o now I have, as I threatened to do earlier this month, committed a quite unnatural (if purely cosmetological) experimental bonding between myself and a sheep.  Researching the entangling of human hair into matted locks has given me a better understanding of the nature of fleecy tresses, both human and otherwise.   This locking is widely practiced in a process known as felting whereby you utilize the inherent nature of wool and other animal hairs, because the hairs have scales on them which are directional. The hairs also have kinks in them, and this combination of scales (like the structure of a pine cone) is what reacts to the stimulation of friction and causes the phenomenon of felting. It tends to work well only with woolen fibers as their scales, when aggravated, bond together to form a cloth.  However even my baby-fine diaphanous mane has matted together admirably after nearly two years of vigorous attention, which brought me to this line of questioning.  If sheep's wool, by nature of its scaling and crimp make it so much easier to felt and spin than human hair, is it possible to combine fleece with human hair to overcome the inherent limitations set by my creator?  Let us set up a process to find out.

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fter acquiring some beautiful natural mahogany colored locks from a Jacob ram (see above picture), I selected a particularly anemic plait on my own head and carefully sewed a twisted piece of the wool through the length of my lock with a large blunt needle (after carefully washing and drying the sheep's wool first) and concluded the operation by symbolically tying a piece of red thread about the end of the piece to afford identification during the process.  The color I chose turned out to be a perfect match, and the fleece entwined hair is totally indistinguishable from its all human compatriots.  For now the only effect is that this once wispy dreadlock is now bulked out a little, but time, moisture, and friction will undoubtedly tell a different tale as things progress.  If things just dont work out, and my new friend becomes completely disrespectful/unmanageable/stinky then I can just clip the little bugger off and we can go our separate ways, no harm done.  Check back here for more details as this man-sheep relationship develops.