How can I preserve a lock of hair as a keepsake or memorial jewellery?
- ✓ Best method: secure the hair with a small elastic before cutting; store in an envelope.
- ✓ Avoid sticky tape, glue, and glass vials — they cause loss of strands or make later use difficult.
- ✓ For jewellery, consider secure hidden-compartment pieces and learn the difference between ashes vs hair keepsakes.
If you’re planning to create memorial jewellery following the death of a loved one, you might not be ready to make your choices right away.
In this case, you might need to preserve a lock of hair or even fur until you are ready to make your jewellery.
We’re sharing this short guide to help you to keep locks of hair or fur safe until you’re ready to turn them into beautiful pieces of jewellery. This can also help you to safely transport the locks to our studio.
What is the best way to save locks of hair?
Saving a lock of hair from a loved one after they have passed, or even from a child as they are growing up, can be a wonderful keepsake that you’ll treasure forever. If you’ve ever cut a piece of hair, you’ll know that it very quickly wants to spread out and become a small pile of hair strands. So, how do you keep it together as a perfect lock?
The easiest way would be to use a small plastic elastic that you place on the hair before you cut. Gather up a small amount of the hair and then secure this close to the end with a small plastic elastic. Make sure this is very secure. You can then cut above the elastic and it will keep it together. Keep this secure in an envelope to prevent strands from coming loose.
If you’ve already cut the hair or if you don’t have access to elastics, then you could also try flattening the lock in a book. This method will keep the hair together and give you some time to decide what you would like to do with it.
For pet fur, it’s often very difficult to get the strands to stay together, so you’ll simply have to collect the fur in an envelope and keep it safe until you have decided on your memorial keepsake.
Methods to avoid
You’ll want to avoid methods such as using sticky tape or glue to hold the hair together. This is because the tape or glue will have to be cut away before you can use it, and this means that a portion of the hair will have to be thrown away. It might seem like a small thing, but it can be very emotional to have to part with any section of the hair.
You should also avoid methods such as glass vials, as these might hold the lock in place in the short term, but you’ll soon see that the strands fall apart and will become difficult to work with.
When selecting your memorial keepsake, we would recommend hidden compartment jewellery over styles such as resin keepsakes. This is because resin will break down over time when it is exposed to UV light or water. For a fuller overview, see cremation ashes vs hair keepsakes.
Preserving hair or fur: quick reference
| Method | Use when | How to | Considerations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elastic + envelope | Freshly cutting a lock | Secure hair near end with a small elastic; cut above; place in paper envelope. | Keeps strands together; easy to handle later. |
| Press in a book | No elastic available / already cut | Flatten lock between pages to keep together temporarily. | Move to an envelope for transport. |
| Pet fur in envelope | Fur won’t stay as a “lock” | Collect gently and store in a labelled paper envelope. | Simple, low-risk way to keep safe. |
| Avoid: tape/glue | — | Do not use adhesives to hold hair together. | Adhesive must be cut off; wastes precious strands. |
| Avoid: glass vials | — | Do not rely on vials to keep a lock intact. | Strands fall apart; difficult to work with later. |
