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Avanos, a small town in the Cappodocian area of Turkey, has a history of ceramics and pottery dating back thousands of years. But visitors are increasingly interested in seeing a much newer attraction: a cave full of human hair.

In 1979, local potter Galip Korukcu was bidding farewell to a dear friend. When he asked for a memento to remember her by, she cut off a piece of her hair. Korukcu stuck it on one of the walls of his shop—located in a cave—and told the story to visitors and tourists who passed through. Not to be outdone, other women began to contribute their own locks of their hair.  

The hair museum now crams an estimated 16,000 hair samples onto its walls. Female visitors are welcome to snip off a few strands of hair and attach them to a card with their contact details to add to the display. Pencils, paper, pins, and scissors are provided.

There is an added incentive for contributing to the collection: Twice a year, Korukcu asks a customer to choose 10 winning hair samples from the walls. The owners of the tresses receive a free week-long stay in the connected guest house and workshops with the master potter.

Visit Atlas Obscura for more on the Avanos hair museum.

Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen:

• A museum in Missouri celebrates the Victorian obsession with hair art
• Alaska's Miller Comb Museum has the largest collection of ornamental hair combs on the planet
• See mittens made from human hair at Denmark's Bangsbo Museum

Visit Atlas Obscura for more on the Avanos hair museum.