Gulf Coast Oil Spill - How we can help

Matter of Trust is collaborating with thousands of salons throughout the US and abroad, that donate their hair clippings to soak up oil spills.  Last year over 2,600 oil spills occurred in the world.  Phil McCrory, a hair stylist from Alabama, first discovered how hair can help.  He was shampooing an oily head of hair while watching TV coverage on the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.  He noticed the fur on the Alaskan otters completely soaked with oil and it just occurred to him.  “We shampoo because hair collects oil.”  He began testing how much petroleum oil could collect with the hair clipping from the floor of his salon.

Now there are over 370,000 hair salons in the US that collect an average of 1 pound of hair a day.  The hair clippings is collected, boxed and shipped to specific US manufacturers who then turn them into mats that can soak up oil to clean up our beaches and oceans.