Karl Rutgers, 77, officially, has the longest ear hair in the world. Measuring at 645 feet long, the ear hair has proven to be quite useful in multiple situations.
“It makes for one hell of a combover,” says, Mr. Rutgers, as he relaxes in a cozy, wicker chair. Mr. Rutgers also used the ear hair to string his harp, which he plays on a semi-profession basis at the WormHole Square Symphony Orchestra.
“I’ve been growing this ear hair for forty-seven years,” Mr. Rutgers says. He goes on. “Back in the day, I only used my ear hair to dip my tea bags and as a high wire prop for a flea circus I ran on a part-time basis.” Mr. Rutgers proudly points to pictures of his high-wire fleas in action. He smiles, continues. “Nowadays, my ear hair has more applicable possibilities. Like, my grandson uses my ear hair as floss. It has just the right amount of ear wax on it to smoothly get in-between his teeth without causing his gums to bleed.”
In addition, Rutger’s wife, Jenny, uses his ear hair to sew on armadillo tail extensions. His son, Karl Jr., uses his dad’s ear hair as fishing line and his other son, Emory, uses the hair as string to fly his kites.
“My wife is great,” Mr. Rutgers, adds lovingly. “She also used my ear hair to knit me these socks and this G-string I’m wearing.”