As concerns continue to mount over the severity of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, salons and groomers across the country have been asked to collect their clippings for use in hair mats and hair booms—sausage shaped tubes of hair contained inside recycled nylons and mesh—being used to encircle and contain the spill.

Camp Bow Wow doggie day camp in San Clemente headed up the local collection effort, and made the rounds in May in both Dana Point and San Clemente to pick up the bags of hair and fur collected by participating businesses.

The Exxon Valdez spill back in 1989 inspired Alaskan hair stylist Phil McCrory to invent the hair mat, recognizing that hair naturally attracts oil and that salons have a never-ending supply of it. Since 2000, Matter of Trust—a nonprofit organization coordinating the nationwide effort to collect materials used in providing this safe, nontoxic method to help with the cleanup efforts—has partnered with McCrory in involving thousands of salons in the program, according to a Matter of Trust press release.

The non-profit received such great results from the effort in May that it is no longer taking in collections, as supplies of hair have reached warehouse capacity.

“[Matter of Trust] got such a great response and are putting all of the oil booms together right now with the hair they collected,” said Kimberly Simons, owner of Camp Bow Wow.

The Gulf spill may surpass the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and is a serious environmental disaster capable of causing negative effects in a much larger area than the gulf. Recognizing this, Simons registered with Matter of Trust.

VIP Pet Spa owner Kristin Hrenkevich and brother Matt, Pet Treasures owner participated in fur collection. “I’d just like to thank Camp Bow Wow for organizing the pet hair pick up. We at Pet Treasures and VIP really like to be involved with anything to help the community,” said Kristin. “And it’s really nice for pet related industries to collaborate and work together for the benefit of the community. We have a never-ending supply of dog hair and will continue to participate for as long as it’s needed. It’s easy and it helps, so we’ll do it.”

After Simons and Shea made the rounds in San Clemente, it was off to Dana Point’s Dawgy Style pet spa to pick up more fur.

“I’ve known the people at Camp Bow Wow for some time. We cross refer a lot of business and when they told me about the cause I got right on board. Nature’s first, and most of the food in the world comes from the ocean and we just want to help out,” said Dawgy Style owner Vincent McPherson. “We are glad to help and will continue for as long as it’s necessary.”

The collection wasn’t limited to dog hair. Colin Godwin, owner of JTC Salon in Dana Point also contributed human hair clippings to the cause. Located right next door to Dawgy Style, Godwin heard about the effort from the McPherson’s and was happy to get involved. “I am more than happy to contribute,” said Godwin. “Hair just goes in the trash, why not put it to some good use.”

Godwin was just finishing up styling his client Pat Reed’s hair when Simons and Shea came to pick up his donation. Reed was surprised to learn that some of her hair will eventually end up helping to soak up the oil spill. “I’m glad to do my bit,” she said, “I hope it works.”

The bags of fur and hair were taken to UPS Store 4465 on Avenida Pico in San Clemente for packing and shipping. Owner James Pak donated packaging materials and postage to get the more than 60 pounds of hair that was collected that day to Matter of Trust to be made into booms and sent to the Gulf. Pak noted that it is an unusual thing to be shipping, but as a part of the community, he was glad to help out. “When there’s a need in the community, we want to help,” said Pak.

As the box was sealed and sent on its way, Simons reflected on the day’s efforts. “When it was brought to our attention that there was something we could do to help the oil spill situation and use renewable resources such as hair and fur, we just wanted to be a part of it,” said Simons. “We wanted to do whatever we could locally to help and I think the day’s collection went very well.”

For more information about Matter of Trust, log on to www.matteroftrust.org. To see the Camp Bow Wow website, log on to www.campbowwowusa.com.