Where the Buffalo Roam

My partner and I in a car late last spring.
D.P. "Was that a Buffalo?"
ME: "Oh my god, is that American Cashmere on the hoof?"

We stop and ask the neighbors until the owner, Ray, is I.D.Ed and a phone # given. Ray, also owns the only gasoline station in town and is mildly amused that I want a bag of Buffalo hair. He tells me the field is full of the stuff and if I can help him find a way to make $$ off of it, he'll give me all I can carry.

The next morning--there's a scary bag of hair/dung/ vm waiting for me at the Citgo. As a spinner you run into some pretty gnarly dark corners with the stuff you plan to wash, dye and beautify, but this was truly over the top. It looked like what our friend Roberto pulled out of the shower drain last year that made me want to sell the house. It's hair, not fleece, not silky llama hair, but coarse you-know-what textured hair. Ooooooowwwwww.



SO how does one begin? I do an internet search and find to my great consternation...the directions for how to clean Buffalo hair and separate the down, or good stuff, from the unspeakable hair is patented. YES patented, read the whole "hairy" story here:http://www.girlfromauntie.com/journal/index.php/2005/the-buffalo-gal/


So I figure, what do I have to lose. I have a garbage bag full of yuck with potential. First, I dump it all a big laundry tub and start going through it...then I remember left over rubber gloves from this week's hair change...Finally I find that the buffalo down looks really different than the guard hairs and is all together in one clump. Good news, except it also looks like it may be felted already.

On the left is guard hair


On the right the good stuff