I haven't tried it, but I am told it is 12-0-0 meaning a high nitrogen fert.

Hair from any mammal is a very, very, very, very slow release soil fertilizer or compost ingredient.

It can take 1-2 years to totally decompose in some composting methods.

And a very, very, very, very, very good source of protein. So are feathers. You might have to wait for the next ice age before it decomposes, though. But if you use it continually, the soil will build up microbes which can decompose it quickly.

I fished the same wad of dirty collie fur out of finished compost and flipped it back into the compost pile for years. Collie fur, at least, has the half life of nuclear waste. It's too bad really because there is certainly lots of it. I could mulch the whole yard with soft, fluffy undercoat.

I compost my own hair and my dogs' fur. It works just fine but does take forever to decompose. Be prepared to forget about it then poke the pile months down the road with a confused "What is that stuff?" look on your face.

Hair, human and animal, can be added to the compost bin and it will get digested fairly quickly "if" all of the conditions in the compost pile are adequate. Like every thing else if the hair is too dry the bacteria are not going to digest it and hair, especially animal, tends to repel moisture. Same thing happens if hair is put into the soil, in a big wad hair will repel moisture and will not get digested.

Hi JM...I don't now...but yrs ago I collected hair from the barber I went to...got it once a month by the garbage bag full. Spread it out over my compost pile about two inches thick. I never had a problem with it breaking down...trick is to keep your pile moist and turn it every week to ten days without fail. Franklin

My mother used to put her hair clippings in pots with houseplants, sort of like mulch. I don't know if it was for fertilizer or what, I thought it was really repulsive! I have heard it repels animals or something in the garden, not sure what, but have heard before that it was good for something. That was nice to know, since it gave me some hope that Mum isn't just crazy. :-)

Marcia

I saw side-by-side demonstration plots of Vinca grown with and without the direct addition of human hair in the soil. The hair appeared to have been cut into about half inch lengths and was well ditributed through the soil. There was quite a bit of it, but you did have to look close to tell it was there. No other source of nitrogen was applied to either plot.

I was surprised to see how much greener and healthier the hair-plot was. I had thought the hair could not possibly break down fast enough to supply nitrogen at the rate it was needed. So now I'm okay with putting hair either in the compost or in the soil. In the compost is usually more convenient for me.

Clare,

Something to consider is that finished compost has little in the way of NPK nutrients in it. If you regard hair as a good nitrogen source then to get the N from it requires it to be placed 'raw' in the medium the plant is in.

I personally break almost all of the supposed rules of composting and it works quite well.
Hair is much harder to breakdown than many other materials, so if microbes in the soil or compost pile have a choice of hair or something else to rip into, they choose the easier thing to work on (eat actually). On the other hand, hair isn't a balanced meal by itself for most microbes. So to compost hair quickly it is a balancing act.
However, if you don't mind the soil of your garden having hair in it, it is harmless and saving a tiny bit of space at the landfill as a worst case scenario.

Ziggy

I no longer have enough hair to fertilize a pot of African violets so I will stay on the sidelines on this one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rural Life 2.0

I no longer have enough hair to fertilize a pot of African violets so I will stay on the sidelines on this one.

I just started with African violets. I think the reason you lost your hair is because of the African violets ;-)

I was about to get some hair from the local barber for compost ingredient, but I wasn't sure, considering all the hair sprays and shampoos and stuff people use...I wasn't sure if some of it could be harmful to soil life...any thoughts?

Does a barber, or hair dresser, cut and trim hair that is caked solid with hair spray or is that hair washed first?

I would not worry one bit about barber or beauty shop hair. The chemicals might be a problem when wet but I would think after they dry they would be okay.

I have always composted animal hair. I also plant plugs of it around the garden perimeter because the old folks tell me it repels deer and rabbits. I wish someone had told the deer and rabbits.