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LongHairTalk
August 1st, 2014, 05:47 AM
Guys, this is frightening. She was about my age.I can't even imagine what the family is going through right now. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2709443/Beautiful-Italian-girl-19-killed-long-hair-caught-steering-wheel-car-veered-oncoming-traffic.htmlThis brings up a lot of questions. For the many of you who drive regularly, are you careful about things like this? Her hair caught on the steering wheel and in trying to set her hair free, she veered into oncoming traffic.

Caldonia Sun
August 1st, 2014, 06:08 AM
How very sad! And a totally freak accident.

Cania
August 1st, 2014, 06:12 AM
I'm really confused as to how she managed it with hair that length, but regardless, how sad. I ride a motorcycle so it's a tight braid tucked into my jacket for me.

lazuliblue
August 1st, 2014, 06:28 AM
Those might be older photos Cania. Very sad story.

lilin
August 1st, 2014, 06:28 AM
Wow. :( So young too. That is so terrible. The odds of that, given the length of her hair. I was picturing maybe hair at waist.

A real freak accident, for sure. But there are more mundane ways long hair, or even, say, a scarf, can cause things like this. Vision blocking, for example. There are also cases of it causing accidents on bicycles and motorcycles by getting caught in the frame. A famous dancer actually died this way in the early 20th century when her scarf got caught in a car wheel back when cars had less body work and more spoke-like wheels.

Cania's got the right idea. Remember to keep hair contained in situations where it can be problematic -- driving with windows down, cooking, working with machinery, etc. Stay safe, everyone.

Shibe
August 1st, 2014, 08:41 AM
Those might be older photos Cania. Very sad story.

Her facebook is easily found, that picture was uploaded earlier this month.


Very sad, and tragic.



My thoughts are also that she could have been driving an older vehicle, with a steering wheel like this:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads21/SC+Interior1357768116.jpg

queenovnight
August 1st, 2014, 08:56 AM
Yeah, definitely a freak accident. I honestly thought she'd have LHC "long" hair though. Makes me think that such an accident could happen to anyone - since most women have hair around that length. Scary!


- I keep my hair pulled back while in the car (windows down) but this gives me even more of a reason. I also keep scissors in my purse for s&d.

LongHairTalk
August 1st, 2014, 09:03 AM
That IS scary. I think it had something to do with the window being opened, but I'm just speculating. Regardless of how it happened, be very careful, everyone.
Maybe the wind tangled her hair and in trying to get it out of her face, it got jammed? I don't know. I hope her family gets peace and that her brother finds peace as well.


Again, be very careful you guys.

LongCurlyTress
August 1st, 2014, 09:24 AM
This is just heartbreaking and very scary! Thanks for posting. :(

LongCurlyTress
August 1st, 2014, 09:26 AM
Wow. :( So young too. That is so terrible. The odds of that, given the length of her hair. I was picturing maybe hair at waist.

A real freak accident, for sure. But there are more mundane ways long hair, or even, say, a scarf, can cause things like this. Vision blocking, for example. There are also cases of it causing accidents on bicycles and motorcycles by getting caught in the frame. A famous dancer actually died this way in the early 20th century when her scarf got caught in a car wheel back when cars had less body work and more spoke-like w

Cania's got the right idea. Remember to keep hair contained in situations where it can be problematic -- driving with windows down, cooking, working with machinery, etc. Stay safe, everyone.
Those are great reminders! Especially when cooking! Seriously!!! :O

torrilin
August 1st, 2014, 09:48 AM
The only picture we see is from the front. Her hair is well past APL from the front, and on most people, that means she's past BSL measured LHC style. Depending on her build, she may have been past waist.

And yes, BSL hair is easily long enough to be dangerous. If you're working in a lab or a machine shop, the rules are that if your hair touches your shoulders or collar, it's long and it needs to be pulled back or contained somehow. In a lab, shoulder length hair is plenty long enough to catch on fire. And in a machine shop, loose shoulder length hair is long enough to get caught in a drill or lathe and trap you. Military rules tend to be similar, and for the same sorts of reasons. I've heard classmates bitch about these sorts of rules a lot in chem classes and well... I dunno about you all, but time in a burns unit is not high on my priority list. As long as the instructor or managers aren't specifying the hair style, these sorts of rules are safety oriented, and well worth following.

Hibernis
August 1st, 2014, 09:49 AM
This is really sad :( Long hair can be a hazard if you don't manage it properly. You basically have to treat it like another limb and make sure it's safe so that YOU'RE safe.

Shibe
August 1st, 2014, 11:02 AM
The only picture we see is from the front. Her hair is well past APL from the front, and on most people, that means she's past BSL measured LHC style. Depending on her build, she may have been past waist.

And yes, BSL hair is easily long enough to be dangerous. If you're working in a lab or a machine shop, the rules are that if your hair touches your shoulders or collar, it's long and it needs to be pulled back or contained somehow. In a lab, shoulder length hair is plenty long enough to catch on fire. And in a machine shop, loose shoulder length hair is long enough to get caught in a drill or lathe and trap you. Military rules tend to be similar, and for the same sorts of reasons. I've heard classmates bitch about these sorts of rules a lot in chem classes and well... I dunno about you all, but time in a burns unit is not high on my priority list. As long as the instructor or managers aren't specifying the hair style, these sorts of rules are safety oriented, and well worth following.

Her photos do show bra strap length hair from the back, so you would be correct with the measurement, there.

meteor
August 1st, 2014, 11:13 AM
Oh my god! Poor girl! That's so heartbreaking! :( And really really scary! :(

Marika
August 1st, 2014, 11:54 AM
This is sad and yes, long hair can be dangerous in other ways too. My baby (then 4 months) could have lost his toe because of just one of my hair strands :( The toe turned blue and the hair was wrapped around so tightly that three doctors couldn't get it off. It had to be removed in surgery. I have no idea what happened but I'm guessing that one of my hairs had fallen into his oily bathwater (even though my hair was in a bun) and I took him to sleep after bathing and didn't notice anything until he started crying a couple of hours later. Not death but still shocking and worried sick.

Same thing has happened to my friend but it was her baby's "boy parts". She thinks that one of her hairs must have fallen into his diaper when she was changing him.

spidermom
August 1st, 2014, 12:38 PM
Tragic! All kinds of accidents happen all the time, and we can't always think to be careful. I do keep my hair contained most of the time because it goes all over the place when it's down.

MINAKO
August 1st, 2014, 12:59 PM
Poor girl and her family!
I was right away annoyed at the fact tho that being beautiful apparently makes the case more tragic, like why do they mention it in the headline??? Excuse me?
I heard of a similar case where a girl witha long braid went GoKart riding and it got somewhere in between the wheels on the back. :(

lilin
August 1st, 2014, 02:05 PM
Poor girl and her family!
I was right away annoyed at the fact tho that being beautiful apparently makes the case more tragic, like why do they mention it in the headline??? Excuse me?
I heard of a similar case where a girl witha long braid went GoKart riding and it got somewhere in between the wheels on the back. :(

I hear you. Stuff like that is peppered throughout these kinds of stories. There's a tier system of what humans are supposedly worth in journalism (i.e. what will get the biggest reaction), and middle-aged people who are deemed not to be attractive are apparently at the bottom of the tier. They don't even get a footnote half the time. They're the generic "adults" in a multi-casualty tragedy, whereas children, pretty young women, etc often get named specifically.

But of course, it's kind of insulting in itself that this was what they thought her most important attribute was -- so important that it had to be in the headline. Seems kind of... I don't know, shallow towards someone's memory, in mind.

queenovnight
August 1st, 2014, 02:12 PM
MINAKO & lilin,
I was actually thinking the same thing, but didn't want to be the one to say it. It really is sad how ones appearance will gain them recognition, even in death.

It's just sad all-around.

Seeshami
August 1st, 2014, 02:19 PM
It's horribly sad but what a weird judgment call. Hair over safety. That doesn't make sense to me. But I have been In a situation that has been hair vs bodily harm position and said just rip my hair out. Bald spot or crushed pelvis from an ATV accident, the choice was obvious to me. Get it off of my lower body I couldn't care less if my hair is stuck it will rip. I also pulled off the highway to untangle hair from open window situation much the the amusement off all the gas station patrons.

MINAKO
August 1st, 2014, 02:26 PM
Yeah, i thinks it's rather offensive than compassionate to suggest the death of a person and the "level of mouning" should be measured by what they look like.
I actually consider myself pretty resistant to what i read in the news and am not always terribly emotional about stuff i read, but this is just wrong and makes me hate that sort of journalism even more. I mean at least they could be respectful and drop this system, becasue it is sooo inappropriate in relation to the story.
The girl died, her family must be going through awfully hard times, it's not a f**kin beauty pageant. If she would have been ugly what would make it less painful for them?
Offensive, offensive, offensive and oh so ignorantly dumb! They should really work on educating whoever writes these things on moral rules.

MINAKO
August 1st, 2014, 02:28 PM
It's horribly sad but what a weird judgment call. Hair over safety. That doesn't make sense to me. But I have been In a situation that has been hair vs bodily harm position and said just rip my hair out. Bald spot or crushed pelvis from an ATV accident, the choice was obvious to me. Get it off of my lower body I couldn't care less if my hair is stuck it will rip. I also pulled off the highway to untangle hair from open window situation much the the amusement off all the gas station patrons.

Oh wow, i'm really glad nothing bad happened to you and you managed to safely escape the situation! <3

chen bao jun
August 1st, 2014, 02:34 PM
Yeah, just do contain your hair anytime you even THINK there might be a problem. Machinery of any kind is bad news, and not necessarily industrial machinary. People have got their hair caught in kitchen aids. It also doesn't have to be LHC long to be long enough to put you in danger. I burned my hair off in front when it was just a little below shoulder (but loose). Lesson learned.

Seeshami
August 1st, 2014, 02:41 PM
Oh wow, i'm really glad nothing bad happened to you and you managed to safely escape the situation! <3

I wasn't okay, but people heal. It just boggles me. Thinking about it I was 16 at the time and still had enough facilities to make the judgement of "rip it off!"

Seeshami
August 1st, 2014, 02:42 PM
Double post!

chen bao jun
August 1st, 2014, 02:44 PM
Just read the second page of this thread. Yeah, this is huge problem with news reporting. There's a lot of people, for instance, who believe that only pretty girls, especially those with blond hair and blue eyes are the only people at risk for sexual assault or kidnapping with sexual assault crimes, solely because the only time these crimes makes the news is when they can show a photo of a pretty blond. And the statistics do not bear this out at all, sexual assault and kidnapping for sexual assault victims in the US are most likely to be women of color (probably because they tend to live in areas where violent crime is rife and thus where you are more likely to get sexually assaulted.) So you are not actually safer from such crimes as a non-blue eyed blonde or an ethnic girl--you are just safe from the saturation new coverage. Which of course no sane person would want to deal with that news coverage, they are not doing these girls or their families a favor with the publicity, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying, don't think that life actually goes like what is reported in the news (or in the movies) where the so-called 'unattractive' or less attractive (for whatever reason, ethnic is just one of them, at least in the minds of newcasters) are safe.

StellaKatherine
August 1st, 2014, 02:48 PM
Soon everyone will start telling us to cut our hair because it isn't safe to have it so long...I think if you start taking something from the bag on the floor with the windows open , even shorter hair can be catch... Anyway, that was scarry!

MINAKO
August 1st, 2014, 03:38 PM
I wasn't okay, but people heal. It just boggles me. Thinking about it I was 16 at the time and still had enough facilities to make the judgement of "rip it off!"

Well, then i'm happy that you recovered from the accident, of course. And i agree, hair grows back, so no hesitation too just rip it when in danger (which can be awfully tough on thik hair tho, so if a bigger section gets tangled at the same time, i doubt i'd have enough strength in my arm).

One reason more to invest in good and sturdy hair toys!

lilin
August 1st, 2014, 04:13 PM
I wasn't okay, but people heal. It just boggles me. Thinking about it I was 16 at the time and still had enough facilities to make the judgement of "rip it off!"

I'm glad you healed!

It doesn't sound like she had the time for that. It seems like she got hit pretty much the moment she realized she was tangled.

jacqueline101
August 1st, 2014, 07:36 PM
It's tragic but I have to agree if your hair reaches a certain length contain it. If it gets caught id rather sacrifice my hair as to die.

GrowingOut
August 1st, 2014, 08:02 PM
I think when she was trying to get it out she may have panicked or jerked it too hard, causing the accident. Either way, very sad and tragic.

Brightfeather
August 1st, 2014, 08:23 PM
I would point out that the site is the "Daily Mail." Basically, it's the uk's version of the national enquirer. I'd take the article with a big grain of salt...

truepeacenik
August 1st, 2014, 08:41 PM
I hear you. Stuff like that is peppered throughout these kinds of stories. There's a tier system of what humans are supposedly worth in journalism (i.e. what will get the biggest reaction), and middle-aged people who are deemed not to be attractive are apparently at the bottom of the tier. They don't even get a footnote half the time. They're the generic "adults" in a multi-casualty tragedy, whereas children, pretty young women, etc often get named specifically.

But of course, it's kind of insulting in itself that this was what they thought her most important attribute was -- so important that it had to be in the headline. Seems kind of... I don't know, shallow towards someone's memory, in mind.


I can guarantee that I never wrote a story suggesting looks equaled value.
Might want to use a less broad brush.
(Unless it is now OK to malign entire classes of people based on profession. I was roundly slapped for it in my early days.)

truepeacenik
August 1st, 2014, 08:42 PM
I would point out that the site is the "Daily Mail." Basically, it's the uk's version of the national enquirer. I'd take the article with a big grain of salt...

Oh, so not journalism at all, but fiction and supposition?
I don't remember the paper well. I read the FT when I lived in England.

Allie_snowflake
August 1st, 2014, 08:45 PM
Back when my hair was always down (now it's always up!) I would have to lean clear over into the passenger side of the car to roll up the window. It would always be while I was pulling away from a drive thru (and usually pulling back out onto the main road) and as you can imagine, turning onto the road while your perspective is way off center is not good at all. I've hit curbs doing that. Luckily the only "damage" was looking like a fool.

queenovnight
August 1st, 2014, 09:13 PM
It's tragic but I have to agree if your hair reaches a certain length contain it. If it gets caught id rather sacrifice my hair as to die.

Agreed! I would gladly rip at my hair with my own teeth before I gave my life for it.

torrilin
August 1st, 2014, 10:13 PM
I would point out that the site is the "Daily Mail." Basically, it's the uk's version of the national enquirer. I'd take the article with a big grain of salt...

*shrugs*

Parts of it are embellished and click bait, for sure.

But yes, people really do get into horrible (and sometimes unexpectedly deadly) accidents due to long hair. It's not common. But part of why it's not common is because people do get taught some that loose hair can be a problem. IME it tends to be guys who are more insistent about wearing their hair loose than women. A lot of guys seem to feel that any sort of updo is feminine and they'll get laughed at, and that's way scarier than catching on fire. Poke around. There are scads of threads where posters here have had hair related accidents. Doesn't matter whether you're male or female, XX, XY, XXY, transgender, intersex... You're allowed to have long hair if you want. Part of being a grown up longhair is knowing when to put your hair up.

Accidents are not a reason to cut.

And well, the other reason to bring it up is racism. Sometimes, a teacher or organization will try to specify a specific list of hair styles that count as sufficiently "up" for safety. And those lists are almost always set up so if I wear my hair in a given style it's fine, because I'm white. But if Chen or her sister were to wear a version that works for their hair, it often would not be fine, because they're not white. It's really gross and icky. If we long hairs do not speak up, people will think it's ok to continue being icky. Racism isn't a reason to cut either.

spirals
August 1st, 2014, 10:21 PM
A famous dancer actually died this way in the early 20th century when her scarf got caught in a car wheel back when cars had less body work and more spoke-like wheels.
Isadora Duncan. I studied dance in college, so I'm familiar. Her novel type of movement is what caused the departure from ballet and grew into what we know as modern (interpretive) dance. I've seen pictures of that scarf; some here have hair longer than the scarf.

meteor
August 1st, 2014, 11:03 PM
Isadora Duncan. I studied dance in college, so I'm familiar. Her novel type of movement is what caused the departure from ballet and grew into what we know as modern (interpretive) dance. I've seen pictures of that scarf; some here have hair longer than the scarf.

Yes! I immediately thought of Isadora Duncan's tragic death when I read the title of the thread. I imagined that the hair would work like that scarf...
I also remember that loose extremely long hair is quite dangerous for swimming... and escalators... Lots of reasons to keep hair up.

Tragic story indeed! Poor girl! :(

Merlin
August 2nd, 2014, 04:56 AM
I read the FT when I lived in England.

Because you've got a pink bathroom.... ;-)

Merlin
August 2nd, 2014, 04:57 AM
I would point out that the site is the "Daily Mail." Basically, it's the uk's version of the national enquirer. I'd take the article with a big grain of salt...

Well, at least it wasn't "Long Hair Causes Cancer"

lilin
August 2nd, 2014, 06:57 AM
I can guarantee that I never wrote a story suggesting looks equaled value.
Might want to use a less broad brush.
(Unless it is now OK to malign entire classes of people based on profession. I was roundly slapped for it in my early days.)

I'm a journalist. I happen to be very critical of the profession because it has taken a lot of bad turns lately, and it is a profession that is based on being critical. We have as much responsibility to do that within our ranks as we do in general society, because we are the first drafters of history.

That fact is, there is such a tier system in much of the journalistic world, where pressure is rising to produce hits rather than meaningful content. I have enough sureness of my own dissuasion from that trend, and my own responsibility to be critical, to say so.

curlylocks85
August 2nd, 2014, 11:38 AM
What a tragedy. I hope her family and friends support each other during the mourning period and help each other to heal.

spirals
August 2nd, 2014, 03:09 PM
I suppose some people will use the story to decry long hair, saying it's "irresponsible" or some such.

jacqueline101
August 2nd, 2014, 03:13 PM
Agreed! I would gladly rip at my hair with my own teeth before I gave my life for it.

Me too you get one life and several chances for long hair.

lapushka
August 2nd, 2014, 03:34 PM
I also remember that loose extremely long hair is quite dangerous for swimming... and escalators... Lots of reasons to keep hair up.

And blenders, and fans... even blow dryers (the backs of them).

jacqueline101
August 2nd, 2014, 03:48 PM
Well, at least it wasn't "Long Hair Causes Cancer"

In the United States everything causes cancer. If I was to board up my home with me inside someone would say stale air causes cancer. In due time that will be the next thing you read.

aztecangel
August 2nd, 2014, 09:34 PM
Well, at least it wasn't "Long Hair Causes Cancer"

Ha! I thought that was what this thread was going to say when I clicked it. :)

Sounds like a freak accident, more an issue of her getting distracted while driving than an issue of the hair itself. I've got a huge fear of getting my hair caught in fans and other moving machinery. It terrifies me. Luckily I wear it up in a bun 99 percent of the time and only take it down when I feel like being sexy. :) So people with shorter hair who often wear it down or in ponytails are probably more at risk for this sort of thing than those of us with long hair who wear it up.

gnome82
August 3rd, 2014, 05:37 AM
That's tragic, I m sorry that it happened to her.

truepeacenik
August 3rd, 2014, 10:07 AM
Because you've got a pink bathroom.... ;-)

I had to think... The downstairs we was pink.

But pink makes me puke. Except as newsprint.
Why is that paper pink?

truepeacenik
August 3rd, 2014, 10:16 AM
I'm a journalist. I happen to be very critical of the profession because it has taken a lot of bad turns lately, and it is a profession that is based on being critical. We have as much responsibility to do that within our ranks as we do in general society, because we are the first drafters of history.

That fact is, there is such a tier system in much of the journalistic world, where pressure is rising to produce hits rather than meaningful content. I have enough sureness of my own dissuasion from that trend, and my own responsibility to be critical, to say so.

I'd say there is a tier system of accountability, and the Mail has none.
That does not paint the entire profession as hucksters.

I invested years of my life in community papers, investigative journalism and mind numbing meetings. I have the pretty pieces of paper in a file that prove my peers think I did it well.
My point was everybody mattered-- the transgender girl who needed a safe place to go to the rest room during school hours, the homeless folks camped along the river in winter, the two kids who were killed for knowing who did a drive-by shooting a neighboring town.

The closest to sensational we got was a months-long argument about an accident shot that happened to have a tiny part of the deceased victim's hand showing. Maybe. We looked at that photo constantly. I'm not convinced the pale spot is a hand of the victim.

Sure, I knew what would feed the letters page. But I wrote it anyway. Learned to never look at the opinion section. My editors would bring things to my attention.

Scarlet_Heart
August 4th, 2014, 07:30 AM
It's horribly sad but what a weird judgment call. Hair over safety. That doesn't make sense to me. But I have been In a situation that has been hair vs bodily harm position and said just rip my hair out. Bald spot or crushed pelvis from an ATV accident, the choice was obvious to me. Get it off of my lower body I couldn't care less if my hair is stuck it will rip. I also pulled off the highway to untangle hair from open window situation much the the amusement off all the gas station patrons.

I must be missing something. Where did she make this judgement call? My hair is longer than hers and I sometimes drive with it down and the windows open. I never thought I was taking any kind of risk. I'll think about it now, to be certain. But it never would have crossed my mind that this could happen.

I'm sorry what happened to you, but your has grown back so beautifully!

florenonite
August 4th, 2014, 10:13 AM
Yeah, i thinks it's rather offensive than compassionate to suggest the death of a person and the "level of mouning" should be measured by what they look like.
I actually consider myself pretty resistant to what i read in the news and am not always terribly emotional about stuff i read, but this is just wrong and makes me hate that sort of journalism even more. I mean at least they could be respectful and drop this system, becasue it is sooo inappropriate in relation to the story.
The girl died, her family must be going through awfully hard times, it's not a f**kin beauty pageant. If she would have been ugly what would make it less painful for them?
Offensive, offensive, offensive and oh so ignorantly dumb! They should really work on educating whoever writes these things on moral rules.

I totally agree with what you're saying, and there is a big problem not just in journalism but also in crime investigation where attractive, young, white women are given more attention than others. But I also can't get up in arms when it comes from the Daily Fail; this is the newspaper that led a campaign against garbage cans, for goodness' sake :lol: