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A hair museum is a museum that has displays of hair art, dating back to the 1800s. Hair art is items or paintings with hair from famous people or hair from people that have a story to tell.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] History of hair art

Hair art was a form of art that began in the 1800s and flourished in the Victorian era. This form of art was used by people to keep the memory of a loved one before cameras were invented.^[1] According to the Minnesota history magazine hair originated in Europe, England and France, than made its way to the United States. This form of art consisted of necklaces, bracelets, rings, lockets, paintings, and medallions. These items would be embellished with strands of hair from a loved one.^[1]

[edit] Leila's Hair Museum

One of the most famous and first hair museum in the United States is Leila Cohoon’s hair museum.^{[citation needed]} Leila Cohoon is a 77 year old cosmetologist teacher and who has been collecting hair for over 37 years. Leila Cohoon was also a friend of Ronald Reagan and Oliver North; she is a member of the Missouri board of Cosmetology.^[2] Cohoon owns her own her school called the Independence school of cosmetology in Independence, Missouri.^[3] Leila Cohoon started collecting hair since 1949 and considers it to be her profession.^[2] Cohoon was always fascinated with hair as a child and believes its one of the most unique part of the human body. Leila Cohoon opened the hair museum in 1989 in a small room located in her cosmetology school.^[3] She decided to open the little room because she didn’t have any more space for her years collection of hair art. Leila Cohoon moved her hair school and museum a few blocks from the old location for more space.^[4]) The new location consists of a couple of rooms with four walls covered with the hair art from top to bottom.^[3]

[edit] Hair art displayed in Leila's Hair Museum

Leila’s Hair Museum has 159 wreaths and over 2,000 pieces of jewelry with hair embellished in it dating before the 1900s. Some of her collection she brought from the library or online but in order for her to purchase on line the seller has to have an authentic proof for the hair art they are selling.^[5] The museum is open to the public for Five dollars on Monday through Saturday from 8:30am to 4:30pm.^[6] Leila Cohoon has many different kind of hair art in her museum. She has framed art on the wall that is over a hundred years old. For example one was an assemble from the hair from every member of the chapter of the League of Women Voters and two were made from the sisters whose heads were shorn when they entered a convent.^[3] That was one of Leila Cohoon’s first collections in 1956. Leila Cohoon also has paintings with hair of babies who have passed. Cohoon also has hair art with famous people's hair. She has hair art made from Elvis Presley and is a framed plaque. She also has hair from Washington, Lincoln, Daniel Webster, Aaron Burr, and singer Jenny Lind.^[6] Cohoon has locks of hair from the first US commanders in chief.^[6] Leila Cohoon is not dedicated to collecting famous people hair but that does not mean she will not have some on display. Leila’s Hair Museum has appeared in many magazines, articles, and shows.^{[citation needed]} She has appeared in People magazine, Women's World, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, the Kansas City Star newspaper, 100 of the most Unusual Museums, and many more shows and magazines.^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (October 2009)

• Castaneda, Erin. "Hair art history unlocked." LJWorld. 7 Aug. 2009. Accessed 20 October 2009.
• Hendricks, Mike. "Mike Hendricks column: Go ahead, Philly, and try to top this." The Kansas City Star, 18 February 2008: 1–3.
• "Human Hair Ornaments." Minnesota History Summer 1974: 70–74. Minnesota History. Minnesota Historical Society collections. Accessed 21 October 2009.
• Kirby, Doug, Ken Smith, and Mike Wilkins. "Leila's Hair Museum." RoadsideAmerica. Accessed 16 October 2009.
• "Leila's Hair Museum." Hairworks. Accessed 16 October 2009.
• Rombeck, Terry. "Museum tangled in history of hair." LJWorld. Accessed 20 October 2009.
• Uhlenbroch, Tom. "Strand by strand, museum dedicated to collecting hair art." St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 28 April 2005: 1–2.