Mike Rowe Learns ANCIENT Method of Tracking Genealogies | Somebody's Gotta Do It

On this episode of "Somebody's Gotta Do It," Mike Rowe drops by a museum dedicated entirely to hair and visits with its charming curator who teaches him the arcane method of genealogy tracking. And he'll dabble himself in the old practice.

#HairMuseum #AncientArts #MikeRowe #SomebodysGottaDoIT

FOLLOW MIKE ROWE:

0:00 Intro
1:00 Leila's Hair Museum
1:30 Old-Fashioned Genealogies
3:30 Fancy-Work
4:00 Why Leila?
4:30 Interesting Hairs
6:10 Famous Hairs
7:10 The Most Expensive Piece
8:00 Time for a Trim!
10:25 Hair Art

[andreacagle]

If people like Leila don’t keep things like this alive, we lose bits of our history that can’t be revived.

[shotgunbettygaming]

I used to work for a consigner and one day a woman walked in with a shoebox FULL of bracelets and earrings made from human hair. I was FASCINATED before I became repulsed momentarily. Neither my boss nor I had ever seen anything like it and it was my job as the person responsible for collectibles, to do the research on what the hell it was!
I discovered it was called Mourning Locks. Traditionally made after the passing of a loved one. As she said, family and neighbors would all pitch in and weave an item or design out of locks taken from the deceased's head and the family would keep and preserve it as we do photographs of ancestors today. It's clearly a lost artform and one I never knew existed until that day.
I felt it both morbid and beautiful. You would not believe the intricacy of which some of the pieces were made, woven like handmade lace so fine it boggled the mind. Delicate, delicate artworks of the like I have never seen since....until now.
All I want to do is scooch up close to these framed pieces with a magnifying glass because I already know how complex the pieces we are looking at from afar are.
How very cool. Never thought I'd see anything like this again.

[starkravenwild]

"how could you have lived so long and Not know these things?' Leila is a hoot!! Thanks Mike for making us smile with something uplifting amongst all the garbage that is so called entertainment.

[erikarizkallah]

Loved this episode! I have a hair wreath from my ancestors - it used to hang in my great grandparents farmhouse. When I was little I’d make my grandmother remove it because it terrified me. But when she died, it was the one thing I had to have. Now it hangs proudly in my home & I enjoy showing and scaring other people 😂

[tonyshaw]

I'm love hearing the crew quietly laughing in the background 🤣🤣🤣❤️🇨🇦
OK tears in my eyes at "you getting pictures of this"

[ibelieveinangelsyesido]

Oh, my word! This was a masterpiece, Mike! LOVE Leila! May God grant her many years! What a hoot! Get her together with your mom & you've got a show!!! Blessings! Jackie in upstate NY

[MaryDalton]

Leila's museum has always been one of the places on my bucket list. I have spent decades doing genealogy and as a part of that I have learned a lot about the many strange (to us modern folks) ways in which the people of the past mourned and memorialized their dead. The hair art and jewelry was one thing that always fascinated me because it not only was a physical token of the person, but the amount of detail and intricacies is just fantastic. Especially in some of the larger pieces. I can't even imagine the amount of time it would take to create something like that.

[irisf.]

This was a fantastic episode! What a fun lady and unique museum. Never stop showing us these people and places that are one of a kind.

[InitialScooby]

This was surprisingly one of the best episodes! Had me smiling the whole time

[sonofhibbs]

Not only are the items in that museum artful and beautiful, but a treasure trove of ancestral dna!

[larag]

This has got to be one of y'alls best episodes. I laughed the whole way through. Boy she's got some zingers!

[secondarycontainment]

I was sitting waiting for the plane to take off and a Ford commercial came on. Just the truck and a voice. And I said out loud "That's Mike Rowe" at the same time that the little kid sitting next to me did... I was so proud of that little boy. We shared a nice smile. We love you Mike! Keep up the work.

[bonniewilkins]

Isn’t that museum fabulous? Mike, you made a trip to the Hair Museum a great time!

[jeffj]

Mike - you bring smiles to our unhappy times. Cruddy politics, world in striff, economy challenged. Yet we can find solace and laughter with you.
Please help us and continue to give us more laughs. I am not kidding. You are a national treasure and content like this is great.

[FCWW]

Don’t ever stop being you, Mike. You’re a national treasure, and I’m not just saying that. Through the powers vested in me by yada yada, you are now and forever a National Treasure.

[glf]

I had to chuckle so many times. Reminds me of my great grandmother when I was a kid. They speak straight and as a matter of fact. She was adorable.

[deirdremartinez]

This has to be one of the best shows you have done. I am so incredibly interested in visiting this museum. I hope she leaves her treasure to the Smithsonian museum.

[martymcpeak]

Mike, you, seem to put people at ease and get the most natural reactions and conversations out of them. You Sir are Top Shelf

[Winnie-Kay]

Omgosh! I absolutely love Leila🧡 I want to spend a week with her and her no nonsense sarcastic humor. 😎

[monamartin]

Loved her story about her being named after her father's girlfriend. One of my sisters and I were named after 2 of our dad's girlfriends. Our parents had almost 50 years of marriage, when dad passed in '86. Love the show. Mike, you did good.