Collector won't give Neil Armstrong hair back

The first man to walk on the moon won't get his hair back. But he may get the current owner of the lost locks to donate $3,000 to a favorite charity.

The man who bought clippings of former astronaut Neil Armstrong's hair from a barbershop owner says he doesn't plan to give the hair back.

"I bought it for my collection, and I plan to keep it," said John Reznikoff, a Westport, Conn., collector listed by Guinness World Records as having the largest collection of hair from historical celebrities. "Neil Armstrong has always been one of my heroes."

Reznikoff's collection, insured for $1 million, includes hair from Abraham Lincoln, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Napoleon and others.

The Westport, Conn. collector said Wednesday that he remembers the thrill he had as a 9-year-old watching Armstrong take the first steps on the moon.

He contacted Armstrong's attorney about a donation after reading news accounts that the former astronaut threatened legal action if the barber didn't return the hair or donate $3,000 to a charity of Armstrong's choice. "I called Armstrong's lawyer today to tell him I would donate the money, but I haven't received a response yet," said Reznikoff. Armstrong's attorney, Ross Wales, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The hair was shorn at Marx's Barber Shop in Lebanon, where Armstrong went for a trim every month. That stopped when the former astronaut learned that owner Marx Sizemore picked up some of his hair from the floor of his shop and sold it for $3,000 to an agent for Reznikoff.

Sizemore has said that he has spent most of the money he received from Reznikoff and can't pay Armstrong. There was no answer to calls to his barbershop Wednesday evening. Armstrong, who lives in suburban Cincinnati, commanded NASA's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, becoming the first person on the moon.