CAN YOU COMPOST HAIR? 

Although we know the value of composting as it is an effortless way for you to reduce the landfills and save up money and feed your garden with nutrient rich compost. there are over thousands of articles across the net that would tell you the various kinds of components that you could add in your composter however many of us want to find out if we can compost hair. To get more clarity on this question I suggest you keep reading. 

Composting hair 

Composting is nothing but breaking down organic materials and receiving nutrient-rich compost that benefits the garden. Mix compost with soil even if it is sandy, when you add it to a sandy soil the soil begins to retain water and when added to heavy clay soil it enhances the drainage system of the soil. Each material has a certain kind of chemical that comes together breaking down everything and the result is a crumbly brownish material that is also popularly known as black gold. But is it possible to compost hair?

Your composting needs to have a proper balance between the Browns and Greens, so which category would hair fall under? The green materials! All organic materials which have not dried and aren’t from inside of the animal fall under green components. Green components are rich in nitrogen and increase the nitrogen level in the soil. On the other hand, the brown materials include shredded paper, dried leaves, etc. They are rich in carbon increasing the levels of carbon in the soil. Now if you are planning to compost hair you don’t just have to utilize the hair from the hairbrush you can always speak with your hairdresser and many hairdresser’s handout bags filled with hair to numerous gardeners for composting and animal repellent materials.

Just to point out, be it human or pet hair, they all work in a similar fashion, hence if there is a pet groomer near you, you can speak to him and make a deal for all those extra clippings.

How to go about composting hair

It’s not a challenging task to add hair to the compost pile all you need to do is add it just like you add a layer of Greens. Hair breaks down quickly if it is spread out, if you place it in clumps, it would take longer. Place a top cover on it, and you would expedite the entire decomposing process. It would also help you to retain moisture and heat which is vital in breaking down these materials. Do not forget to mix the compost pile once a week, this will help you to maintain the aeration and the flow of oxygen within the pile keeping away foul odor and speeding up things. Generally, it takes one month for hair to compost.

There are certain research sites that avoid utilizing hairfor the fact that; they are locations conduct various kinds of research; however I have experienced composting hair and it has been an excellent experience. Do let us know if you have tried it out and do share your experiences with us. All the best! 

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