One clump is nice and thick and reasonably healthy looking; the second has most definitely been fire damaged.
But, bizarrely, locks that once belonged to Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson – the late kings, respectively, of rock'n'roll and – are up for auction this weekend.
Presley's hair, said to date from the 1950s, when an army barber cropped his famous mane, is going under the hammer in Chicago. Meanwhile, 12 strands of Jackson's hair, the legacy of the freak accident in 1984 when his artfullyarranged coiffure caught fire during filming for a Pepsi commercial, are up for grabs in London.
The strands of Jackson's hair were gathered up by Ralph Cohen, the advert's executive producer, who took off his coat to put out the flames.
Together with Cohen's account of the incident and a signed colour photo, the strands are to be auctioned on Saturday.
Jackson's hair is hot property – a company called LifeGem announced plans in July to craft diamonds and jewellery from Jackson's seared locks.
In his account, Cohen recalls how the pyrotechnics set the singer's hair on fire: "And then, as Michael on his cue, was supposed to come down the stairs, the explosion went off and the first thing I noticed was – he was about halfway down the stairs – and I noticed flame emanating from his hair.
"And it took me a moment to register what exactly was happening because there was so much lights and so many different things go on [sic] it was a little confusing but I noticed his hair was on fire and I immediately rushed out from my position.
"I pulled my jacket off as I was running and proceeded to, when I reached him, put it over his head."
At the time onlookers were amazed at the calmness of the 25-year-old singer. Some thought the accident was part of the act. But he suffered serious burns and needed hospital treatment.
Richard Davie, of International Autograph Auctions, is selling the hair and other artefacts at the Radisson Edwardian hotel at Heathrow airport in London.
He said: "This memorabilia has doubled in price since Michael Jackson died. Jackson has huge global appeal with collectors all around the world.
"Of all the things he has done, including dangling his baby from the window and sleeping in an oxygen tent, the hair-burning incident stands out.
"There will be lots of people who will want to buy these items as souvenirs and those who would like them as investments."
Presley's hair is one of around 200 items of memorabilia being sold at Leslie Hindman auctioneers, in Chicago, on Sunday. The items were from the collection of Gary Pepper, and Elvis superfan.
The Jackson strands are expected to fetch around £1,000. But reports suggest the clump of Elvis's hair could go for as much as $100,000 (£63,000), partly because of the idea that DNA could one day be extracted from the samples to produce a clone of the king.
