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Comment by nlh | Hacker News Reader

This is a somewhat random note on the subject, but after reading one of the threads yesterday on Stripe, I found myself reading through their list of prohibited businesses/services (it's an interesting read if you're curious about high-fraud/sketchy business models).

And sure enough:

54) human hair, fake hair or hair-extensions

which says a lot about the industry.

(Note in looking this up just now, I found its only in the UK prohibited businesses, not the US list, which is also somewhat interesting)

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That might be due to restrictions on things regular companies/people can post in the UK. I used to work for $big_parcel_company and the list of things you weren't allowed to send was... interesting. Some made sense (bodily fluids for instance) some just seemed like old hangups (which possibly accounts for the hair in this case).

UK: I ran into the thing about batteries when sending a phone back to supplier not so long ago. Strange, I had to show the Post Office counter lady the original packaging that had space for the battery cut out of the foam. After some discussion, I was allowed to send the phone back but with the battery in the phone.

I don't think restrictions on mailing batteries is that strange. Lithium-ion batteries can fail pretty spectacularly when damaged [0].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUFxlf4fXjo

The ability to weaponize a failure-at-will is somewhat documented by neo-anarchist cookbooks.

I've posted batteries plenty of times, you just need to add a warning label to the outside of the packagem

Hair is a fairly dangerous product; Lice, fleas, ticks, and other nasties that can spread disease like to nest in it. It's technically a body part, and I only say technically for the sake of argument; It is a body part. Most people are grossed out by fingernail clippings, which are pretty much the same thing (Primarily keratin).

Hair (and probably fingernails, were there a market for them) is relatively easy to clean compared to other body parts, but it is still a potential biohazard. Having regulations and restrictions around it makes sense - And I'm a die-hard libertarian saying this.

Presumably animal fur isn't prohibited. You can catch nasty things from fur and hides, and some tanning processes are nasty, too.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those parasites only to survive on live hair, because of the heat provided by the head the shelter provided by the hair?

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