On Jun. 1-3, the De Anza College Muckrakers organized a campus wide “Hair Drive” to contribute to the major oil spill along the Gulf Coast. Students attended the three-day event to receive free haircuts for collection and even donate bags of hair they had collected on their own. Hair stylists like Journalism major Kelsey Lester-Perry, 22, were recruited by the Muckrakers and volunteered their time to cut hair. “[The Muckrakers] contacted me because they knew I worked at SuperCuts and I brought along some of my co-workers to help out.” Theresa Jiang, who accompanied Lester-Perry to the Hair Drive, supported the cause by informing her clients where their hair would be donated and encouraging them to spread the word. “The turnout has been great so far,” says Jiang, “I cut more than ten people’s hair in one day.” “We had a lot more people than we expected,” said Muckraker Jazmine Lopez, 18, undecided. Students and community members alike lined up in the Main Quad from Monday to Wednesday in order to donate their hair to Matter of Trust, an organization committed to cleaning up the oil spill by collecting hair in nylon booms to absorb the pollutants in the water. “Using hair to soak up the spill is definitely a better option than what BP is using now,” says Lopez, “their only alternative is to use an oil-based chemical compound [which only causes more damage].” Matter of Trust is a non-profit organization that works to utilize sustainable items and promote action among individuals by creating manmade and natural surplus. According to their website, “The mission of Matter of Trust is to link ideas, spark action and materialize sustainable systems. We like to mimic how Mother Nature integrates enduring cycles and provides access to necessities in abundance. We concentrate on manmade surplus, natural surplus and eco-educational programs.” A major concern that circulated among students during the event was whether the hair booms would actually be effective in cleaning up the spill. Rumors that the hair would actually sink and create more pollution for the Gulf spread through the media and raised doubts among students. “These concerns are all valid,” said Muckraker and English major, Josh Davis, 19, “but all the hair is biodegradable since it is all organic material.” As of now, BP refuses to use any more funding on alternative solutions. The only exception to this rule is the Critical Response and Material Management team, who have employed unconventional techniques, like hair booms to clean up the spill. Whether all the hair donated by the Muckrakers will be used to clean up the oil spill is not clear just yet, but as Davis said, “it’s the cheapest and easiest method we can help with to clean the spill.”