I'm wondering whether human hair could make good tinder for emergency situations. It has the advantage of being readily available wherever you are. I thought I'd ask here before I get out the razor to get my answer the hard way. Any thoughts on the matter?
Does human hair make good tinder?
- Thread starter Evolute
- Start date
Is hair spray flammable? I have an idea. Cut a some hair into a large plastic baggie. Spray the inside of the baggie and the hair. Put baggie under a known terrorist's butt as he sits down to plan his next move. As you look over his shoulder and into his face to say "hi guy," ignite the bag. Boom, hot sh*t. Head for the hills. 
I will try it....hair spray and hair as tinder to start a fire, that is.
I will try it....hair spray and hair as tinder to start a fire, that is.
Hairspray is VERY flammable (and thereby made a great child's toy). However, that defeats the purpose. The reason I was interested in the "human hair tinder" concept is because I always have it with me. I never use hair spray. (Well...not for it's intended purpose.)
Apparently, it doesn't work. That's a shame.
Sgtmike88, could you elaborate what happens when you try to use hair as tinder?
Apparently, it doesn't work. That's a shame.
Sgtmike88, could you elaborate what happens when you try to use hair as tinder?
RokJok
Gold Member
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- Oct 6, 2000
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I'd guess that hair makes poor tinder. It burns a very short time before it flames out. I would also guess that it doesn't burn very hot. It would be better to carry the cotton/vaseline or steel wool tinders already advocated in other threads on this forum.
Hello Evolute: Guess who is getting a hair cut tomorrow morning? I will ask the barber to fill a baggie full of my hair. He will have no problem with this request, since all 5 of the barbers in this shop already think I'm a little strange anyway. Then, I will experiment and report to you what I find.
I guess we all assume what the results will be, but one never know until they try. And if raw hair does not do the trick, I'll see what else might work to get a fire going under a "last ditch" effort using hair in an emergency situation, because unless your are bald, it is always with you. Great question, you have me in a challenge mood.
Who knows...this might be the beginning of a new source of fire starting.
I guess we all assume what the results will be, but one never know until they try. And if raw hair does not do the trick, I'll see what else might work to get a fire going under a "last ditch" effort using hair in an emergency situation, because unless your are bald, it is always with you. Great question, you have me in a challenge mood.
Who knows...this might be the beginning of a new source of fire starting.
Evo, interesting question, considering I tried that very idea 2 days ago. My haircut is simple: Clippers with a number 2 spacer. Simple, and there's not that much to cut anyway!! I just so happened to need to burn some brush, so I gathered the cut hair, which included my son's as well, and tried to use it as tinder. Didn't work out so well. It didn't burn hot or long enough to catch the smaller pieces of fuel on fire. Yes, it didn't smell good. So, I guess if that's all that was available, you might make it work with some patience. But, I am able to find much better tinder around my area.
I left the barber shop yesterday with a baggie half full of my freshly cut hair. These barbers knew a lot about hair, more than I wanted to know. We discussed human hair and hair from a Sable, mouse and Indian rat. I discovered several "things" about hair from these 5 gentlemen, and all of them joined into the conservation because the shop was not busy at 8:30 am. The more important discoveries as they relate to survival were:
Hair is a protein compound, unlike protein found in meat, which is full of iron and other ingredients that are good for you.
Human hair is solid, unlike some animal hair, which is hollow.
A protein compound does not burn well at all (understatement).
Long story short: I discovered that human hair will burn, but once the heat sorce is taken away from it, human hair stops burning. I used a bic lighter and the hair singed at first and then grew into a small flame. Take the lighter away, the hair stops burning. The flame was small (under an eight of an inch) and not hot enough to light paper. The hair basically melts into an ash, will not burn on its own and gives off insufficient heat to ignite, say very small and thin wood shavings.
For me the "bottom line" is untreated, raw human hair, which does contain natural oils, is a protien material poorly suited for tinder to start a fire. I would be better off using the fire source used to burn the hair than rely on the hair itself to start tinder burning.
Now Mr. Hershal, owner of the barber shop, swears-to-be-damn that Indian rat hair, which is hollow and only partially comprised of protein, will burn like an old wooden barn...the kind that has " Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco " painted on the side of it. OK, I thanked him for that information.
There is one use of hair that I believe would work for a survival situation if you find water with fish in it. Cut a strand of hair about 1 to 1-1/4 " in length and about half the thickness of your little finger. If you have a red head or blond standing near by ( or get hair that is colored) that would help also.
Twist about a quarter inch of the hair at one end and secure/ wrap it with an adhesive. ( more on this later). What you have is a dry fly without a hook. If your survival kit contains a fishing hook, secure the "hair" fly to it. If you do not have a commerical made hook, fashion one from the surrounding materials...this of course is a topic for another thread.
I secured/wrapped the end of my dry fly by using a long, narrow piece of adhesive taken from a Band Aid located in my survival kit. From the same kit I located a fish hook and very thin piece of wire and secured the fly to the hook. My survival kit also had a piece of corn in it and I placed the corn onto the end of the hook as bait. I'm ready to go with a rig that is "fish attractive." If no survival kit is available...well I am open for suggestions. One might be to use pine pitch taken from a tree, etc. GUARANTEED: I will use this rig on the weekend of Oct. 12-14, when I'll be bow hunting, fishing, hiking, camping and just surviving.
I purchased one each of the thee survival kits offered by Jeff Randall and they are VERY nice, extremely practical and stocked for serious survival. If interested: www.jungletraining.com
Thank you for the "hair splitting" question.
FF
Hair is a protein compound, unlike protein found in meat, which is full of iron and other ingredients that are good for you.
Human hair is solid, unlike some animal hair, which is hollow.
A protein compound does not burn well at all (understatement).
Long story short: I discovered that human hair will burn, but once the heat sorce is taken away from it, human hair stops burning. I used a bic lighter and the hair singed at first and then grew into a small flame. Take the lighter away, the hair stops burning. The flame was small (under an eight of an inch) and not hot enough to light paper. The hair basically melts into an ash, will not burn on its own and gives off insufficient heat to ignite, say very small and thin wood shavings.
For me the "bottom line" is untreated, raw human hair, which does contain natural oils, is a protien material poorly suited for tinder to start a fire. I would be better off using the fire source used to burn the hair than rely on the hair itself to start tinder burning.
Now Mr. Hershal, owner of the barber shop, swears-to-be-damn that Indian rat hair, which is hollow and only partially comprised of protein, will burn like an old wooden barn...the kind that has " Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco " painted on the side of it. OK, I thanked him for that information.
There is one use of hair that I believe would work for a survival situation if you find water with fish in it. Cut a strand of hair about 1 to 1-1/4 " in length and about half the thickness of your little finger. If you have a red head or blond standing near by ( or get hair that is colored) that would help also.
Twist about a quarter inch of the hair at one end and secure/ wrap it with an adhesive. ( more on this later). What you have is a dry fly without a hook. If your survival kit contains a fishing hook, secure the "hair" fly to it. If you do not have a commerical made hook, fashion one from the surrounding materials...this of course is a topic for another thread.
I secured/wrapped the end of my dry fly by using a long, narrow piece of adhesive taken from a Band Aid located in my survival kit. From the same kit I located a fish hook and very thin piece of wire and secured the fly to the hook. My survival kit also had a piece of corn in it and I placed the corn onto the end of the hook as bait. I'm ready to go with a rig that is "fish attractive." If no survival kit is available...well I am open for suggestions. One might be to use pine pitch taken from a tree, etc. GUARANTEED: I will use this rig on the weekend of Oct. 12-14, when I'll be bow hunting, fishing, hiking, camping and just surviving.
I purchased one each of the thee survival kits offered by Jeff Randall and they are VERY nice, extremely practical and stocked for serious survival. If interested: www.jungletraining.com
Thank you for the "hair splitting" question.
FFFF:
Thank you for your thorough answer. It's unfortunate that it doesn't work, but good to know. I suppose hair might work well as tinder for people who slick their hair with vaseline or oil or some such substance. (However, I don't.)
I'll keep the fishing fly idea in mind. I'd also like to hear your findings about how well the hair fly worked.
Thank you for your thorough answer. It's unfortunate that it doesn't work, but good to know. I suppose hair might work well as tinder for people who slick their hair with vaseline or oil or some such substance. (However, I don't.)
I'll keep the fishing fly idea in mind. I'd also like to hear your findings about how well the hair fly worked.
