Bid Me Baby, One More Time

Britney Hair Gets $25 Million Bid On eBay

Have you ever paid $25 million bucks for a lock? No? Here’s your chance. If you have a lazy $25 million sitting around, you can indeed buy a lock - of Britney Spears’ hair. Bidding on eBay started at $12.98 (yes, that’s right, just a tad under thirteen bucks!) and rapidly escalated, topping the eight-figure mark in just a few hours.
According to CBS4.com, several people have posted items on eBay, claiming to have the actual hair that was shaved off of Britney Spears’ head Friday night (US time) at Esther Tognozzi's salon in Los Angeles. One seller, who goes by the name of “Cornorstore” on eBay claims to not only have locks of genuine Spears hair, but also a Red Bull energy can she was drinking from, as well as a lighter.
The seller claims all the items are authentic and are “offering it for sale here at what we feel is a realistic price. This is a piece of history that can not be duplicated.” Another item up for sale on eBay is the alleged clippers that were used the shave Britney’s head. Unfortunately for the owner who put the clippers up for sale, it has only fetched a bid of $20.00, plus $9.00 for shipping and handling.
It reminded me of the furore over another international celebrity three years ago, when Neil Armstrong was outraged at the actions of his regular barber, Marx Sizemore, of Lebanon, Ohio. I remembered that Sizemore had sold some of Arnstrong’s locks - without the knowledge or indeed the permission of NASA’s most famous son - for $3000. I sort of remembered that Armstrong had taken legal action, but I had to do some research to check the facts.
According to Wikipedia, Armstrong threatened to sue Marx Sizemore. He had swept up some of Armstrong’s hair clippings and sold them to celebrity hair collector, John Reznikoff. Armstrong was furious but Sizemore was unable to get the hair back from Reznikoff.
There is an interesting background to this episode, because Armstrong decided in 1994 to refuse any requests for autographs. The same year, he sued Hallmark Cards after the company used his name and a recording of "one small step" quote in a Christmas ornament without seeking his permission. The lawsuit was settled out of court and it was reported that Amrstrong immediately donated the undisclosed sum of to Purdue University.
In this light, I decided to confirm the details of the Armstrong-Sizemore saga and found a report, dated 1 June, 2005, by Dan Majors in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The article quoted Sizemore saying, ``I didn't deny it or anything. I told him I did it.’’ Sizemore said Armstrong, who is known to cherish his privacy, asked him to try to retrieve the hair, but the buyer did not want to give it back. ``I called Neil back and told him that,’’ Sizemore said. ``Then I got this letter from his lawyer.’’
But the one line that really caught my eye was a gem of a comment from Majors. He wrote: ``Sizemore, for his part, cuts hair; he doesn't split them.’’

FOOTNOTE: If you really must bid for Britney Spears' locks on eBay, you'll have to decide on a bald-park figure.