“fly fishing line”, human hair, metal ring, 10.5” feet / 3.2 meters

There are all sorts of hair-waste technologies I've been researching (from fertilizers, fabrics, and biomedical), but because I am a fly fisherwoman, I also wondered how some of these nearly-lost traditional weaving strategies would have been similarly applied for crafting tools, such as fishing lines.

Many of us have heard about old fishing lines made from horse hair, but human hair? Why not, it's nearly the same fiber, but human hair is stronger and more readily available. It took me a while to find it, but back in 1895, an article was published in the UK (see below) stating a "well-known fishing tackle maker" was using human hair waste from barber's clippings to manufacture flies and lines. I'm not sure to which capacity since the article lacks details. Still, I crafted one (from my combings) based on historical horse hair and silk line methods by combining snooding and table-braiding techniques to form a 10.5 ft tapered line. (see picture)

Did I mention I fish tenkara style, too; I figured a fixed line would be the best place to start with this experiment so the knots wouldn't be running through and catching on rod guides.

Technical specs:

The material is my naturally-shed hair.
First, I twisted the hair into small “snoods” (sections) with 2-4 hairs each.
Then, I extended those by table-weaving a 4-strand braid, starting with 20 hairs total and tapering up (adding in snoods with a double surgeon’s knot) to around 100 hairs at the thickest end.
To finish, it was placed in boiling water for 5 minutes and then blow-dried on the hottest setting.
It is 10.5 feet / 3.2 meters long from end to end.
I made a loop at the top (thickest end) to secure it to my Tenkara rod and secured a tippet ring at the thin end for the line to fly (bait) connection.
Right before fishing, I also added a fly line dressing (conditioner) to it for added water and sun protection.

Next up, Part 2, Hair Flies

Update: I wrote an article about human hair fishing lines that was published in Tenkara Angler, Spring 2023 - check it out if you’d like: A History You’ve Never Heard: The Past, Present, and Future of Fishing Lines

Human Hair Fishing Line

Fishing Flies Made With Human Hair

40 days