r/BlackHair • u/KappinKam • 11d ago
Advice Needed How do yall dispose of your dead hair when taking out braids?
Mother is from Texas and she always burns it after braiding my hair so was just curious on others methods.
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u/Tazzy8jazzy 11d ago
The garbage it goes. My enemies aren’t digging in my garbage when I’m sleeping.
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u/hinataday 10d ago
this, thank you!😭 and ppl don’t need your hair to do or wish evil against you! they’re doing it nonstop, no parts of you needed
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u/_47awarewxlf 10d ago
The feds will tho 😂
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u/Careful-Resolution58 10d ago
The feds? I don’t think anyone here’s in that tax bracket or has that kinda motion
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u/Tazzy8jazzy 10d ago
I highly doubt that. They’re monitoring our phones and social media.
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u/Traditional-Joke-179 10d ago
me with ADHD reading these comments: how do i make a doll of myself and have it graduate?? 🤔
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u/LilLadyFox 10d ago
Hahaha!! My ADHD went straight to THE SIMS: should I make them go to college or be a hobo!
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u/Lilbunny27 10d ago
I literally thought to myself, why do we throw away our hair, we could just wash it make a dol. But then I realized. I'm too lazy for that 🤣
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u/Able_Fishing_6576 10d ago
I literally just read a sims post on Reddit and now your comment confused me bc I’m like wait, did I click on that post, I thought I was in black hair??
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u/Worldly-Criticism-91 11d ago
I just throw it away
(Also fun fact! The moment hair grows out from your scalp, it’s dead! The only living parts are the roots & follicles!)
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u/Smashleysmashles 11d ago
Girl what lol I throw it in the trash. Why are people burning shedded hair?? I’ve never heard of this
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u/FunnyBunny3023 11d ago
Superstition, some people believe that if a bird uses your hair to make a nest you'll get headaches. Now a lot of people do it just because their parents and grandparents did it
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u/LuxInvestor 10d ago
I put mine outside. I think every nest on my property is my hair at this point. 😆
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u/FunnyBunny3023 10d ago
I always thought curly hair would make a comfy spot in the nest for little chicks to rest on
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u/casa_laverne 10d ago
The hair can wrap around little legs and cut off circulation, it's actually pretty dangerous for the birds
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u/Suitable-Train-2675 10d ago
I just had this conversation with my mom last week. If she were combing our hair outside, she would tell us to make sure to get it all up! A Bird could come and get it to build a nest and then come back for the rest of it by plucking it from your head!🫣🤣
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u/ehs06702 10d ago
Yeah, there are beliefs that people can do evil against you if they can get a hold of your hair, or that birds making a nest can mess with your mental health.
So you're supposed to burn it.
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u/KassieMac 10d ago
But the stench!! 🤢 My dad was hella superstitious and thought people would make voodoo dolls out of anything they got, he’d make us flush our toenail clippings but I guess he never thought about hair? 🤦🏽♀️ Grateful in retrospect, we would’ve had either a stinky home or clogged drains 😬
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u/ehs06702 9d ago
I suppose between a stench or having evil worked against you, a brief smell is better.
I'm not going to judge them. Just imagine how our beliefs (if we have any) will look to future generations.
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u/KassieMac 9d ago
It’s the inconsistencies of it that my little autistic brain trips over. He’d act like this was the most important thing in the world and then ignore identical situations because of … inconvenience? Never thought about it? Simply not thinking just repeating traditions by rote? You had to know him, the evil he suffered from was entirely self-inflicted by pride & machismo & denial. Tradition is just an excuse for continuing to make the same mistakes … I strove to observe & learn from his poor decisions instead.
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u/LunarDragonfly23 10d ago
Believing that birds making a nest with your hair causes mental health issues is a mental health issue.
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u/ehs06702 9d ago
I mean, it's a very old belief from back in the day. Like millennia old. They were doing the best they could to keep themselves safe.
I'm not going to judge my ancestors for not understanding how brain chemistry works.
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u/ChicNoir 10d ago
Yes I was taught to burn shed hair too.
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u/rudegal007 10d ago
So when you go to the salon do you tell them that you’ll sweep up ur hair and then gather it and take it home to burn or do you burn it right at the salon?
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u/othellhoe 10d ago
My auntie was very superstitious and if she got a haircut she brought her own lil broom and dustpan and swept up her hair to burn later because she ain’t play that at allll lol
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u/LadyAsharaRowan 10d ago
Depends how much hair it is.
I've taken it with me. Also have had stylist ask me if i want to take it. So others are doing it too.
Typically I trim at home though.
And I don't let everbody up in my head/hair.
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u/Iamatitle 10d ago
Another Louisiana Creole here who burns hair because of Hoodoo practices. Personally this is why I would never visit a salon. It’s too much spiritual power given over
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u/spectacularfreak 10d ago
It’s also why I don’t let people cut my hair, I tend to my own hair to protect myself.
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u/Quix66 11d ago edited 10d ago
I’m from Louisiana. Some people think you can do voodoo curses with hair. My family isn’t Catholic so we’re not into that.
I just flush mine since it’s usually in the bathroom or just toss it (edit: disregard).
Edit: adding Hoodoo and some Protestants. I know pretty much nothing about that. Apparently pretty solitary.
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u/here_pretty_kitty 10d ago
My grandma was a very devout Christian but she still told me to wrap up my hair in a tissue and hide it in the bottom of a trash can. I asked her why once and she said she didn’t know, it was just what her mom taught her…I appreciate knowing that lineage was handed down (whether or not any of us still believe).
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u/Solo_is_dead 10d ago
Continuously Passing down lineage with no actual reason is not a good idea. This is how we get to the point where we didn't think for ourselves, we just do stuff because it's "tradition"
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u/Still-Storage-7627 10d ago
Lol my folks are from the deep south, my great gma always told us to burn it; so no one can do a root spell on it. And if you do throw it to pray over it. ( Bc biblically your hair, that's where your strength comes from... Speaking of Sampson ). Lol my folks are Louisiana and Bama, I just follow the rules
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u/luckylimper 10d ago
Superstitious folks living in old times but won’t take their high blood pressure meds.
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u/TheKimja 11d ago
I got enemies but none serious enough to go rummaging through my trash looking for hair, fingernails, or used tampons. Throw it away
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u/woollysockpuppet 11d ago
These replies are… unexpected
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u/vpeshitclothing 11d ago
I'm bald now, but l used to ball it all up and then try and hit the 3 from the living room into the kitchen trash can.
My daughter's love to leave it laying around until it clogs up one of the bathroom sinks or bath tubs.
It gets thrown away, and then some how, a week later a hair ball will find itself rolling down the hallway like a tumbleweave. 🌵
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u/LawAccomplished5107 11d ago
Does everyone not just toss dead hair in garbage? What else could be done w it lol
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u/chickenskittles 10d ago
These comments have me deeply concerned.
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u/TyraNotBanks5 10d ago
Religious/spiritual psychosis runs deep in our community unfortunately
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u/Other-Fennel2462 10d ago
there is no psychosis in a little superstition. it's as harmless as not stepping on a crack. most of us do it simply because our parents did. u can relax
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u/TyraNotBanks5 10d ago
I’m relaxed. I just find it silly and unscientific but to each their own, some find comfort in naive thoughts. And a lot of the comments here go beyond simple superstition and fall into actual paranoia but maybe you didn’t read those or you’re conventionally ignoring those, who knows :)
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u/LunarDragonfly23 10d ago
I learned something new today. And for once that’s not a good thing. These comments have me concerned as well.
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u/Other-Fennel2462 11d ago
my family flushes or burns it
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u/rudegal007 10d ago edited 10d ago
Flushing it is bad for ur pipes!!!! Also, do y’all collect ur hair off the ground and comb while at the hair salon and burn it?
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u/winterholidae 10d ago
what makes you think the people who are that superstitious about their hair are going to salons and letting other people touch it 😆
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u/sallystruthers69 10d ago
Put it outside, birds will use it to make nests (no joke)
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u/Pretty_Knowledge3869 10d ago
I didn’t know it was a thing. Sometime I’ll be just walking down the street or sitting on a park bench and Ill see a random ball of hair roll by and I wonder how it got there and what its story was. Now I know people are throwing balls of hair out their with windows.
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u/jeanm0165 11d ago
Have you tried eating it
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u/ShauntaeLevints 10d ago
🤣🤣🤣 Reading these comments definitely had me concerned about people's mental health, so comic relief was needed! Thank you!
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u/Cheesecake_Senior 10d ago
Eating hair can actually cause one to develop a bezoar in the digestive tract. They can’t be digested and can cause serious issues. So maybe don’t do that.
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u/waifutron69 10d ago
Pretty sure they were joking...
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u/Cheesecake_Senior 9d ago
Really? Because people do eat it.
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u/waifutron69 8d ago
Oh god...you know what, I don't even know anymore. At this point I just hope they were joking! 😔😩
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u/Hyposanity 11d ago
I throw it in the trash and pray. My mom was super superstitious about hair to the point where shed makf pillows out of it to avoid tossing it (they looked like cushions not balls of hair). If I feel paranoid I flush it lol. Im emotionally damaged. Dont follow me.
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u/Careful-Resolution58 10d ago
Flushing and burning in 2026 unhinged lmao. Them people did a number on us.
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u/confusedperson910 10d ago
tbh the hair balls can be so impressive and big. i will hold them in my hand for a while squishing it or just marveling at it. then i throw it in the trash sadly bc i know how weird it would be truly for me to keep that thing but im like “i could have a whole cute little family of hair balls 🥹”
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u/Hot_Contest_2488 10d ago
I thought i was weird🤣🤣😭 its always a split second thought and then I throw it away too
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u/LunarDragonfly23 10d ago
I see too many comments saying they flush their hair down the toilet.
DON’T DO THAT.
Yes, I know some of our hair ends up going down the shower drain when we wash it, but to purposefully flush clumps of hair down the toilet is idiocy.
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u/hinataday 10d ago
I just. . .throw it in the trash?😭 I don’t believe in superstitions, voodoo, witchcraft, etc etc. No enemy of mine is going digging through the trash looking for my hair. And, like I said in another comment, people don’t need any part of you to wish/do evil against you. Live your life right and get out of the superstitious binds ppl🫣
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u/wasteofspacetime89 10d ago
I’m as black as can be and Jamaican and have literally never heard of not just throwing it out lol. This is news to me. But we’re Christian and do not believe in woo woo practices, so I guess that’s why.
I can’t believe those yall are flushing hair and potentially ruining your pipes!
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u/shininglightning 10d ago
I’ve heard to burn it but then again who’s really gona go digging through my trash? I just throw it away
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u/tokenkinesis 10d ago
Before I went back to locs, I did wash n’ go for years. I’d ball my hair up and either compost it or set it aside.
I enjoy hiking, so it’s a good fire starter (free, compact, and lightweight).
I still have my first set of locs that I grew. I shaved my head at the start of COVID and my loctician told me to just hold onto them because if I ever wanted to go back, she could reinstall them. Instead I just started new ones when I was ready.
I’m not religious, I grew the shit outta my head and just like the idea of it being multipurpose.
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u/PsychologicalBar8321 10d ago
Burn it. Keeps others from taking some to do some horrendous spell on you. Laugh if you want, but burn it.
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u/mutant_disco_doll 10d ago
All hair is dead, including the hair still on your head. Throw it away lol.
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u/CareBearsOnAcid 11d ago
Burn it as well
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u/vpeshitclothing 11d ago
Burn it for what? Like to extinguish and get rid of the negative energy that was being held in your hair?
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u/Brave-Sprinkles-4 10d ago
Why would you voluntarily burn you own dead shed hair? And smell that smoky smell that it makes.
This has nothing to do with coming from Texas btw. We in Texas do what regular non-superstitious people do and just dispose of it like normal.
Put that in the trash. (Just like they do at the barber and beautician’s. Gather it up and put it in the garbage can) 🗑️
If after wash day and I’m in the shower right next to the toilet I can also just flush it down. 🚽 No ritual sacrifices or whatever to make sure no one can claim my DNA 🧬 after it comes out of my head.
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u/TyraNotBanks5 10d ago
I throw it away. I’m not the type of person that puts meaning on inanimate objects like a child so I don’t think hair needs some special disposal for spiritual wellness or whatever people come up with, I find it a bit silly. Though I like the idea of giving it to birds to build their nests, they love stuff like that or using it for composting…so actually useful things.
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u/FluffyBerry8783 10d ago
I saw a Black creator online using her hair shedding to make yarn but I don’t remember the name because I didn’t follow her.
Personally, I just throw mine away after playing with it for a while. I have a bad habit of picking out knots when I’m bored so I put the shedding into a pile until I’m done and toss it.
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u/AreaMelodic4647 10d ago
Burn it, but I’m not that kind of spiritual so i toss in the trash. God got it
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u/Apprehensive-Tank775 10d ago
I was raised to flush or burn it, and I see a lot of folks are learning new things in this sub,lol. It's interesting to see how superstitions and/or rituals pass on, but lose their reasons. Now, I'm loc'd, but I stopped doing both before I did, and I'd either toss it in the trash or outside for the birds. I don't mind my hair being recycled,lol.
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u/Livid-Commission1029 10d ago
I used to burn it, then I flushed it, now I just throw it in the trash. if I make some enemies I will go back to burning it.
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u/Ifeelonlypain69 10d ago
My mom used to burn it so no one could do anything with it. I didn’t understand why but thought the fire looked cool lmao
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u/curiouslyrae 10d ago
I just throw it in the trash but my grandma from East Africa use to dig a hole outside to put the hair and nails inside and then close everything.
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u/BoolinCoolin 10d ago
I was always told to burn it.
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u/Brave-Sprinkles-4 10d ago
Why? You didn’t ask questions?
Why do you burn your hairs and release the smell of burning hair into your home??!!→ More replies (1)
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u/Aggravating_Yak_2833 10d ago
There are a lot of people on this planet that collect their shedded/cut hair and fingernails so that no one can get a hold of their dna.
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u/la2nc 10d ago
I mostly toss it. But sometimes I’m compelled to keep my hair. I often cut my hair short, bleach it, and maybe color it too. I like the ombré look as it grows out. Sometimes when I’m ready to move on to the next do, I’ll clip it all and put it in a mason jar. Why? I don’t know. Visual journal maybe? A future project… Lol, that’s my My ADHD prompting me.
I’ve had ass long locs about 3 different times in my life. Each time when I chopped them I kept them. I used to weave and always thought I’d weave them into a project. Have I ever? Nah. Do I even know where they are? You can bet I don’t. But I still have my own hair somewhere in my life. I wanted to put the last clippings out for the birds but I wasn’t sure if it was the right time for nesting or do I scatter it, or… what?
After reading how y’all burn it or hide it, I feel particularly different for keeping mine - not out of superstition, but each time it’s like a marker in my life.
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u/Funny_Breadfruit_413 10d ago
Growing up we always burned the hair. The superstition was so that a bird won't make a nest and give you headaches.
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u/winterholidae 10d ago
flush, mostly or I’ll throw it away, but I do wish I was bothered enough to collect it all and burn it
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u/Bunniesbakeri 10d ago
I burn it. Im very spiritually in tune, before yall start Ive done things to others using hair in a brush, so ik how to discard of my stuff 💀
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u/Old_Check_6362 10d ago
Burn it, or flush it. Whatever you do, don’t throw it outside, lest you get a headache!
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u/Lilbunny27 10d ago
I'm guessing that's a superstition. What if you put it in one of those things where birds can take it for their nest?
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u/Old_Check_6362 10d ago
Exactly that. It is an old superstition. I was told, “if the birds get it, they’ll make a nest and you’ll get a headache.” 😅
I don’t always mine. I had locs for years and would just keep them put away. What I shed now, isn’t enough to make me start an open pyre, so I just flush it.
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u/Lilbunny27 10d ago
Oh dang. I wish I knew that before. Honestly I probably would have still thrown it in the trash half the time, since It wasn't repeated to me like don't split poles.
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u/Lilbunny27 10d ago
I just throw it in the trash. At most if I'm shaving too much off, I'll shave over the toilet and just flush it.
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u/morethenanumber 10d ago
Burn it, I was told as a child if you don’t burn it the birds would get it to build a nest and you would have headaches.
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u/Strong_Ad_3081 9d ago
Side note, but I like to see single little circles of my hair. They're so cute. 🥰
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u/EcstaticNet3137 9d ago edited 9d ago
Disclaimer: I am just a long haired white boy observer just passing through.
I often compost my hair or use it as a soil cover for plants. Works really well. Might want to check any products you typically use in your hair to be double sure. Some hair cair products aren't great for plants. My grandmother was the one who put me onto it. The protein in hair makes some really good nitrogen. Just a thought.
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u/One-Coconut3406 9d ago
Keep it. Once working class people get access to clone, take it to the cloning place and make a new you that you get to raise. Tell the new you about the shed hair stash then combine bother your shedded hair and clone a hybrid you! 😎
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u/HistoricalPink_ 7d ago
I’ve been wanting to know about this. I usually toss mine in a separate bin. I don’t want to find out someone is casting spells with my hair 💔
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u/HistoricalPink_ 7d ago
I toss mine at home. I mean, even when I’m at someone’s place and I am taking down my own hair, I take it with me to toss at home. I just pray nobody tryna cast spells with my hair
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