There's nothing gruesome about collecting human hair. Visitors who come to my museum in Independence, Missouri, often think the exhibits are cut from dead people but they were mostly very much alive. The tradition dates back hundreds of years, to a time when giving a keepsake of human hair was a token of love. It's true that some pieces were also an act of remembrance for a family member who had passed away but it was always done for a loving reason.

收集人类头发没什么可怕的。游客们来到密苏里州独立城参观我的博物馆时，常常以为展品是从死人头上剪下的，其实它们的主人大多活得好好的。收藏头发的习俗可以追溯到数百年前，当时，赠人头发作为纪念是爱情的象征。也有一些头发是为纪念逝去的亲人而剪下的，但无论如何，爱总是剪下头发的动机。

I started working with hair in 1949 as a trainee hairdresser. I loved being in a beauty salon and knew immediately that it was right for me, although I had no idea then where it would lead me. In 1956, just after I married my husband Don, I walked into an antique shop in Kansas City and spotted a tiny wreath of human hair, set in a gold frame. I was mesmerised and wanted it immediately. I had $35 saved to buy some new Easter shoes and I spent the lot on this 6in sq piece of art. Don says it cost a lot more because I have spent so much developing my collection since.

我1949年开始与头发打交道，当时的工作是实习理发师。我喜欢在发廊工作，并立马认识到这是我的理想职业，但我还不知道自己在这条路上会有怎样的未来。1956年，就在我与唐恩(Don)结婚不久后，我走进了堪萨斯城的一家古董店，注意到一小绺编成环、嵌在金框里的头发。我立刻被吸引住了，我想买下它。我本来存了35美元，打算为复活节添置新鞋，但结果把钱花在了这件6平方英寸大小的工艺品上。唐恩说它的价钱远不止这么多，因为从那以后，我花了很多钱扩充我的藏品。

I opened my own Lady Marceline Beauty Salon that same year and put the frame of hair next to the mirror. A few months later, I was cutting a woman's hair and she just happened to spot it. She said she had a hair wreath for sale in her antique shop, so I bought that one as well. From that point on, I went searching for new pieces.

同年，我自己开了家马塞利娜夫人发廊(Lady Marceline Beauty Salon)，将那个嵌着头发的金框摆在镜子边。几个月后，我为一位女士理发时，她碰巧注意到了它。她说，她的古董店里也有一件头发环。于是我也把那一件买下来了。之后，我开始不断寻找新藏品。

The oldest item I have in the museum is a crystal brooch with a piece of hair inside that was made in 1680. Hair jewellery later became popular with the Victorians, who used it to make earrings, necklaces and brooches. When Queen Victoria died, it is said she was buried wearing a bracelet made of hair from her beloved husband Albert, plus another piece of hair from her favourite personal servant, John Brown.

博物馆里最古老的藏品是一枚制于1680年、内嵌头发的水晶胸针。在维多利亚时期，用头发制作的饰物开始流行起来，人们用它制作耳环、项链和胸针。据说，维多利亚女王去世后，下葬时戴着用她心爱的丈夫阿尔伯特(Albert)的头发做成的手镯，陪葬的还有她生前最喜欢的贴身仆人约翰•布朗(John Brown)的一束头发。

I'm 81 now and my collection has 2,000 exhibits, plus 600 hair wreaths, which are shaped like a horseshoe and often set in a frame. These designs were commonly made of human hair from an entire family and their relations, all weaved together into one piece. I have one that has the names of 82 people written next to it, so it acts like a family tree. Hair doesn't deteriorate even when it has been cut so this is an everlasting record of those people.

我现在81岁了，拥有2000件展品和600件头发环。头发环做成马掌形，通常嵌在框里。作品材料通常是一整个家族及其亲戚的头发，这些头发被编织进同一件工艺品。有一件藏品旁边写有82个名字，就像是家谱一样。头发被剪下后也不会变质，所以这是对这些人永存的纪念。

I opened my own beauty school in 1960 and moved my collection of hair artefacts there. Eventually, it outgrew that space, so we found another building a few blocks away. My children and a grandson will carry on the tradition when I'm no longer around.

1960年，我开设了自己的美发学校，将收藏的头发工艺品移到了那里。最后因为容纳不下了，我们将藏品放在几个街区之外的一座建筑里。当我去世后，我的子孙们将延续收藏头发的传统。

People contact me from all over the world offering new pieces, and I buy a lot on eBay - the average price is about $150. The cheapest piece of hair art I bought was 35 cents in a garage sale and the most expensive was $1,500. A lot depends on the size and the quality of the frame. I don't often accept the hair of famous people because it's difficult to confirm the authenticity, but I do have some: from Queen Victoria herself and from four American presidents, including Lincoln. There are also framed snippets of hair from Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson.

世界各地的人们联系我，提供新的工艺品，我也在eBay上买了很多——每件的均价是150美元左右。我买过的最便宜的头发工艺品是在一次旧物拍卖上买到的，花了35美分。最贵的花了1500美元。价格在很大程度上取决于框的大小和质量。我不常接受名人的头发，因为难以分辨真假，但我确实收藏了一些名人头发：例如维多利亚女王本人和四位美国总统（包括林肯(Abraham Lincoln)）的头发。还有埃尔维斯•普雷斯利(Elvis Presley)、玛丽莲•梦露(Marilyn Monroe)和迈克尔•杰克逊(Michael Jackson)的头发，都是嵌在框里。

My favourite piece is a tiny frame, 3in by 4in. It contains a pocket book that holds a wreath of hair dated 1880. The name inscribed is Lucy Connell, who made it when she was 46 years old, together with the names of her daughter and her five children. There are 35 different techniques for making a hair wreath and this one uses eight, which makes it very rare indeed.

我最喜欢的是一件1980年的小作品：4英尺长、3英尺宽的框里嵌着一本小笔记本，本子里夹着一绺头发环。作品上刻着露西•康奈尔(Lucy Connell)、她的女儿和五个孙子孙女的名字。露西在46岁时制作了这件作品。制作头发环有35种不同的技巧，而这件采用了8种，所以真的很罕见。

We welcome around 150 visitors to the museum every month. I spend a lot of my time teaching people the art of hair weaving and writing a book on hair and its history. I'm not sure how people will remember me but I wouldn't mind if it was through a locket of my own hair that would last for ever.

每个月约有150名游客参观我的博物馆。我花很多时间教人如何编头发，还在写一本关于头发和头发历史的书。我不知道以后人们会如何怀念我，但如果他们用我的一绺可以永远保存的头发来纪念我的话，我毫无异议。