Galip Körükçü, a ceramic master, has a hair fetish. Why would anyone collect hair from women all around the world without being obsessed? The Turk started in 1979 and since then a flood of people have decorated the place and brought him a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records.
A pottery center/guest house in Avanos, Turkey created the Avanos Hair Museum. Its displays are thousands of locks of hair, all from female visitors. Reportedly the local potter, Chez Galip, was bidding farewell to a friend of his when he asked for something to remember her by, and she cut off a piece of her hair to leave as a reminder. He put it up in his shop, and told the story to the visitors and tourists who passed through. Other women who enjoyed the story left a piece of their hair as well. It now holds an estimated 16,000 samples by the museum’s own count.
Twice a year, in June and December, the first customer who comes in Chez Galip’s shop is invited down into the Hair Museum to choose ten winners off the walls. These ten receive an all-expenses-paid week-long vacation in Cappadocia, where they participate in his pottery workshops for free.