A lock of hair, reputedly from King George III.
In modern times we memorialize our loved ones by saving old photographs, holding onto their jewelry, or keeping their ashes in an urn. But, according to Artsy, before we had photographs of people to remember them by, people often saved their hair.
It was impossible to save someone’s rotting flesh before modern preservation techniques were developed, plus it’s pretty disgusting. So hair was the only part of the body that one could keep. Human hair can retain its color and texture for years after someone has passed, so it's a durable material to turn into remembrance art.
“The keeping and saving of hair for future use in jewelry or other commemorative craft (such as wreaths) was common,” Karen Bachmann wrote, according to Artsy. The practice was common in Victorian England and it was brought across the pond to America’s frontier.
Hair art.
“The Victorians were also famously sentimental,” Joanna Ebenstein, founder of New York’s Morbid Anatomy Library and Gift Shop told Artsy. “Hair art, which could be used to commemorate the living or dead beloved, perfectly merges the fashion for mourning and sentimentality."
TikTok user Christina Dyer, who runs The Dyer Ghoul House, which specializes in gothic content, went viral recently after a video she shared on the platform received more than 1.9 million views. The video shows her opening a book from the 1800s that she had purchased, only to find around eight folded pieces of paper with names and dates containing pieces of hair.
"I pretty much have a whole family!" Dyer wrote in a subsequent video.
@thedyerghoulhouse Question is what do i do with them? 🫣 #victorianhair #victorianmourning
A lot of people thought the hair was taken for nefarious reasons. "Me thinking it’s trophies from a serial killer in the 1800s," ultraoldsoul commented.
However, multiple people remarked that it was a common practice for people to save their loved ones’ hair and turn it into a keepsake. "That was a common thing to do in that times, to preserve that person's memory, or they gifted a piece of their hair as a sign of affection," Jennifer Marie commented.
After the video went viral, Dyer shared another one showing what she planned to do with the hair. “I was drawn to a lock of the mother's hair, so of course I framed it," Dyer wrote. In the video, she shares a frame with "Mother 1862" written on it. "Now I need to decide what to do with the others," she adds.
@thedyerghoulhouse Replying to @she_horror Update! 🕊 #victorianmourning #victorianhair
After finding the hair, Dyer did some research and discovered the names of three of the people whose hair was in the book.
"Here are three of the people whose hair I found inside the antique book," she wrote in a follow-up video. The good news was that they all lived long lives for the era. “Walter died aged 78, Constance 77, and Lawrence 57. If my sources are correct!” she wrote.
@thedyerghoulhouse Replying to @elviratsquirrel Constance is a beauty. 🕊 #victorianmourning #victorianera #victorianhair
It’s tantalizing to wonder if the people whose hair she found have any idea where their last mortal remains turned up. However, they probably would have a really hard time understanding the internet and what it means to “go viral.”
The wonderful thing is that—although some may find it a bit morbid—Dyer is treating the hair with respect, just as the person who placed it in the book intended. Plus, it’s always wise to curry favor with the dead.
A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via 
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
Gif of baby being baptized
Woman gives toddler a bath Canva
An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.