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StevenH · 09-11-2020, 01:06 PM

The Hair Growth spell can be used to enchant an item for a relatively cheap cost (100 energy). It causes hair to grow a million times faster, resulting in hair that grows 0.2 inches/second (nails too, but let's ignore that for the moment), or, after 8 hours, 480 feet long (and weighing 70lbs). Nice little prank to pull on someone while they are sleeping!

But it results in strands of hair 480 feet long. Normally, human hair makes lousy yarn, because the scales on the hairs don't adhere well to their neighboring hairs, meaning that the yarn has a tendency to unravel. But these hairs are 480 feet long. They won't unravel that easily.

Hair also has a tensile strength of between 200-250MPa, or about half that of steel. A full head of hair can support 12 tons, apparently, which corresponds to a rope about 3/4" in diameter.

By my calculations, a human hair rope 1/8" in diameter can support 650lbs (static; 160lbs in a fall). 200 yards of it weighs 4lbs. Pretty darn useful, if you ask me.

But that's not all. If every barber has one of these, that can generate a lot of hair. Industrial sized amounts of it. Rope just became fairly inexpensive. Wigs too.

And what if you put it on a sheep, or a yak or llama? A shepherd could just shear the same sheep each hour, producing immense amounts of wool. And so wool just became the cheapest fiber in the economy. In fact, if you don't have one of these devices, you are no longer in the wool business.

I also read about human hair being used as some sort of armor, but I couldn't find any details except to find a note saying that executioners hated their "clients" having long hair as it interfered with their blade. And I couldn't find any info on what kind of cloth could be made with such a fiber; I suspect it might be very useful.

Anyone have any other thoughts on the societal effects of such an item?

09-11-2020, 01:06 PM	#1
StevenH Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Portland, Oregon	Hair Growth magic item considerations The Hair Growth spell can be used to enchant an item for a relatively cheap cost (100 energy). It causes hair to grow a million times faster, resulting in hair that grows 0.2 inches/second (nails too, but let's ignore that for the moment), or, after 8 hours, 480 feet long (and weighing 70lbs). Nice little prank to pull on someone while they are sleeping! But it results in strands of hair 480 feet long. Normally, human hair makes lousy yarn, because the scales on the hairs don't adhere well to their neighboring hairs, meaning that the yarn has a tendency to unravel. But these hairs are 480 feet long. They won't unravel that easily. Hair also has a tensile strength of between 200-250MPa, or about half that of steel. A full head of hair can support 12 tons, apparently, which corresponds to a rope about 3/4" in diameter. By my calculations, a human hair rope 1/8" in diameter can support 650lbs (static; 160lbs in a fall). 200 yards of it weighs 4lbs. Pretty darn useful, if you ask me. But that's not all. If every barber has one of these, that can generate a lot of hair. Industrial sized amounts of it. Rope just became fairly inexpensive. Wigs too. And what if you put it on a sheep, or a yak or llama? A shepherd could just shear the same sheep each hour, producing immense amounts of wool. And so wool just became the cheapest fiber in the economy. In fact, if you don't have one of these devices, you are no longer in the wool business. I also read about human hair being used as some sort of armor, but I couldn't find any details except to find a note saying that executioners hated their "clients" having long hair as it interfered with their blade. And I couldn't find any info on what kind of cloth could be made with such a fiber; I suspect it might be very useful. Anyone have any other thoughts on the societal effects of such an item? __________________ Warmest regards, StevenH My current worldbuilding project. You can find the Adventure Logs of the campaign here. I try to write them up as narrative prose, with illustrations. As such, they are "embellished" accounts of the play sessions. Link of the moment: Bestiary of Plants. In a world of mana, plants evolved to use it as an energy source. It is also the new home of the Alaconius Lectures, a series of essays about the various Colleges of Spells.