The bizarre Avanos Hair Museum: a small cave containing hair samples, names and addresses of more than 16,000 women from all around the world. It was founded by Chez Galip, a talented potter from Avanos, a town famous for its pottery.

Since the first lock of hair went up in 1979, women of every description and from every corner of the world have willingly snipped off pieces of hair to leave in Galip’s cave. Each one carefully inscribes her name and address on a piece of paper before taping the hair and paper to the cave ceiling or wall. The surfaces of the cave are covered in dangling hairs of all colours and many different lengths.

A piece of hair from each interested women

The purpose of the addresses is to give Galip a way to contact his former visitors. Once a year, ten of the hair samples are chosen at random. The women to whom they once belonged are invited to come back to Galip’s studio for a pottery workshop and a stay in his traditional guest house – all free of charge.

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