Hair and nylons join forces to hold back oil slick

ONE day it was the flowing locks on a client’s head; the next it was being stuffed in women’s nylons and on its way to help soak up the oil that has begun to wash ashore on the US Gulf Coast.

People from around the world have been giving the hair off their heads, the fur off their pets’ backs, and the tights off their legs to make booms and mats to mop up the oily mess spewing out of the sunken BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil platform.

“People from France, England, Spain, Brazil, Australia, all over Canada and the United States have signed up,” Lisa Gautier, co-founder of the Matter of Trust charity which links up recycled goods – like hair – with causes that need them, and is coordinating the collection of hair, fur and tights for the oil slick.