U.S. Demand for Human Hair Grows, Used in Wigs, Pizza

FoxNews.com ^ | 01/07/08 | Associated Press

[AngelesCrestHighway]

FLORIDA CITY, Fla. — Walking into the small Florida City warehouse, Blair Blacker pauses to survey the towering pyramid of canvas bundles, each about the size of a punching bag, that contain the stock-in-trade of his business: human hair. About 15 tons of it on a recent day, imported from China, neatly pressed into mats and ready to ship to farmers and nursery growers who swear by the horticultural benefits of Blacker's hairy wares. "If you had told me when I was flying combat helicopters in Vietnam that one day I'd be sitting on 30,000 pounds of human hair," said Blacker, a retired Army colonel-turned-entrepreneur, "I'd have said you were crazy." The mats stored in southern Miami-Dade County are part of a world marketplace for human hair. Uses range from the obvious, such as false eyelashes and wigs, to the more obscure: it's a common raw-material source for l-cysteine, an amino acid frequently used in baked goods such as pizza dough and bagels. China and India exported more than $154 million worth of human hair last year, according to United Nations trade statistics. They are Blacker's main suppliers. "It's not processed or dyed like a lot of hair we have here," said Blacker, whose own hair is silvery and neatly cropped. The product, marketed as SmartGrow, is effective in keeping out weeds, and has even shown signs of increasing yield in crops like tomatoes, according to University of Florida scientists. "It's really exciting. The first trial was just outstanding," said Aaron Palmateer, an associate professor of plant pathology who has conducted tests on the SmartGrow product at UF's Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead. There is an admitted yuck factor to using hair in lieu of herbicide, but Palmateer points out that common agricultural methods can be similarly unappetizing.

[upchuck]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1949587/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1949375/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1949242/posts

[ChurtleDawg]

I used to cut that foul stuff when I worked in a deli when I was younger. when you look closely, you can see the bits of different parts of the cow head

[NRA2BFree]

From the original post: “it’s a common raw-material source for l-cysteine, an amino acid frequently used in baked goods such as pizza dough and bagels” somewhat unappetizing I would say... I don’t know that it necessarily means making your own would do any good (is it in the flour used, or the other powdered ingredients, the yeast???).

It's not the hair they use in pizza or bagels, it's the amino acid. This guy was just making a comparison. Granted, he could have compared it to something a little less disgusting. ;o)

[domenad]

The restaurant I had dinner at last night apparently skipped the middle man and went straight to putting the hair directly in the food.

[steve-b]

http://www.foxnews.com/images/334544/1_61_hair320.gif

OK... we've finished harvesting from John Edwards; next!

[stbdside]

Hairlovers Pizza?

[mcshot]

Sure triggers my gag reflex. Hair in anything does.

[Turret Gunner A20]

There are a lot of things I would like to unsee when it comes to food production ....

Like maybe where eggs come from???

[AngelesCrestHighway]

It should be called “gross loaf”.....

[AngelesCrestHighway]

I agree....nothing like an armpit or pubic hair in your fries!...This happened to a friend of mine at a McDonalds in La Canada, Calif. on our lunch break. I saw the damn thing and my gagging reflex went into overdrive!

[skeptoid]

According to Rabbi Zushe Yosef Blech at K A S H R U T . C O M© the amino acid (l-cysteine) is extracted from human hair by dissolving with hydrochloric acid. He also explains that: Human hair, while not particularly appetizing, is Kosher, but the source of the hair may pose a problem.

[svanni]

Here’s what’s not in head cheese: human head elements

[dinoparty]

ROTFL!

[dead]

the hair, which is boiled in 120-degree water

Boiled in 120 degree water? Where’s that done? About 50,000 feet above sea level?

[CJ Wolf]

How does this work? What do you do with the hair in the garden??

[Erasmus]

Maybe Celsius, or Kelvin.

Oh, wait. Not Kelvin.

<}B^)

[jurroppi1]

It's not the hair they use in pizza or bagels, it's the amino acid. This guy was just making a comparison. Granted, he could have compared it to something a little less disgusting. ;o)

I know... that's why I posted the quoted text originally, so that the person upthread (post 9) I was originally replying to could understand "what the H the pizza angle was". The claim was that it [hair] is a common raw material source for l-cysteine (the amino acid you and the article refer to).

[Vigilanteman]

Spread it around the plant or seedling like a mulch.

[NRA2BFree]

I know... that's why I posted the quoted text originally, so that the person upthread (post 9) I was originally replying to could understand "what the H the pizza angle was". The claim was that it [hair] is a common raw material source for l-cysteine (the amino acid you and the article refer to).

I know they make it by a fermentation process from corn too, which is much more pleasant to think about being mixed in with our pizza, but since our government has sold us out to China, they may be allowing them to use hair that comes off of a dirty barber shop floor. THAT thought alone is enough to make you hurl. LOL Whatever, I'm not going to stop eating pizza unless I find out that American pizza joints are actually using it from that source, and then, it's goodbye pizza. ;o)

[perfect stranger]

When used in the soil around plants it releases a large amount of nitrogen which helps leaves grow. This would be a good use for it.