CEN A Romanian woman has made a vest using her own hair gathered after combing it for more than 20 years

Ortansa Pascariu, 65, made the garment using her own HAIR gathered after combing it for more than 20 years. She lives in the small village of Stauceni in the north-eastern side of the country where tradition has it that a woman should never throw away lost hair. So when she decided she wanted to have some good luck, she started to faithfully save it by putting it aside in a bag, and after 20 years started to wonder what she might do with it.

CEN Ortansa sporting her human hair vest

After much pondering, eventually she decided to see if she could make it into something, and as a result is now the proud owner of a human hair vest.

It was strange, but also very pleasant to knit something in your own hair Ortansa Pascariu

She said: "I heard from elderly friends that women should not throw their lost hair away after combing. "They need to keep it. If not, the elderly say, it is as if you are throwing away your beauty."

CEN In her village there is a tradition that woman should never throw away their hair

Believing what she was told, she said: "I started gathering my hair when I was 40 and by the age of 60 I had managed to gather one kilo, which was as much as I needed for a vest. "This is hair lost during combing. I used to grow it very long. I had long threads that went from my head to my hips. "I made each thread I used in knitting from two hair threads so it is more resistant. I finished the vest in a week.

GETTY This is knitting with a twist using hair instead of wool