A hairdresser in the Var for almost 30 years, Thierry Gras created an association in 2015 which now collects several tons of hair each month from partner hairdressers in order to recycle it. The goal ? Make all kinds of tools to preserve the environment. Portrait of an enthusiast.
” This is a question my clients have been asking me for almost 30 years. “What do you do with all that hair?” “says Thierry Gras. This hairdresser based in Saint-Zacharie in the Var therefore had the idea of recycling them through the association Coiffeurs Juste which he created in 2015. I found it a shame to throw away all this hair with hallucinating qualities which ultimately is not waste because it has been a raw material for centuries “, he explains.
The principle is simple: hairdressers join his association for an annual fee of 25 euros and regularly send him the hair they collect. ” We generally receive a ton per week “says Thierry Gras. All this hair is then sent to Esat (Establishments and support services through work) or ACI (workshops and integration sites) which are responsible for making sausages of hair intended for depollution which are then sold to the company ECOFHAIR which is in charge of their marketing but also of the recovery of the soiled sausages.
Hair sausages used during the oil spillAmoco Cadiz
These pollution control socks are not new but it took a long time before they were used on a large scale. ” In 1978 when there was theAmoco Cadiz in Brittany, this is where hair sausages were first used by Breton fishermen, says Thierry Gras. At the time in Brittany, we were already using hair to remove fat in the kitchen, so a fisherman said to himself, why don’t we put hair in our nets? “. The method has proven itself because the hair is both lipophilic, it retains fat, and hydrophilic, it retains water. These sausages therefore work wonders to retain hydrocarbons and prevent them from spreading into the sea. The method was also reused in 2010 during the oil spill caused by the the Deepwater Horizon oil platformunder the impetus of the American association Matter of Trust.
Since its creation in 2015, Righteous Hairdressers has thus been called upon for several emergency situations. At the time of the black tide of wakashio in July 2020, Thierry Gras and his association sent videos explaining how to make hair sausages to Mauritian associations. The sending to the island of 20 tons of hair was even considered but made impossible for various administrative reasons, in particular a law preventing the sending of waste, because this cut hair is indeed considered as such by law, at the foreigner.
►Also read: Oil spill in Peru: donate your hair to block oil
More recently, Les Coiffeurs Justes were also called upon during the oil spill which touched the coasts of Peru. ” Associations contacted us, we sent them videos to explain how to do it and then we put them in touch with Matter of Trust because on the American continent, it still seems more ecological than the aid comes from the United States “, explains Thierry Gras.
” The idea is also to prevent »
The 53-year-old hairdresser concedes that today, his association responds primarily to emergency situations. The association has, for example, created emergency response kits that replace synthetic sausages made from plastic and often produced in China. But the Fair Hairdressers see further. ” We have positioned ourselves in another niche, the idea is also to prevent “, explains Thierry Gras. The association has therefore launched a bilge tube which is placed in the hold of boats and which absorbs hydrocarbon leaks even before they can be evacuated to the sea. Les Coiffeurs Justes also plans to equip service stations and they are working on cushions of hair that could be used to clean up rainwater collectors, before this water is returned to the rivers.
The activity of the association is booming. ” I have two sheds and I am impatiently waiting for a big center to open in Draguignan, explains Thierry Gras. Afterwards, we must open one in Lyon and Strasbourg and we will collect the hair there. Right now I’m 160 tons ahead “.
At the start of the adventure in 2015, convincing hairdressers to join was not easy. ” When I pitched the idea, hairdressers weren’t interested at all “, admits Thierry Gras. But the hairdresser persevered and with the help of the media, he managed to get people talking about his initiative and it was ultimately the customers who often convinced their hairdressers to recycle their hair. ” It happened from customers who requested it and that’s why now 5 200 member hairdressers, including some in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal as well “.
A hair enthusiast
Listening to Thierry Gras speak difficult not to share his enthusiasm on the subject. When asked if he considers himself an “ecologist”, the hairdresser agrees while qualifying: ” Let’s say I’m more into real ecology. In winter, I don’t eat tomatoes, rather than going to buy some at Biocoop in February “. On the other hand, the term “militant hairdresser” suits him rather well. ” I really think I’m acting in the right direction and the advantage we have as hairdressers is that we do everyone’s hair and we can raise people’s awareness because the hairdressing salon is one of the last places where people talk to each other “.
Thierry Gras is therefore a pragmatist. He saw a problem and he managed to find a solution. The fact that this is related to a job he has been doing for 30 years makes his commitment even more special. Inexhaustible on the hair, he is able to draw up an endless list of the possibilities that exist to reuse this material with fascinating properties. ” Some surgeons even use it today to make sutures, which was already done in the Middle Ages “, he recalls. ” I think that, yes, you could say that I am a hair enthusiast, smiles Thierry Gras. In any case, in 30 years of work, this passion has still not passed to me. “.
► The website of the association Fair Hairdressers