Hair-Raising Celebrity Fetishes

The cult of celebrity has been known to inspire strange behavior in otherwise normal folk. From collectors of movie star postcards to Elvis impersonators and autograph hounds (fyi, Autograph Collector magazine recently named Johnny Depp the best signer), celebrity fetishism is no longer all that outré.

John Reznikoff, celebrity hair collector. (Photo courtesy John Reznikoff)

But this morning when I read about John Reznikoff's collection, even I wrinkled my nose and uttered a little "Ewww." Reznikoff, you see, holds the Guinness World Record for the "largest and most valuable collection of celebrity hair." Yes, hair.

Now, putting aside all sorts of fascinating details (like where did he get this hair? How does he store it? How much hair constitutes a genuine sample -- just one strand or must it be a lock and how does he trace the authenticity?), why hair? According to a February interview with Maxim magazine, Reznikoff originally acquired a small collection of hair dating back to the 1860s and built his collection from there.

The Internet has made it easier to quietly amass a collection, whatever your object of desire. A few strands of John F. Kennedy's hair mounted in a nice frame recently sold on E-Bay for $205.49 (and similarly encased hair strands from Princess Diana, Elvis Presley, George Harrison and even Secretariat are currently open to bids). Autographs are, of course, a dime (or sometimes several thousand dollars) a dozen on the auction site.