Hair ties made from used condoms
I’m not sure how I missed this story, but it’s even more disturbing than a federal ban on mascara.
Several news outlets including China Daily, Agence France-Presse and even USA Today reported that used condoms (yep, you read that right) were being made into hair ties and rubber bands in China.
According to a dermatologist from the Guangzhou Hospital of Armed Police, the condom hair ties could still carry bacteria and viruses and “people could be infected with AIDS, warts or other diseases if they hold the rubber bands or strings in their mouths while weaving their hair into plaits or buns.”
Ultimo gross, I know…but is it true? While Snopes.com confirmed that some of the bands had been created using bits of low quality, factory-reject condoms, the site also said that it’s still unclear whether or not some of the hair bands had actually been made out of used condoms.
About.com’s Urban Legends blog ventured further and expressed a healthy dose of skepticism by raising an important question: Is it really plausible that manufacturers would round up the large number of used condoms needed to make the hair ties?
DISCUSSION:
6 comments so far...
1 Karley // Nov 20, 2008 at 5:49 am
How disturbingly gross! I am pretty sure we won’t be seeing these in InStyle any time soon…yuck!
2 Randi // Nov 20, 2008 at 8:08 am
that is just….. GROSS…. made me gag! where do ppl get these idea from sometimes…. uuughhh.
3 Jazmin // Nov 20, 2008 at 8:14 am
I know! Isn’t it shocking?? And the photo I had up was just too gross…I had to change it!
4 Nat // Nov 20, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Uh, I think these are factory-rejected condoms, not previously used.
5 Jazmin // Nov 21, 2008 at 8:15 am
Yep, I would hope so and as About.com’s Urban Legends blog pointed out (it’s linked above in the story), it does seem unlikely that a manufacturer would gather up enough used condoms to produce these hair ties.
It would have been interesting if China Daily (or whoever else got ahold of these hair ties) could have had them tested.
6 Lyle // Dec 2, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Newly recycled or rejected flawed condoms may have been used, not USED! Nobody would be that dumb to dig through sewers and garbage bins for used condoms. Funny story though, gets people that believe anything all excited. The condom material would be excellent for hair bands.
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