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I've never really wore my hair down until I started visiting this site and decided I would wear my hair the way I wanted. If anything, people are more polite and friendly with me than when I have it pulled back in a tail. But there are some hazzards I am just becoming aware of.
1. On windy days, long hair tends to get caught in car doors, even if you try to hold it down while closing the door!
2. It's possible to sit on your own hair (or lean back against it) and get stuck in the chair. Even worse is when someone else sits on your hair.
3. You can find hair in your food and realize it's yours and still attached to your head.
4. You have to be careful when brushing your teeth or you can end up spitting in your own hair.
5. Pets don't recognize you. Large dogs can be a problem.
6. If you use a telephone headset at work, you can get it tangled in your hair and become effectively stuck to your desk while coworkers try not to let you see them laughing.
7. Fire becomes more hazardous, even if you're just trying to blow out a candle. Birthday cakes are downright deadly!
Anybody got any more?
Ahaha, my hair is just long enough to get all of it into a good ponytail now and i rarely wear it that way so I havent had the pet, car door, or sitting on hair issues but i have had all the rest. I think that about covers all the hazards you would experience with my length hair, im sure the hazards increase the longer it gets =p. This never happened to me but recently a shorthair growing his hair out had the problem of his hair poking him in the eye, hehe.
Ones that have happened to me include getting hair caught in jacket zips and leaning back on it on chairs. My birthday's coming up, though: those candles scare me now!
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To protect my mane, I keep mine tied as you see 1n the left image. I have sat on it, gotten it caught in doors, gotten it caught in a folding chair, and had dogs snap at it like it was a chew toy. Despite this, it is worth it. I will never cut it.
Due to my hair being fine and fragile, I only have it loose on rare occasions, as seen in the photo on the right.
Scott
One I forgot to mention that actually happened to my wife is getting it caught in the vacuum cleaner. She was vacuuming in the kids' room and I suddenly heard a horrible noise come from the vacuum and my wife screaming. I ran in and found her with her head firmly attached to the vacuum cleaner. She had been using the extension hose to clean under a dresser and her hair got sucked into the roller brush. After I got the power turned off and the immediate crisis was over, it took me a good 20 minutes to disassemble the vacuum and get her hair out of the brush. That was hard to do while trying not to laugh. :D
Yeah, that's a good list.
However I don't agree with #5. Dogs go on smell more than sight.
Paul
True, but only if they're close enough. Until they can get a whif of you, they're not too friendly. Especially if they're the pet of a friend and not too familiar with you. I had a hairy moment at a friend's house a few days ago. But you're right. He did recognize me once he got close enough to smell.
I'll note that once your hair stabilizes at a particular length, you will end up adjusting and many of these issues simply stop being so much of a conscious concern. Your reflexes change and so does how you do certain things.
Most of the hazards listed here are just annoying.Some of the dangerous ones involve power tools or machinery.I do a lot of welding.Burnt hair does not smell good.Usually put it in a bun and keep it under my hood.It's cooler that way too.
Regarding #3,is it more annoying to get hair in your food or food in your hair?
Arrick
I've known of 3 different longhaired friends, 2 women and one man, all of whom experienced their hair suddenly catching fire due to candles that were nearby when they had their hair down (and weren't aware of how close they were to the danger until it was too late).
While still in college, one of my brothers had a big chunk of his long hair ripped out of his head by some piece of machinery that was too close to his desk at one of his summer jobs. It grabbed a big lock of his loose bangs, leaving quite an impressive bald spot. His hair eventually grew back; but, it was scary there for awhile. From that point on he always tied his hair back whenever he was at work (although nowadays his hair is shorter than it was back then).
One time I was invited to attend a party for a guy I know in my C&W dance community who had just finished grad school. Thinking it would be fun to wear my hair down that evening (usually my dance friends NEVER see it loose at any dance event), as soon as I walked in the door of his condo and saw a ga-zillion candles EVERYwhere, I immediately decided it would be way safer to put my hair back in a bun.
Loose hair is a real treat for me. I just LOVE it!!! However, it's not worth having it loose if your insticts tell you there's danger in doing so -- better to be on the safe side, than terribly sorry if something bad happens to your mane.
- Ken
I LOVE having my loose, but I also have had my hair catch fire from a candle a couple years ago...the left side was shorter for quite a long time until it grew itself out....terrible!
http://www.cevyn.com
I had it stuck in a crack in the back board of a bench...
Happens sometimes, especially on windy days.
Or little children, who usually get an amazingly good grip of your hair and won't let it go for anything.
I had mine set on fire some 10 years ago...
One risk is the a*****e cutting chunks of your hair without you noticing it. It happened to me a few years ago while I was riding on the Hudson Bergen Light Rail in Jersey City. I discovered it only after getting off the train and into my car, when a lot of hair fell off while I was combing it with my fingers.
Another thing that happened several times to me in buses, trolleys and subway trains is other passengers gripping it - accidentally or not - while holding onto the poles and bars inside the vehicle.
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A Linux Longhair
Hi Linex,
WOW, that first story is especially scary-sounding to me, because I sold my truck a year and a half ago, and am now back to taking only public transportation to get around the SF Bay Area these days.
About 10 years ago I also had an annoying experience taking the bus to work, where I sat down directly on top of some gum (yes, I'm talking BULLSEYE, dead-center - LOL) -- and these were brand-new pants I was wearing, very nice fitting and top quality (and expensive)... A co-worker who worked w/ clothing and knew a lot about laundering tried her best to remove the gum from my butt hole area; but what remained when she finished was even worse: it looked like I must have had an "explosive problem" in my pants, because they were BLACK PANTS with now a very noticeable LARGE WHITE SPOT where the gum used to be... I had to throw those damn pants out, unfortunately.
To be on the safe side, my instincts always tell me to either have my hair up in a bun, or to very consciously have my loose hair or braid forward over my shoulder whenever riding public transportation.
I also experienced an interesting "warning sign" when I first grew my hair long during the '90s. I had just sat down on a seat in a crowded SF street car, unthinkingly tossing my mane back over the back of my seat. The guy behind me spoke up immediately, saying something like, "Hey, buddy, I don't appreciate that hair of your hitting me in the face!" Although it probably DIDN'T literally hit him in the face (because I don't remember my hair being all that long at that time), I apologized to the guy and forever after that experience have decided to always hang onto my hair closely in front of my shoulder, rather than behind me, where I can't see (or even sometimes feel) what might be going on behind my back.
- Ken
Another risk that we longhairs face: bugs getting tangled in the hair. I got stung a few times by bees and hornets. The biggest "capture" was a cicada, last year. It was harmless, but it was making a hell of a noise - it was a male. I brought him home to my older son's delight and my wife's dismay - he got loose in the living room and we had that big noisy bug flying around for a few minutes until I managed to catch him. We nicknamed him Psycho... The following morning Psycho was let loose to charm the ladies in the backyard with his noise...
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A Linux Longhair, remembering the summer's delights in the middle of the chill...
Avoid candlelight vigils or marches. Everyone there is moving, the wind is blowing your hair around, and no one is thinking about your hair. People may get much too close to a longhaired person to be holding a candle and not realize it.
Dogs who like to paw at your face are also a nuisance, because their claws snag your hair and beard, and this pulling hurts.
Bill
Number 8 is Dpn't use your long hair as a deadly weopon when getting a ticket from a police officer LOL
Birdman
I have to wear headphones for work. If my hair's loose, it can sometimes take quite a while to get them off, or at least untangled.
About the only other problem I have is with boots. Do you have any idea how undignified it is to tie your laces and not be able to straighten up again because you've snagged your hair in the knot?
I've thought of another one. As bad as it is to lie on your own hair during the night, it's even worse when your other half does.
Kick them out of bed!