Is human hair good for your garden?

Hair may work as a pest deterrent, a fertilizer and mulch.

Fri, Apr 20 2012 at 1:03 PM

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Organic Gardening

Photo: Mike Baird/Flickr

I saw this Hank D. and the Bee cartoon this morning, and it got me curious about putting human hair in the garden.

I did a little research, and it seems that many gardeners are sold on putting human hair in their gardens. Here’s what I came up with.

Keep the snails away. Human hair also repels snails. Sprinkle unwashed hair around your garden. It supposedly keeps rodents away as well. Animals hate our hair. (via TLC)
Deer repellent. Putting unwashed human hair in bags and hanging those bags on trees is probably a more rational way to repel deer. (via TLC)
Rabbit repellent. Human hair will keep rabbits out of your garden!! Collect hair from your brushes and spread it around your garden! (via Pioneer Thinking)
Natural mulch. When woven into a mat, it retains moisture, it deters weeds. In some instances, it can actually reduce soil erosion. (via NPR)
Plant fertilizer. Human hair can release a sufficient amount of nutrients to support crops. (via Discovery News)

Of course, it takes quite a bit of hair to create these benefits, but barbershops and salons throw away tons of it every year. Perhaps it’s a very overlooked natural resource that we need to start tapping into.

Do you use human hair in your garden?

Hank D. and the Bee cartoon used by permission by Joe Mohr from Joe Mohr's Cartoon Archive.

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