Well, it's happened - a day many thought would never come. But it seems that Justin Bieber, the Bob Dylan of his generation, has had his trademark fluffy-helmet hairstyle clipped and the off-cuts are soon to be sold for charity.
That makes it an auction of celebrity memorabilia and brings it into our domain. But it raises the question: would Justin Bieber's hair be likely to retain its value in years to come? Is it a plausible investment?
As we've often mentioned, hair certainly can be seen as an investment, and there is an established market amongst Bieber's musical fellows. Notably the market for Elvis hair is well-known, and obviously there is a draw for Michael Jackson's hair. Both are available at asmallpieceofhistory.com, for example.
However, there is a greater level of security in those markets, partly because the stars in question were established over many years with different age groups all round the world, and even more so now that they are no longer with us, whilst Bieber is in the very bloom of youth; that scalp may yet spin out more hair than Rapunzel's.
There's particular interest in hair associated with key events, of course. The Elvis market includes strands from when his barnet was cropped for the army, whilst Jackson's hair was famously burnt in a shocking accident during a Pepsi commercial. A change of hair style may not qualify.
However, with this news coming on the anniversary of Dolly the sheep's cloning back in 1997, there is now a constant awareness of the magic of holding something which includes someone's DNA code, their genetics.
That's not to suggest that anyone is going to clone young Justin, but perhaps in years to come his fans may still want a piece of the young star from his glory days.
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