I have heard that hair used in a garden is good for pesticide and fertilizer. Do you have any information about this? Also does it have to be human hair or is dog hair considered to be the same?
Here is what The Rodale Book of Composting (Rodale Press, 1992) says about using hair as fertilizer. “Between 6 and 7 pounds of hair contain as much nitrogen as 100 to 200 pounds of manure. Like feathers, hair will decompose rapidly in a compost pile but only if well-moistened and thoroughly mixed with an aerating material. Hair tends to pack down and shed water, so chopping or turning the pile regularly will hasten decay.”
I would think that any hair, including dog, would respond similarly. I would not add the hair directly to any planting area without putting it through the composting process described above. Also, hair which is heavily processed with chemicals (perms, dyed hair, etc.) doesn’t seem like anything I would want to add to the garden.
I could not find anything in the literature which mentions the use of hair as a pesticide, although I have heard that hair strewn around the garden beds may discourage animals from foraging there.