The 'world's only' mammoth hair hat is on-sale in Russia for £8,000 ($10,000) – but wearing the headwear might be an even bigger irritation than the price tag.

According to mammoth expert Semyon Grigoriev, the crocheted beanie is the 'prickliest' hat he has ever felt, describing the sensation of wearing it like a 'head massage'.

The headwear – which is odourless – was knitted from the coat of a woolly mammoth, a species which died around 10,000 years ago.

A certificate from Grigoriev, who works as the director of the Mammoth Museum in Russia, appears to confirm the wool is genuine.

The hat is now on sale with a price tag of £8,000 ($10,000).

Scroll down for video

Wearing a garment made out of a rare species is considered by many to be rather bad taste. But this beany hat is truly one of a kind, having been knitted from the coat of a woolly mammoth, a species which died out thousands of years ago

Vladimir Ammosov, a 44-year-old builder from Yakutsk, Siberia (pictured), had the hat created from a pelt retrieved from the permafrost in remote Siberia where the Ice Age beast died

Vladimir Ammosov, a 44-year-old builder from Yakutsk, Siberia, had the hat created from a pelt retrieved from the permafrost in remote Siberia where the Ice Age beast died.

Mr Ammosov said he bought the wool from his uncle, who’d originally dug it out of the ice.

He added: ‘My relative went to a woolly mammoth graveyard site at Kazachye village in Ust-Yanskiy in Yakutia.

This image shows Mammoth hair displayed at the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk Copy to caption PMS transfer info

Mr Ammosov said he bought the wool (pictured) from his uncle, who’d originally dug it out of the ice

Mr Ammosov added: ‘My relative went to a woolly mammoth graveyard site at Kazachye village in Ust-Yanskiy in Yakutia'

‘He picked up a full plastic bag of woolly mammoth hair and later sold it to me because he needed money.

‘I kept looking at the bag, wondering what to do with the hair, and then thought why not to try and make a hat?

‘In Yakutia, we make traditional round hats of horse hair, so why not to try and use mammoth hair and to create something truly unique?’

The bundle was given to an expert knitter to make the crocheted, rough textured skull cap. It is purportedly rather prickly to wear.

Semyon Grigoryev, director of Yakutia's Mammoth Museum, confirmed that this was indeed authentic hair from the extinct beasts.

'This was the prickliest hat I have ever worn,’ the expert told the Siberian Times.

'It is completely odourless, but unlike, say, bisons, woolly mammoth had really rough hair. Wearing the hat felt like I was having a head massage'.

A certificate from mammoth expert Semyon Grigoriev (pictured) - director of the Mammoth Museum in Russia - apparently confirms that the wool is genuine

As well as certifiying the hat, Mr Grigoriev said: 'This was the prickliest hat I have ever worn. 'It is completely odourless, but unlike, say, bisons, woolly mammoth had really rough hair'

Traditionally round crocheted hats made of horse hair are worn by men on special occasions like the Yakutian news year holiday or Yhyakh, the summer solstice, the paper reports.

'We believe these hats are worn by men; I think it cones from older times when such hats were worn under warriors helmets,’ said Mr Ammosov

'But since we live in 21st century, I don't see any problem with a woman or a child purchasing and wearing the hat.'

Maria Kim from Megino-Kangalassky district, who makes traditional horse hair hats, told the Siberian Times: ‘People who wear them say that the constant feeling of skin massage helps with blood pressure and normalises headaches.’

The unique mammoth hat is made from a mammoth pelt retrieved from the permafrost in remote Siberia where the Ice Age beast died thousands of years ago

The woolly mammoth roamed the icy tundra of Europe and North America for 140,000 years, disappearing at the end of the Pleistocene period, 10,000 years ago