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Ferngear
May 12th, 2015, 05:51 PM
No, not the kind that eat cheese... The kind women use as padding under their hair to get those full, high vintage looks!

I was wondering if anyone here has experience with making a hair rat out of their actual shed hairs? I know that women up until about the 50's saved their shed hairs after brushing for rats, hair art, and even to stuff pin cushions (supposedly the oils on the hair kept the needles sharp), but now we mostly just pull it off the brush and throw it away, or else it gets snaked out of the drains when the plumber comes (because when there's a clog, the long-hairs always get blamed, am I right?).

I have slightly curly hair that is now just past tailbone length. I only finger comb it once in a while because it doesn't really tangle at all. I don't brush/comb it daily because it tends to get static build-up and then straighten out. I'm also a world-class shedder. Consequently, I only comb out my hair when I wash it once a week, after it's been loaded with conditioner and is nice and slippery, and usually end up with a mat of shedding at the base of my wide-toothed comb. It gets picked off and tossed out.

A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking that I spend a lot of time (oil treatments, deep conditioning, and so on) taking care of my hair to just be throwing clumps of it away like that. My grandmother left me an antique hair receiver that, as long as I've ever seen it, we've used for potpourri. I mostly where buns and up-dos since the temperature here in So Cal seldom gets lower than 68, and it's too warm to wear my hair down during the day. So I thought; Why not save all those lovely shed hairs and make a rat with them? I'm all about upcycling and repurposing! So the last two washings I've shampooed, conditioned, then rinsed the little ball and set it out to dry, then deposited it in my grandmother's receiver.... I'll admit, there's a part of me that thinks it's gross, but I'm getting over it.

So, my key questions are these:
1- Anyone here actually make a rat?
2- If you have -- or even if you haven't -- what would you suggest for cleaning and preservation? 'Cone conditioner? Oil? Leave it alone?
3- About how long does it take to have enough hair to make one, roughly?
4- Is it a weird thing that I shouldn't mention to anyone outside the forum?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Sarahlabyrinth
May 12th, 2015, 07:04 PM
I haven't, no, but I have been thinking about making one or two and so have been keeping my shed hairs for the last month to six weeks and now have a sizeable lump of hair set aside... http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh582/Sarahlabyrinth/DSCF0780.jpg

Stormynights
May 12th, 2015, 07:28 PM
I have been saving mine for a year and still haven't done anything with it. I keep planning on getting a hair net to use to make a rat but when I get out of the house I forget about it.

Ferngear
May 12th, 2015, 11:14 PM
I haven't, no, but I have been thinking about making one or two and so have been keeping my shed hairs for the last month to six weeks and now have a sizeable lump of hair set aside....

That's impressive! That from only a month or so, eh? By size of the clumps I've been saving, I think that about where I'll be by then, too.... I'm never sure how much is average shedding. Lovely color, by the way.

Sarahlabyrinth
May 12th, 2015, 11:40 PM
That's impressive! That from only a month or so, eh? By size of the clumps I've been saving, I think that about where I'll be by then, too.... I'm never sure how much is average shedding. Lovely color, by the way.

Thanks. It doesn't take long to get a decent sized clump when your hair is long.

Katleen
May 13th, 2015, 06:57 AM
I made one! Just took the hairs out of my brushes and putting them in a ziplock bag under the sink. I think it took me a couple of months to get a decent size one (my hair is BLS to waist), and the hairs just formed a rat themselves in the bag :-)
Never washed it though, I just leave it alone, but I don't use it every day, not even every month, only when I try an updo that would need some teasing at the crown.

Katleen
May 13th, 2015, 06:59 AM
BTW I never mentioned this to anyone, but my kids are completely intrigued by it, and they told my mom and my sister, who were completely grossed out :-)

summergreen
May 13th, 2015, 09:55 AM
I've thought about this but never got round to it. Katleen, do the hairs in the rat ever creep out and wrap themselves round your (attached) hairs?

missrandie
May 13th, 2015, 10:30 AM
I just made one :)

I still had the hair from my last big chop, and there was a nest of loose hairs that had made themselves into a BIG rat... I didn't want it that big, so I pulled about a quarter of them out, and now I have a natural Bump It for under my growing out bangs! Much healthier than teasing the life out of the hair!

Nadine <3
May 13th, 2015, 10:37 AM
I don't shed all that much, so if I where to do this it would take years to have enough hair.

longsword
May 13th, 2015, 11:15 AM
Pardon my ignorance but what do you do with these hair balls(rats....for some reason I thought of the hairball that a cat would hack up when I started reading this) when they get to the size you want?

nakima
May 13th, 2015, 02:03 PM
yeah I would like to see some pix of how their being used.

Nadine <3
May 13th, 2015, 02:07 PM
Pardon my ignorance but what do you do with these hair balls(rats....for some reason I thought of the hairball that a cat would hack up when I started reading this) when they get to the size you want?

I think they would be used as a hair donut, like for a sock bun? I might be wrong, but that's how I would use it if I where to make one as my donuts and socks always stick out because my hair is very thin.

Ferngear
May 14th, 2015, 12:23 AM
I made one! ....Never washed it though, I just leave it alone, but I don't use it every day, not even every month, only when I try an updo that would need some teasing at the crown.

What about when the hair is freshly shed? You know, to get rid of dust/dirt/excess oils/paint specks/etc. before storing it?


I've thought about this but never got round to it. Katleen, do the hairs in the rat ever creep out and wrap themselves round your (attached) hairs?

Ooo.... good question! I'd like to know about that, too.


Pardon my ignorance but what do you do with these hair balls(rats....for some reason I thought of the hairball that a cat would hack up when I started reading this) when they get to the size you want?

You've seen those ladies in film noir, Victorian photos, vintage pin-up girls, or beehive dos? That volume or body that they have for large buns, victory rolls, faux bangs, and such are created by twisting your hair over or around the rat and pinning it. I found some YouTube videos for examples:

Like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSmUKTY2XDI
or this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT7rIOAWwsI

sarahthegemini
May 14th, 2015, 03:42 AM
Shed hairs creep me out so I would never do this!

Sarahlabyrinth
May 14th, 2015, 04:15 AM
Shed hairs creep me out so I would never do this!

Why do you find shed hairs creepy? Just wondering :)

Agnes Hannah
May 14th, 2015, 10:12 AM
Hi I have made a rat! I collected the hair over a time period of about three months or so in a plastic pot. To make the rat, I put it in some water with some shampoo and forged the shape as the hair felts itself quite nicely. This also washes the hair. I let it dry naturally on a piece of old towelling and it lives in my hair stuff drawer. It is weird to talk about it outside the forum, I can relate to that. I'm not too grossed out about it after all it is my hair and I have washed it beforehand. I want to make a bumpit next!

LaBeq
May 14th, 2015, 10:43 AM
Ooo, I should start collecting to try this out. My hair could use some bolstering in updos, and I've always enjoyed vintage-y looks!

Ferngear
May 14th, 2015, 11:04 AM
Hi I have made a rat! I collected the hair over a time period of about three months or so in a plastic pot. To make the rat, I put it in some water with some shampoo and forged the shape as the hair felts itself quite nicely....

That's a great tip! I've noticed that the individual clumps I get when I comb with conditioner in my hair do mat together once they're rinsed, but it never occurred to me to wash the whole thing at once to bind it. Does it dry alright just in the air, or is their the potential for mold/mildew?

AZDesertRose
May 14th, 2015, 11:37 AM
I wish my maternal grandmother were still living so I could ask her. I can just about guarantee she knew some awesome way to make a rat with shed hair. (My paternal grandmother may have known something good too, as my grandmothers were within about a year and a half of each other in age, but due to family drama, I didn't get to know my paternal grandmother well.)

I wonder if you could use old hosiery (like pantyhose/tights/stockings/whatever that have gotten runs in them and are therefore not really usable as hosiery anymore) to hold the shed hair and keep it all together? An old knee-high would make a good rat for the front or back of a Gibson-type pompadour, or a thigh-high or a leg cut out of full-length hose would probably go all the way around the head.

I wonder if my mom knows anything good on this topic. She graduated from high school in the 60s, but I think she just back-combed her hair into the styles she wore then (or cheated by styling her bangs/fringe and putting on a fall [styled into a flip] behind her bangs, LOL.)

I'll be at a family supper tomorrow night; if I remember, I'll ask my mom if she knows any good tips.

sarahthegemini
May 15th, 2015, 03:31 AM
Why do you find shed hairs creepy? Just wondering :)

I'm not really sure what it is that creeps me out, it's just as soon as a hair detaches itself from the scalp I don't want it touching me lol. No idea why!

longsword
May 17th, 2015, 03:15 PM
Thanks Ferngear, that makes sense. I never knew that was how they did it.

AZDesertRose
May 17th, 2015, 03:18 PM
Well, I did ask my mom. She said I was like as not correct that her mother had known some super-cool way to make a rat out of shed hair and had more than likely done it in the late 1930s-1940s when victory rolls were a popular fashion, but it is not information that my mom ever picked up from her, because my mom doesn't even remember my grandmother WEARING victory rolls, since she'd probably only have done so when my mom was really little (Mom was born in the late 1940s when victory rolls were going out of fashion). Sad panda. :(

I know my grandmother wore victory rolls, because there's a very nice professional photo of her (looking very like me with lighter eyes and a different nose, honestly) wearing them in the late 1930s, and the rats that held the rolls in place were probably made from her own hair, because she didn't come from money to begin with and the Great Depression made quite an impact on her and she didn't like to waste anything ever.

I still wonder if old stockings/hosiery would make a good "container" for the rat(s).

Agnes Hannah
May 18th, 2015, 10:05 AM
That's a great tip! I've noticed that the individual clumps I get when I comb with conditioner in my hair do mat together once they're rinsed, but it never occurred to me to wash the whole thing at once to bind it. Does it dry alright just in the air, or is their the potential for mold/mildew?

I press mine in between a towel to get as much moisture out as possible, then air dry it before putting it away in a drawer I have specifically for hair drying things (turbie towels). It rests on these, I haven't had any problems with mold.

QMacrocarpa
May 19th, 2015, 04:54 PM
I made a bun donut from saved shed hair a while back, but it was awkward for me to use, because it had no stretch, so eventually I composted it. There's a thread with a tutorial for making felted hair rats somewhere, but I can't find it. My shed hair felted up quite easily with pretty minimal scrubbing with hot water and shampoo (ETA: or possibly dish soap? It's been a while). If you're making a bun donut, it's important to make sure you have a big enough hole in the center to fit your hair through. I had to attack my partly-felted donut with scissors to make the hole big enough because the felting went faster than I expected, eep!

Ferngear
May 20th, 2015, 12:22 AM
This is another good reason I need a time machine. Just for fun, and because it's related, here's a picture of my great-great-great grandmother Ida Reed (1857-1910) with her brother Albert and sister Nellie, a photo taken around 1895 or so, I think. The ladies clearly have rats under the front bangs part of their hair, giving it that nice poof... It's not a look I'm going for myself, but it's a good example other than victory rolls. Ida is on the left. Nellie, on the right, is sporting a rat of impressive size by the look of that lift -- that ain't hair spray! :)

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm295/Maegan238/IdaAlbertNellieReed_zpsw6x1u6fo.jpg (http://s299.photobucket.com/user/Maegan238/media/IdaAlbertNellieReed_zpsw6x1u6fo.jpg.html)

Sarahlabyrinth
May 20th, 2015, 12:49 AM
A great photo, Ferngear! Thanks for sharing!

Mimha
May 20th, 2015, 04:11 AM
Hello there !

I had posted about this subject in the "puny bun thread", and as it may be interesting too, here it is :

q u o t e

Re: The Official Puny Bun Club!

Hello there !

I came by curiosity because I did not know what a "puny bun" was, lol. (I'm improving my English vocabulary with LHC^^). And I thought I could share with you my grand-ma "giant puny bun" secret.

My grand-mother, who was a mountain farmer, was living at a time where all ladies had their hair bunned. Usually, up-done in double-braid bun. Ladies of that time almost never cut their hair. My grand-ma had always had terminal length hair, and from what she told me, her hair must have been a little past classic length, and low side of ii. When I knew her (between 50 to 80 year old), her hair had consistently thinned, to something around BCL i. As she missed her old thick bun and was rather proud, she didn't want the other ladies to know how much her hair had thinned. So she collected her shed hair to make little "hair pads" that she closed into a very fine hair net and used them to fill her bun. So if anyone had asked her "is it all your hair ?" she could have answered honestly that it was^^. Extensions did not exist by that time, and it was the best way to ensure a perfect color matching filling.

To make her "big puny bun", she would make a low pony tail with her long thin silky black hair, and then put the pad against her head, right above the elastic of the ponytail, and fold up her hair over it to hide it, and fix all of it with a hair-comb. Then she would roll the rest of her hair around the bun, tucking the end under the pad with some amish pins. I saw her do that "stuffed" bun all my life. It looked nice : big, round and soft. She needed that volume on her nape to feel self-confident, and no one could have told it was "half fake" ! As the hair pad compacted after a few months of use, she kept collecting her shed hair to make new ones. She just got back the hair net, if not too damaged, and filled it again with "fresh" hair^^

u n q u o t e


And to somebody who asked me why it was called a "rat", I said that it really looked like a rat : my grand-mother's hair-pad had the same shape and size as an actual computer mouse, lol.