Woman Painstakingly Collects Strands To Make a Wig Out of Her Own Hair - Newsweek

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If you have long hair you'll know it ends up everywhere, with rogue strands turning up in your bed, your food and on your clothes.

And that's not to mention the amount you lose when brushing your mane, or washing it in the shower.

But rather than binning hairballs, one woman is painstakingly collecting loose strands to make a wig entirely out of her own hair.

Liz Lele started off saving her hairs nearly 18 months ago—520 days to be exact—and has so far amassed 6,596 strands.

Lele has been sharing her progress to her TikTok page, where she's called herself "creator of the #showerhairchallenge."

She explained: "It's all about collecting your hair and repurposing it." Lele, thought to be from Brooklyn, has been experimenting with hair, making extensions, dying hair, creating fake bangs and gradually making a full wig.

One of her most recent videos, shared at the end of last month, went into detail about her journey, as she said: "In a year and a half I've pretty much lost over 12,000 hairs. Half of it went into wig making, and this is the other half.

"I just finished my roll of double stick tape and I'm so surprised by how thin the tape is on top, one roll can hold about 6,420 if you do it correctly. I put about 100 hairs on each piece of tape."

She added that she also uses tweezers to get the hairs in the perfect position, as she compared her DIY extension to the hair on her head, exclaiming: "It's so beautiful, I really love it. Like how am I not bald? How are we not bald. If I did this for 10 years I'd have a full-blown wig."

She recently used some of the hairs to make fake bangs, sticking loose strands onto a headband, which she cut and styled. Lele raved about the final product in a video shared last week, saying: "It's time to cut my bangs."

Lele said: "This is hair that I've collected that I have ventilated into a piece of lace that I attached to a headband. I'm finally done with it, I'm measuring it to lay nicely on my forehead. I'm not a hairdresser but I'm trying."

After straightening them, she said: "I think I'm pleased. It looks so cute right, you'd never know." She also claimed it was the perfect color match to her real hair, adding: "If you want to have bangs without cutting your real bangs then check out this whole series."

When asked how she finds the hairs, she replied: "In my hand, from my brush, after washing my hair."

Fans have also been donating their own hair that Lele is making into a separate wig, which she's been working on for 505 days in total. She plans on donating this wig.

And she's now moved on to collecting her eyelashes, possibly to make fake lash strips. In a clip shared last month, entitled "eyelash collection," Lele revealed she was currently at 15 lashes, revealing she collects them "every time I wash my face."

Her videos have amassed hundreds of thousands of views, as Daniella commented: "I think I could have a wig in a year."

Tee-Tee wrote: "Girl you got free extensions."

While Sarenee pointed out: "That be kind of smart to start and then whenever you get old you start getting gray hair or lose your hair you'll have a wig."

Newsweek reached out to Lele for comment.