Been Seeing Helmets With Hair Stuck Inside

**VietnamWarNut** · 11-09-2021, 02:02 AM

Recently, I’ve seen more helmets floating around that apparently have hair stuck inside them. I think most of us can agree that selling these is morally questionable, presuming that they are real in the first place. I believe that someone may be sticking hair into helmets, to appeal to a more macabre buying audience whom may pay more for something like that.
This isn’t particularly impactful to the collecting community, but I just wanted to see what others thought about it.
I’m a little late to the relics scene so this may just be a phenomenon that I didn’t know about. But I haven’t found much info on hair being preserved in helmets.

Anyways, here’s some pictures as examples of what I’m talking about:
16E97CBD-FF9E-4B6B-930B-A664375E5BA3.jpeg
8D586C20-FFDB-4729-B7B0-F3A092DC40DE.jpg
D5CD8533-2703-49F0-9FCE-E451FACE02EA.jpg

**Willmore** · 11-09-2021, 02:21 AM

Hi there.

Organic materials can survive under the right conditions.

Here is an interesting document with some archeological examples.

Historic England 2018 Waterlogged Organic Artefacts: Guidelines on their Recovery, Analysis and Conservation. Swindon: Historic England. -
https://historicengland.org.uk/image...nic-artefacts/

Kind regards,

Will.

**VietnamWarNut** · 11-09-2021, 02:38 AM

Very interesting! I read through some of it over the past few minutes, will have a good time reading the rest,

**TheGoon** · 11-09-2021, 03:06 AM

I myself have found a few hairs in a relic lid years back while I was cleaning it so I it’s definitely a thing. I’m not sure if all those pics posted are actually human hair though, there are some plant/tree roots out there that are very thin and fine that can resemble hair.

**MAP** · 11-09-2021, 04:15 AM

by VietnamWarNut

Recently, I’ve seen more helmets floating around that apparently have hair stuck inside them. I think most of us can agree that selling these is morally questionable, .....

I would go so far are as saying it is not questionable but outright wrong.

Unless we know EXACTLY where they came from, I've never been a fan of relics, especially battle damaged examples.

**TheGoon** · 11-09-2021, 04:37 AM

Agreed.

**reneblacky** · 11-09-2021, 05:42 AM

Could be the skins of the liners are not tanned properly?

**Spenwil73** · 11-09-2021, 07:01 AM

Interesting conversation and one I have personally thought about myself. If the hair were real I would not want anything to do with the helmet. Perhaps it should belong in a museum and or memorial. I cannot condone myself knowingly purchasing human remains.

**VietnamWarNut** · 11-09-2021, 09:21 PM

I agree with all you guys on the morality of sellig and buying human hair. I think that it’s very interesting if they are real from a historical and forensic perspective. However they really don’t have a place in someone’s personal collection, for them to be entertained by.