Rock, Paper Scissor Salon Spa owner Melodi Wyss-Feliciano's philanthropic streak has landed her in a hairy situation.

The salon owner is collecting tresses shed by her clients — and anyone else who wants to bring in some hair, fur or feathers, to be fashioned into booms that may be used to help clean up the recent catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now instead of sweeping snipped locks off the floor and into the trash, the salon collects every strand and ships it to the offices of a nonprofit organization called Matter of Trust, which is collecting the hair and making it into booms and hair mats.

A Matter of Trust is a nonprofit founded by Lisa Gautier, whose husband is an executive at Apple Inc. The group specializes in connecting manmade and natural surplus materials with organizations and people that can use them.

According to the group's website, the unique, scale-like structure of a strand of hair makes it a perfect tool for sopping up oil. Gautier told the Wall Street Journal last year that a pound of hair can pick up one quart of oil in a minute and be wrung out and used up to 100 times.

A message on the group's website says the organization's lines are "blowing out," due to the thousands of salons, pet groomers and individuals who want to donate hair to the cause.

Hair booms are created by stuffing nylons — which the group is also collecting — with hair. The booms — which look like giant nasty worms — are then covered with nylon mesh.

Hair mats are made in factories that create a felt-like fabric from the hair.

What happens to the mats and booms after they are made is not entirely clear.

According to the Matter of Trust website, the organization's hair mats have been handed out to volunteers who used them to clean up after smaller spills in the past.

But it appears BP — the company responsible for causing and cleaning up the spill — is not yet using the hair booms being made at "Boom B-Que's" along the Gulf Coast in its cleanup efforts.

"We are using booms that we had listed in our response plan that was developed with the Coast Guard and various other people and that's what we have to use," said BP spokesman John Pack. "We haven't ever said we want hair booms. We have sufficient booms in place at the present time to cope with the current situation."

Gautier couldn't be reached for comment.

A news release on Matter of Trust's website has this to say about the matter:

"Matter of Trust is saying officially: 'At this time we are simply providing volunteers the opportunity to make hair booms and stockpile them all along the Gulf Coast in case BP needs them.' "

Rock Paper Scissor will collect clean hair or fur and nylons (new or used) at least until June 7. On June 7, the salon will host a "Clean-Up Cut-a-thon" featuring $25 haircuts on a first come, first-served basis. The money raised during the event will be donated to Matters of Trust to help defray shipping and other costs.

"It's such a small thing for us to do to give some haircuts, and it makes such a huge impact," Wyss-Feliciano said. "What we are trying to do now is get the word out. We'd love for other salons and groomers to bring in clean hair and fur as well."

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.