Thierry Gras, the hairdresser who puts hair at the service of the environment
The founder of Les Coiffeurs Justes, Thierry Gras, holds in his hands a bag of hair sent by one of the hairdressers who joined his association in September 2020. AFP - CHRISTOPHE SIMON
Text by: Pierre Fesnien Follow
6 mins
Hairdresser in the Var for almost 30 years, Thierry Gras created the association Coiffeurs Justes in 2015. It collects hair from partner hairdressers in order to recycle it to make all kinds of tools aimed at preserving the environment.
Portrait of a hair enthusiast.
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"
It's a question my clients have been asking me for nearly 30 years
, 'what do you do with all that hair?'
“says Thierry Gras.
This hairdresser based in Saint-Zacharie in the Var therefore had the idea of recycling it through the association Coiffeurs Juste which he created in 2015
. are not waste because it has been a raw material for centuries
,” he explains.
The principle is simple: hairdressers join his association for an annual fee of 25 euros and regularly send him the hair they collect.
"
We generally receive a ton a week
", specifies Thierry Gras.
All this hair is then sent to Esat (Establishments and support services through work) or ACI (Workshops and integration sites) which are responsible for manufacturing hair sausages intended for depollution which are then sold to
the company ECOFHAIR
which is in charge of their marketing but also of the recovery of the soiled sausages.
Hair sausages used in the
Amoco Cadiz oil spill
These pollution control socks are not new but it took a long time before they were used on a large scale.
“
In 1978, when
there was the
Amoco Cadiz
in Brittany, it was there that hair sausages were used for the first time by Breton fishermen,
says Thierry Gras.
At the time in Brittany, we were already using hair to remove fat in the kitchen, so a fisherman said to himself, why don't we put hair in our nets?
". The method has proven itself because the hair is both lipophilic, it retains fat, and hydrophilic, it retains water. These sausages therefore work wonders to retain
hydrocarbons
and prevent them from spreading into the sea
. American Matter of Trust.
Since its creation in 2015,
Coiffeurs Justes
has been called upon in several emergency situations.
During
the
Wakashio
oil spill in July 2020, Thierry Gras and his association sent videos explaining how to make hair sausages to Mauritian associations.
The sending to the island of 20 tons of hair was even considered but made impossible for various administrative reasons, in particular a law preventing the sending of waste, because this cut hair is indeed considered as such by law, at the foreigner.
►Also read: Oil spill in Peru: donate your hair to block oil
More recently, Les Coiffeurs Justes were also called upon during the oil spill that
hit the coast of Peru
.
“
Associations contacted us, we sent them videos to explain how to do it and then we put them in touch with
Matter of Trust
because on the American continent, it still seems more ecological than aid coming from the States. States
,” explains Thierry Gras.
"
The idea is also to prevent
"
The 53-year-old hairdresser concedes that today, his association responds primarily to emergency situations.
The association has, for example, created emergency response kits that replace synthetic sausages made from plastic and often produced in China.
But the Fair Hairdressers see further.
“
We have positioned ourselves in another niche, the idea is also to prevent
“, explains Thierry Gras.
The association has therefore launched a bilge tube which is placed in the hold of boats and which absorbs hydrocarbon leaks even before they can be evacuated to the sea. Les Coiffeurs Justes also plans to equip service stations and they are working on cushions of hair that could be used to clean up rainwater collectors, before this water is returned to the rivers.
The activity of the association is booming.
“
I have two hangars and I'm impatiently waiting for a big center to open in Draguignan,
explains Thierry Gras.
Afterwards, we must open one in Lyon and Strasbourg and we will collect the hair there.
At the moment, I have 160 tonnes ahead
”.
At the start of the adventure in 2015, convincing hairdressers to join was not easy.
"
When I launched the idea, the hairdressers weren't interested at all
," admits Thierry Gras.
But the hairdresser persevered and with the help of the media, he managed to get people talking about his initiative and it was ultimately the customers who often convinced their hairdressers to recycle their hair.
“
It happened from customers who requested it and that is why there are now
5,200 hairdressers who are members, including some in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal as well
”.
A hair enthusiast
Listening to Thierry Gras speak difficult not to share his enthusiasm on the subject.
When asked if he considers himself an “ecologist”, the hairdresser agrees while qualifying: “
Let's say that I am more into real ecology.
In winter, I do not eat tomatoes, rather than going to buy some at the Biocoop in February
”.
On the other hand, the term "activist hairdresser" suits him rather well.
"
I really think I'm doing the right thing and the advantage we have as hairdressers is that we do everyone's hair and we can raise people's awareness because the hairdressing salon is one of the last places where people talk to each other
”.
Thierry Gras is therefore a pragmatist.
He saw a problem and he managed to find a solution.
The fact that this is related to a job he has been doing for 30 years makes his commitment even more special.
Inexhaustible on the hair, he is able to draw up an endless list of the possibilities that exist to reuse this material with fascinating properties.
"
Some surgeons even use it today to do sutures, which was already done in the Middle Ages
," he recalls.
“
I think that, yes, we can say that I am a hair enthusiast,
smiles Thierry Gras.
In any case, in 30 years in the business, this passion has still not passed on to me
”.
► The website of the Association of Fair Hairdressers
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