Belt 'em out

Recently one of the web sites I visit frequently, a "conservative" site, had a link to amazon's sale on "tie up yourself and your best friends for sex" stuff. I thought that would be funny and worth a look at. Live and learn, as they say. Grown men and women actually pay good money to do that kind of shit to themselves and each other. It's not even close to amusing. I thought, 'If they like that so much, maybe they'd like it if I whip off my belt and whack 'em a while.' I shake my head in disgust. Yes, gentle reader, I looked at my belt, a hand-tooled Mexican leather belt that's now over 20 years old, still in shape, but really, in need of replacement. I can't be whackin' pervs with a belt like this. I need a new one, even if only for my own self.

I'm not your dedicated follower of fashion, by any stretch, but I do once in a while dress up for occasions, and I think it's a right thing to do, to look right for others, to show some respect for them, if not for myself. For just walking around, yeah, a man needs a belt to be a man in our world. Any piece of rope would do if one is unconcerned about being part of the world, but I think it's not for me. I'm looking at a man's belt. I mean this: A horsehair belt.

[H]orsehair products begin their process at the harvesting which is beneficial and relaxing to the horse. First, the hair is removed without discomforting the horse. Next, the hair is treated with natural extracts to remove any and all impurities. After this is done, the hair is gathered into Hanks and then sorted and twisted into Pulls. Finally, the hair is ready to be "hitched" into a beautiful horsehair product.

Hitching is a slow methodical process that can create a beautiful woven tube of horsehair which is pressed to obtain a flat belt. After this, leather billets are fabricated and hand tooled which are later attached to the horsehair strip. Each piece is an individual handmade work of art.

Things to Know
Just a note on this subject for anyone considering purchasing a horsehair product for investment purposes and/or it's 'collectible' value.

There a "huge" variations in the quality of these items as well as the authenticity of them. Also as someone else had mentioned there are differences in the type of horsehair products, some are braided while others are hitched (more much time and labor intensive process).

Lesser quality 'horsehair' items, ranging from belts to key fobs to headstalls, have been known to have fishing line in them. Obviously this makes them nearly Zero in value.

Dark horsehair is less expensive than white hair or colored white hair, because white hair is always scarce.

http://stores.ebay.ph/Texas-Trade-Depot/Hitched-Horsehair-Belts-n-Hatbands.html

For a bit more information on horsehair as a textile, check this out:

http://fiberarts.org/design/articles/horsehair.html

The people I see wearing such freak-show costumes.... Yellow tennis shoes and some other bullshit thing a kid had on. His girl friend? Well, he doesn't have a girl friend. A kid dressed like that likely has no friends at all. But if he had a real belt, if he had cleaned-up stuff from a dumpster and a real belt, then he might at least show that he has some respect for other people. Even if no one else actually noticed, he'd know he had on a man's belt, and he might walk a little taller, walk a little straighter. It matters. And if he is a genuine loser and hanged himself for it, he'd be able to go with a man's belt around his neck. It matters.