Chris in Canada wrote:
Your long-haired cat or dog or local pet groomer are a wonderful
source of free realistic hair for both dolls and mini-pets you 'fur'
yourself. Just bundle it into small clumps held with a clip or
elastic then shampoo it, adding a conditioner if needed and let dry.
My youngest Shih-Tzu has a wonderful grey-white mix stripe in his
otherwise ivory tail, which I 'harvest' before he heads off for a day
at the doggie spa, and my late (d. 05/08) fluffy feline friend Taffi
donated many baggies of long soft red-blond and white hair clipped
from his beautiful coat over the last 10 years of his life. I also
recently bribed my groomer with a promise of coffee and a warm muffin
every time my pups came in, if she would save any long and fine hair
from dogs she had groomed since our last visit in a bag for me. Two
visits later, I had more lovely soft hair in various colours than I
could use in a lifetime. I still take her the 'bribe' but now it is
for Angora and Persian cat hair which is taking longer to collect,
but is well worth the wait. :-D
Please don't freak out about using cat or dog hair if you have
allergy issues or are germaphobic. (Is that a word?) It's the
'dander' or dandruff, aka the dead skin cells that flake off every
mammal 24/7, that are the allergy issue, and as for germs, you
probably have more on one hair on your head right now than are on a
whole clump of shampooed dog or cat hair.