part 2 : I was washing my hair in the bath tub, thinking of nothing special (except that my bathroom is really cold) and collecting the hair that was brushed away, to avoid having it clogging the tub, and then ...
the penny's dropped!
I looked at the ball of hair patiently gathered by my side and I thought... why not...
Why should I go seek further? I don't need a cotton bush, I don't need a cat, I don't need a rabbit, I can produce my own fiber!
readily availabe, lovingly groomed and home grown, the perfect fiber.
Ok, but how? Is it even possible to spin human hair?
Ok, let's check google... wow, there's almost nothing on it but I manage to learn that :
- Yes, it is possible, most likely with hair that aren't smooth (lucky kinky-haired napptural me)
- Most people think it's gross or creepy...
WHY?
Ok, there's something you need to explain to me 'cause I don't get it.
On tv commercials (that I can only watch at the theatre as I no longer watch tv) you see vibrant blond manes being swept away by the wind alongside magnificient beaches (this and a few tits) all the time, you see praise for this or that shampoo or conditioner that will turn your reluctant unbehaving hair into the most somptuous crown of glory, thus making your seduction power soar 10, no 100 fold
but spinning that mane is creepy?
We are told from an early age that the beauty of a woman and her feminity dwell in her hair, that it's the jewel we are born with...
but once it's shed it's just crap?
The most romantic takes in romantic movies show us young men longing to plunge their fingers into the mane of their beloved ones, willing to caress it, touch it, inhale it's perfume, or better steal a lock from it to hide under their shirt, on the bare flesh that throbes with their heart bit...
but this stuff is just gross, isn't it?
I.DON'T.GET.IT.
It's ok to spin the hair of a dead sheep, it's ok to boil a worm to his death and unwrap a thing it had benn profusely spewting, it's ok to gather goat's hair, lama hair, rabbit hair, alpaca hair... but human hair is gross?
My own hair, the hair I've been lovingly (and sometimes expensively) caring for, and my mother before me, that hair that I groom every day, wash patiently, that i'm so proud of, that hair that gives me that liitle bit of something in my attitude that noone can duplicate, that thing that makes me me, my mane, my crown of glory, my cloud of tightly coiled afro hair...
If I spin it it's gross?
Would someone please enlighten me?
Swedish people made ornaments from hair (and still do in places like Vamhus), aborigenes spin and make clothes out of hair, in Victorian era Britain, hair was woven, crocheted, made into jewels to recall beloved ones, in China embroideries were made out of young ladies hair...
How creepy is that? did you know there were so much gross traditions on Earth?
May be you know Paul et Virginie, it's a French classic by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.
Virginie embroiders a monogram on a purse to be presented to Paul, she does it with "the gold of her hair" says the novel. In 1788, Monsieur de Saint Pierre didn't think it was disgusting... and nobody I know ever complained about that being "gross", I even heard it was romantic.
So how did the "romantic" become "gross"?
Were they more open-minded back then?
I don't think so... So what's the problem?
I don't know. I really don't. I can't see what's wrong with spinning my hair.
My problem is I don't know how to do. I suppose I'll teach myself on the process.
Now what do you think? I would apreciate if you were kind enough to tell me what you think about Human Hair as a fiber : Spinning, crocheting, weaving...
Use the poll here if you wish, but most of all post your deepest thoughts in a comment, I need to understand, I would be glad to know what you think... |
Update May 22nd
Many thanks to all those who kindly answered my questions and took the poll. It occured to me that this matter is very personnal, I mean every individual has a different reaction to it, not necessarily according to his/her culture or knowledge of textile crafts.
For thze moment I am gathering shed hair during when I wash them, I dry them, keep them clean and I wait until I have enough to start spinning. More info to come, I hope ...
by ~ Pyo ~
on Friday, May 05, 2006 at 5/05/2006 06:26:00 PM
8 Comments:
I'm kinda thinking maybe a bit "out there", probably not as a gift to someone. But if it is done tastefully, I think it is art. I've heard of using dog/cat fur for years now, but never have done it. Let us know what your plans are.
thank you for your input Pam, I'll make sure to let you know how my experiment involves ;)
Somewhere around here, I have a crochet magazine with a pattern for a "crocheted dog's hair tam." What that is, is a hat crocheted out of yarn you spun from your dog's hair. And years ago, at the Texas Folklife Festival, I chatted with a woman spinning dog's hair into yarn.
Now, on the continuum of weird stuff to spin into fiber...Dog's hair--freaky. Your hair--not freaky.
Goodness knows I have crocheted enough of my own hair into things for my daughters when it got entangled in the yarn...
Hi Iida,I can see the creepiness in stuffing a dead pet : it's deas, and you may find creepy to have a corpse, be it preserved, laying around in a house with living people. However, the only part of your hair taht was alive, the follicule, is barely there once the hair is shedded, it's only a tiny white spot at one end of the hair fiber. In my opinion, both things don't compare.
Anyway, thank you for your input, I'll kep track of my experiments on this blog, check back one of those days :).
Hello Bellalinda, I can see your point, and I think it's a reasonable one. But I have read abour many crocheters and spinners who have mistakenly woven their own hair in crochet projects or spun yarn, and who find it gross and have tried to rip that hair off, even ripping the project to get rid their hair... If the item is intended to be sold, I can understand that: it could seem unprofessional, but if the item is for you or your family, they know you , they touch your hair, so what's the deal? I don't know...
As for Dog hair, except for the strong smell I see nothing wrong with it, I think it's the same as sheep or goat hair, except very few people have goat pets :-))
Thank you for your input too Bellalinda, and thank you for visiting :)
Hi Pyo! I ran into your VERY interesting and funny text when I was looking for directions on spinning my hair. I am a guy, so I cut my hair now and then... (Usually when people start making comments about my hair, you see. Or about a few weeks from that... you get the point.)
Have you already spinned some of your hair? In the few pages I've managed to find on the subject I keep reading that most human hair is too smooth and straight for spinning. That reminded me of a documentary I once saw about rope making in the islands of the caribbean. One problem for using the coconut fiber was that of the smooth and straight qualities of the fiber. So in order to use these fibers, they treat them in salt water so they will curl and form a nice lump that they can spin into ropes :)
I guess you could treat human hair likewise... I think maybe boiling the hair, or simmering in vinegar or in bleach... Ever heard of such a thing?
The only other thing that comes to mind (and which might explain a bit of the "gross!!!" attitude in people) is that the nazi DID spin and make blankets out of their victim's hair. And that was the softest of their atrocities in this subject. I think they also used the fat of the victims for making soap, etc... I'm not sure if they ate the flesh too...
Well... in my point of view, spinning your own hair could be seen as a beautiful way of leaving such horrors in the past...
Sorry for taking so much of your time. Please let me know of your experiences on hair spinning.
Best!
Martin.
Hi Martin!
Thank you for your message, my experiment for now is on hold : I tried a drop spindle but found it just too difficult to use, I need to prctice before being able to handle "peculiar" fibers. Best of luck to you!
Wellllll.... I finally DID manage to spin some meters of 100% Martin hair yarn! I'm no expert, but it simply seemed to me that a "drop spindle" wouldn't do with such a slippery fiber... It would just tear apart the thread...
I use a VERY simple thin wood spindle that I roll over my leg. Surely it's much slower than other methods, but it allows me to keep control and go inch by inch if I need.
My attempts of damaging the fibers so they would curl up and cling more to each other didn't succeed... Maybe my hair is too shiny and resistant... (I should apply for starring in a shampoo ad).
I tried simmering the hair in vinegar, boiling in water, blowing hot air (really hot: around 500ºC and this only made some hair to crumble into ash, leaving the rest intact...)
Maybe boiling it in vinegar could do the trick?? I have also thought of simmering in chlorine bleach or peroxide... peroxide does damage people's hair...
Well... I will have to wait for the next batch!
Oh, and I crocheted a small circle in 100% Martin hair yarn. Ugly, I have to say... My hair is deep brown, and I crocheted tightly (so it doesnt fall apart!). It looks... just ugly. But I love it! I made a nicer border in thin blue cotton crochet and now it's my favourite key holder, on a table at the entrance so that EVERYONE sees it!
Well, practice makes perfect. The good news: it CAN be done!
Cheers!
Martin (mart1981@gmail.com on email and msn messenger)
I have a small photo sampling on my blog 1-9-10. It's quite a beautiful piece and am proud of it's belonging.
Not gross!
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