It is supposed to fantastic for killing slugs as they get hopelessly entangled in it.

I have started to use it but have get to get a kill .
Seems to be a lot simpler to throw it on the compost than bury it under a mulch.Of course I suspect it will take a long time to break down unless it is cut up small.

My teenage sons got happy with the clippers one summer day last year. They went out on the deck near the compost pile, nearly shaved each others heads bald then dumped the hair onto the pile. The one son had about shoulder length hair.

I turned the hair into the pile but did come across it in all its glory several months later when turning again. I don't turn the pile often and we were in a drought. It was a rather disturbing sight when not expecting it! lol

But the good news is it did eventually break down.

I'm with Lucy, putting it under the mulch sounds like extra work, putting it on top of the mulch would be unsightly but the compost would be my preferred choice.

Hair is mostly all protein (Nitrogen) so it would be a really good addition to the compost pile. I doubt seriously that slugs would get tangled in hair anymore than they do any thing else.

Hair is very resistant to decomposition and should not be added to the compost.

It does have some properties that recommend it for cleaning up oil spills.

Just as tiny shavings of hair after a haircut irritate your neck, they cling to the moist bodies of slugs so they slime themselves to death trying to get rid of the irritation.

Lots of things we add to compost piles are "very resistant to decomposition" but that doesn't mean we shouldn't add them. ;)

Hair is, as kimmsr said, an excellent source of nitrogen and is a beneficial compost additive for that reason. Smaller the pieces, the faster they decompose.

Dave

maryann_____chgo ,so do I have to chop the hair very small?
Have you actually done it and is it worth doing?
Can I use animal hair as well as I don't have enugh of my own?

Have you actually done it and is it worth doing?

I have done it and it's not worth doing. People who have not done it are only speculating and they are the ones who are optimistic.

i put it in the compost and on the garden, i shave the hubs and my son's hair, so i have alot of hair, it is in small pieces, now you tell me this, if the hair is good for the ground, and your compost is on your ground, why NOT put it in your compost??? and i do agree with ya 100% on the slug thing!! LOL of course i am new to composting, so i am one of the one's speculating also , but so far it gets rid of it and i see no reason why not to put it there if its going to go into my ground anyhow. and its short.
why is it not worth it?

cowgirl, you do realize that you have an eternity to make compost, right?

I can't think of any once living thing that doesn't fall to the ground of its own (or someone else's accord) that isn't worth composting. Of course my compost bin is closer (20') than the nearest dump (2.9 miles), so that's just me.

People who have not done it are only speculating and they are the ones who are optimistic.

Sorry cowgirl2, but our family has done it for many years so I am not speculating and still remain quite "optimistic" about it. ;)

Cat hair, dog hair, horse hair from when we groom them, wife's hair from her hairbrush and any she cuts off, as well as mine or the grandkids from when she gives a hair cut all go in. I certainly wouldn't add foot long hanks of hair, even if I had one, nor would I collect the floor sweeping from a beauty shop to add.

But normally hair doesn't pose a problem in active compost piles any more than does large wood chips, bones, cabbage cores, whole carrots, sticks or tomato plant stems. Over time it all turns into compost. ;)

Dave

I thought Cowgirl was just saying that she wasn't impressed with using hair to combat slugs.A few of you seem to be misunderstanding her to say that composting it is ineffective.

Sorry my mistake Cowgirl does also seem to be saying you shouldn't put it in compost.(I have special piles for stuff that takes ages to break down like twigs and small branches but I do have lots of space )

Lucy, picture the moist slimey body of a slug, Hair by its very nature would stick to it and be an irritant, the same as diatamaceus earth, finch seed, and ammonia. The slug needs to get rid of it and creates slime, essentially dehydrating itself. I've watched it happen. . . .with glee.

If you enjoy putzing around plants as I do, every little bit helps. Slugs flourish in the cool, dark environment under moist mulch so I attack them every way I know how. Nothing will eliminate them altogether.

And you might want to further consider: I think if you go to the Grecian Formula page you may find it contains arsenic. There are some who appear on these pages who really hyperventilate about "chemicals".

I used to pick up the cut hair from the neighborhood Barber Shop (back when there were those) and compost it, a large bag of hair that I picked up once a week, and I did not see where there was any of that hair visible in the finished compost, it appeared to be all digested. Maybe those that have not been able to get that composted have not been composting properly?

In spring I put the cleanings from the hair brushes in a net and hang it next to the bird feeders. The birds take it for nesting material. (Not speculative - I've seen them doing it) the rest of the year hair goes on the compost (Again not speculative - it disappears without trace.) As for the slugs - I haven't tried it but in my climate slugs and snails rule supreme. Because we have so much rain anything that relies on drying out or irritating the slug/snail is unlikely to succeed. I can't see hair making any difference to them. Egg shells certainly don't. Even chemical methods need constant reapplication because they just get washed away.

Finally as digdirt says, "Lots of things we add to compost piles are "very resistant to decomposition" but that doesn't mean we shouldn't add them. ;) " Absolutley. My compost heaps have actually composted their own bins several times over! They are made from old doors, floorboards, pallets etc and I just replace bits that rot away.

well I was hoping that the hair didn't need dry conditions to be effective in irritating the slugs.It certainly is not going to be washed away or diluted by the rain.
I guess I will just have to keep trying it (unless there is someone who has tried it themselves in a wet climate -without hyperventilating of course)

if you want finely chopped hair, use an electric razor and dump the leavin's into the bin when you clean the razor.