You find a hairbrush full of strands, or you clean out your shower drain, and a question might pop into your head: what happens to all this hair? It seems so strong and resilient when it’s on your head, but does it just stick around forever once it’s shed? The simple answer is yes, hair does decompose, but its journey back to the earth is a remarkably slow one.
Hair is made mostly of a tough protein called keratin. This is the same substance that makes up your fingernails, animal hooves, and feathers. Keratin is designed by nature to be durable and resistant to wear and tear, which is exactly why it protects our bodies so well. This inherent toughness is also the very reason that hair takes a long time to break down.
What Makes Hair So Tough to Break Down?
Think of keratin as a tightly woven, complex chain. For hair to decompose, microorganisms like bacteria and fungi need to be able to unweave that chain and use it for food. The structure of keratin is so dense and cross-linked that most common decomposers find it very difficult to digest. It’s a slow, laborious process for them, which dramatically slows the rate of decay compared to something like a fruit peel or a leaf.
How Long Does It Take for Hair to Decompose?
Given the right conditions, hair can take anywhere from one to two years to decompose. However, this timeline isn’t set in stone. In a warm, moist, soil-rich environment teeming with microbial life, the process will be faster. In a cooler, drier environment, like a sealed room or a plastic bag, hair has been known to last for hundreds of years, which is why it’s sometimes found intact on ancient mummies.
Putting Old Hair to Good Use in the Garden
Instead of just sending your collected hair to the landfill, consider giving it a second life in your garden. Hair is a fantastic source of nitrogen, a key nutrient plants need to grow. You can sprinkle hair clippings around the base of your plants as a slow-release fertilizer. It can also be mixed into your compost bin. Just be sure to scatter it thinly to avoid matting, which can slow the composting process. Some gardeners even use hair to deter pests; the texture is unpleasant for deer and other animals.
So, while a single strand of hair on your bathroom floor might seem insignificant, it’s a testament to nature’s incredible design. Its slow and steady return to the earth is a quiet reminder that even the toughest materials are part of a continuous cycle of growth and renewal.