Michael Jackson's Hair to Become Roulette Ball

Listen up, curly hair ladies! As Editor at NC.com, I have a tendency (not to mention a job description”> to peruse the Internet for wavy, curly or kinky trends, hot news items and just plain updates on what’s going on in our textured world. In doing so, I’ve found some pretty absurd things over the past few months. Some of these stories you may very well remember: Justin Bieber’s hair being sold online, hair necklaces being showcased at the Louvre, talking vaginas with afros, just to name a few.

But this new story that keeps popping up all over my Google news feed has me baffled, albeit legitimately worried, about the human race.

See, a couple weeks ago I saw that another celebrity’s hair was being sold online. I figured that this particular celebrity’s hair would sell for quite a nice amount — after all, Bieber’s did!

Michael Jackson was a musical icon, a legend, a man whose life very much encompasses and defines a generation of life on this planet. His hair, I figured, was going to go for a lot. In fact, I even considered writing up a piece of content for all of you and letting you in on the action, or at least letting you know about it so that you could have something interesting to tell your co-workers at the water cooler.

I didn’t, though, because upon further investigation I realized that the hair that was to be sold was found in the drain in the shower of Jackson’s Carlyle Hotel room in New York. I don’t care how famous you are, but hair from a drain is just plain gross.

Immediately, I was confused. Why would someone pull his hair out of the drain and keep it? Why would someone keep it so long as to put it up for auction, NOW? And for the love of whatever god or you do or don’t believe in, who would buy this drain hair?

Bieber’s hair was a nice hair clipping picked up off the barber shop floor — nothing super gross about that, especially to a pre-teen fanatic. But Jackson’s hair was washed down the drain. Then retrieved. Then stored. Ew.

Anyway, I passed on the story.

Yesterday, however, Google news wouldn’t let me do any such thing. See, someone bought his hair all right (some crazed human being was bound”>. But that isn’t the crazy part of the story — nope. His hair (from the drain mind you”> sold for $10,871 to a gambling website who is planning on turning the hair into a roulette ball.

I’ll break here and let that sink in for you real quick.

OnlineGamblingPal.com issued the following statement: “The ball itself will be made to the highest professional standards, ensuring it will be eligible for use at any licensed casino’s roulette table. Indeed, considering Jackson dedicated his life to entertaining millions, the prospect of this very special ball captivating crowds at roulette tables seems like a fitting use for it. Together, we can ensure Michael Jackson continues to rock and ‘ROLL’ forever.”

So as I sit here at my desk this morning, I can’t figure out which I find to be worse: the fact that the hair was pulled from a drain, the fact that it sold for over $10,000, or the fact that it is going to be made into a roulette ball.

For me, it is all disturbing. Hair is important, and curlies, I know you are with me on that. But this — this is too much.

It’s gross, it seems a little degrading, and it just means that while people die everyday from hunger, wars, car accidents, cancers, etc. someone out there is buying a wad of dead celebrity hair from a shower drain and making it into a roulette ball so that some poor unknowing gambler can help Michael Jackson rock and “roll” forever.

Final Thoughts

Concerned about the human race? Why, yes. Yes, quite a bit. Are you?