The "Save your shed hairs to make a hair doughnut" thread

[rowie]

...or save your sheds to make anything you like- pin cushions, fillers for Edwardian Pompadours, rats nests, and many more... Find a special container and start collecting your sheds, and in no time you'll be able to start a project that you find will make use of your sheds, which is a good way to recycle in a way.

Original Post:
Wow it has been a long time since I visited the LHC, and I love the new LHC. Hello to all! I've missed everyone.

This thread was inspired from the rats nest thread (old LHC archive) where members would save their shed hairs to make a nest to hold shampoo bottles. I think there might be other threads from the old archives, but I think this thread is different because I want to save my shed hairs to eventually make a ginormous hair doughnut for a sock bun, but just in case feel free to merge in similar sites I might of missed. I thought to myself, why use a heavy sock when I can use my own hair, and plus I don't feel so bad anymore when I find a some long strands of hair in some of my shedding. This project to me is like saving all that hard work of caring for the hair and putting to good use those shed hairs for my very own personal sock bun. Personally, it would make it feel like i'm less cheating since i'm using my own hair, I know sock buns to some people is not cheating, but I'd just feel better knowing that i'm using my own hair.

Winter time is where I shed the most, and I thought this would be a perfect ongoing project for me in the early stages of my long hair growth journey. Please feel free to join me and post your own log of starting your hair doughnut. It's really easy, just grab a large zip lock bag and start collecting your shed hairs for whenever you detangle, brush or comb your hairs (I even like to collect my shed hairs after a shower, and now I look for opportunities...).

Eventually, you'll have collected enough shed hairs to start shaping it into a ring, which will be your foundation of building that hair doughnut. I can't wait to share and read some of your progress. Good luck!

1 or almost two months of collected hair shed. Ahhhhhh I'm such a heavy "shedder." Oh and those white dots aren't flakes they are white hair bulbs! It's much more evident on really dark hair! This is a new project to me that I'm just doing on a whim, and so I hope to discover how this will turn out with all those who wish to participate.

[Nae]

I have been working on this in order to make two rats so I can have fun with some Downton Abbey-esque hairstyles. It is taking forever. I have been trying for about a month now.

[rowie]

Wow, so what care have you been doing to your rats? Do you shampoo it occasionally? I think I might do a monthly clarifying rinse followed with coconut oil, but so far my doughnut isn't drying out.

[Nae]

Huh. I never thought about it much. I suppose that if it starts to get funky I would use a bit of shampoo on it. Do you think it will dry out over time?

I am not sure how much I will use them. I can't imagine they would get dirty really fast. I will have to think about this one lol.

[rowie]

That I don't know, but it seems like if you keep it moisturized when it feels or looks dry was a common advice from the old rats nest thread. For me, I just discovered something important after writing this thread, and that is to consider ones' own ponytail circumference when you get to a point of shaping it into a doughnut. . At first I tried to use a crochet hook to loosen the doughnut but it wouldn't budge, then I washed it, and had to to resort to cutting it!!

I even washed it with my clarifying shampoo as another attempt to try to make the hole bigger, but it did not work, but instead it shrunk my doughnut. As a last resort, I grabbed my grandmother's scissor because these are vintage sheers that can cut through anything. I don't use this on my hair just to clarify, it is looking rusty, but grandma's scissor's never failed me.


Now i'll have room to add more shed hairs in the future. I just don't know how i'm going to work the new shed of hairs into place. I guess I'll just keep winging it. Oh and cutting this dougnut was somewhat traumatic for me, feeling like the cutting motion I did made me think that this sensation is how it would feel like if I were ever to cut my ponytail. ahhhhhhhh


Letting it air dry and leaving it alone for now.

[Narya]

I am saving my shed hairs to make a doughnut, too.

I started on December or so, but as I wasn't able to save any on the holidays, with travelling and all that, I'd say I only have a month's worth. Which is about the size of a big hamster (I am shedding a lot lately! Ugh!).
I haven't started with the shaping yet, but maybe I should. Good point about the ponytail size, I hadn't even thought of it!

[hafattack]

This is very cool and resourceful.. how do you keep the hairs together?

[patchoulilove]

This seems really cool. Can any length shed hairs work?

[Nae]

Well, I am making a rat and not so much a doughnut but if I rub the hairs together between my palms they form this sorta dreadlock thingy. They just cling to each other. I find they do better if I wait to have a bigger bunch to add to my little "rat" just a few hairs will work but they don't stick on as good. If I was doing it all over again I would just keep all the sheds in a big plastic bag until I thought I had enough then roll them all together like making a play-dough snake.

ETA: Any length seems to work except super short. Probably anything over about 6 inches would be good.

[rowie]

I am saving my shed hairs to make a doughnut, too.

I started on December or so, but as I wasn't able to save any on the holidays, with travelling and all that, I'd say I only have a month's worth. Which is about the size of a big hamster (I am shedding a lot lately! Ugh!).
I haven't started with the shaping yet, but maybe I should. Good point about the ponytail size, I hadn't even thought of it!

I'm kind of in the same boat! I started around November, then traveled during the holidays. Good thing I saved my sheds during my travels. Luckily, FSA at the airports didn't question my small zip lock bag hehehe. I hope you stick around. I'll be in here for awhile as i'm hoping to recreate a doughnut to make at least this size sock bun or bigger. I know I'm a heavy shedder in general, someone told me that if you have a lot of thick hairs then naturally more hairs will shed. I don't know if this is true for all iii thickness. This photo was shot when I was at shoulder length, and I'm now at BSL. I guess it will be tricky to make sock buns the longer my hair gets as I've noticed from the different techniques on here.

This is very cool and resourceful.. how do you keep the hairs together?

This seems really cool. Can any length shed hairs work?

Thanks you two! In answer to you both, what works for me is just simply collecting my shed hairs (I keep any length of sheds) in a zip lock bag and taking out all the air out of the bag. Luckily I have two weeks of hair shed that I can keep with my cut up doughnut. I probably will take Nae's advice and just keep on collecting until I am ready to shape it again. Depending on how straight or curly your hair is, in theory the more you collect the more your shed hairs will tangle in the bag. You can always use a crochet hook to tangle the hairs further when you are shaping the doughnut. I guess it is like somewhat using the methods of making a a dread lock, only, you are shaping it into a doughnut to fit the right circumference of your ponytail.

Here is an example of collected shed hairs I kept that I can add to my broken doughnut:


Here is a closeup. Notice how my shed hairs are starting to tangle up. I'll probably collect a lot more shed hairs (maybe many months worth of shedding) before shaping it. Thanks again Nae for this tip!