Would this be a TSA Safe hairdo?

[nicolezoie]

I'm going on a long flight next week, and am worried about what TSA will think of the clever way I came up with for containing all my hair. It's about a inch from the floor, last I checked.

To the outside, what I did basically looks like I've got a watchcap or beanie type hat on with the edge folded up, but it's really my hair wrapped around my head several times, and the wraps are subsequently tucked into the fold of the scarf, which forms the "band" of the hat. It's incredibly comfortable to wear like this on road trips, and is even comfortable to sleep on, but I am not sure if TSA will think it's a hat and make me take it down/off. I could just as easily put it up like this once I get through security.. it's just a privacy thing.

Last time I traveled a long distance, I put my hair up into a high bun (which was squished and examined), but re-aligning down and detangling was painful afterwards.. this new way doesn't require any realignment.

[Chromis]

I would not try to wear anything hat-like.

I have never had them examine my bun, how weird!

I have good luck with a braided nautilus held with a blunt wooden stick or with a coronet braid. I like the coronet best since it is easy to sleep on. The nautilus I usually take down once I am in my seat and the braid keeps it contained still.

[Anje]

Not that I have anything approaching your hair volume, but I think I'd stick with a simple braided bun if I were you. Something that if they wanted to ensure that you're not hiding anything, you could easily let down but still have your hair restrained. They might want to know what's under the "hat", after all. You could always put a scarf over the bun of similar just to keep it hidden if you don't want to display your hair in general.

That said, I do like the idea of wrapping around the head and folding into a scarf. That sounds really comfy!

[Silverbrumby]

I'm thinking braid or two braids. If they mess it up then hopefully you could undo one at a time and re braid?

[maborosi]

I found that even when I wore my hair in a simple braid (and my hair's not particularly volumous), my hair was still examined by the TSA.

[Quasiquixotic]

I think you can wear anything. My experience is they don't care. I've taken ficcare, sticks, forks, tusks all of it through in my hair and or bag. You should be fine.

Eta: I've had my bun felt up, but not asked to take it down anything. My hair is "short" by comparison.

[Nini]

You never know who's gonna be checking you out. So if the beanie-thing is most comfortable I'd just do that after security.

I've had to take out whatever hairtoy I was wearing on occation, while sometime they don't bother. I have a tendency to get picked for the random searches though;) And I normally just wear a plain English braid when I travel long distance.

[Kina]

I wore my hair loose and was "randomly selected" (3 out of 4 trips, I'm randomly selected) and they went thru my hair root to tips.

[ravenheather]

Am I the only one that would love to see a pic of this style? It sounds lovely.

[Quasiquixotic]

Am I the only one that would love to see a pic of this style? It sounds lovely.

Nope. Totally agree!

[meteor]

Am I the only one that would love to see a pic of this style? It sounds lovely.


Nope. Totally agree!

Me three! :wethree:

Nicolezoie , no pressure, but that sounds like a really cool and incredibly comfy style. :thumbsup: I'd love to know how it's done but can't really picture it without any graphs or pictures.

Generally speaking, the best TSA-friendly style I know is a braided bun (e.g. braided LWB/cinnabun/nautilus), held with a wooden chopstick. The wood won't set the metal detectors off and if the TSA agents want to pat down the bun, you can quickly take it down and still keep the braid and re-bun it within seconds. It's awesome if you want to nap on the plane, too: just take the braid down or coil it like a pillow. ;)

[ebaviisakas]

Wow they pat down THE HAIR?
I know I shouldn't be surprised but I never thought this was a thing. To the people that this has happened, do you have really thick hair? Was it in a bun or loose?

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Wow they pat down THE HAIR?
I know I shouldn't be surprised but I never thought this was a thing. To the people that this has happened, do you have really thick hair? Was it in a bun or loose?

Yes, I have been asked to take down my bun :(

[papayatree]

Oh Good, something I have to watch out for when the forest grows! Yeah:applause

[Quasiquixotic]

Wow they pat down THE HAIR?
I know I shouldn't be surprised but I never thought this was a thing. To the people that this has happened, do you have really thick hair? Was it in a bun or loose?

For me she just mooshed it while it was up with a fork. Didn't take it out/down or anything. I'm beginning to feel special...I feel really bad that others have been harassed.

[trolleypup]

My guess is that if they are paying attention they will probably do a pat down.

Wow they pat down THE HAIR?
I know I shouldn't be surprised but I never thought this was a thing. To the people that this has happened, do you have really thick hair? Was it in a bun or loose?
Pretty random...sometimes I can walk through with a stainless steel stick in and no notice is taken, sometimes they ask to see the stick. Once they asked to pat down the bun so I pulled the stick and they were satisfied.

Yes, I have been asked to take down my bun :(
I haven't gotten this yet.

[nicolezoie]

TSA didn't make a fuss. I'll see if I can get a picture uploaded at some point.

I never wear any metal in my hair when I travel, and also check the bag with the ficcares because they really could do serious harm to a person, and I'd really rather fly low on the radar...literally!

[Yarrow]

Congrats then!
Just of of curiousity, did you go through a body scanner or a metal detector?

[truepeacenik]

Glad it worked, Nicolezoie.

I've had everything from no notice (most common) to double checking the stick, to bun squeezing (three airports, iirc), to body wanding with attention on the scalp and ends ( bun for scalp, which I took down voluntarily and ends had one tiny bead showing up).
The weirder thing last trip, which was a bun pat down and stick examining trip, was my skirt setting off the body scanner right over my left ankle.
There's got to be a stray pin, staple, something in there. I bought the denim skirt secondhand. It's a heavy 1980s denim.

[Anje]

I'm glad it worked out!

[Laurenji]

I would also like to see a picture / get a tutorial for how you do this hairstyle. I'm very intrigued!

[maborosi]

Glad it worked, Nicolezoie.

I've has everything from no notice (most common) to double checking the stick, to bun squeezing (three airports, iirc), to body wanding with attention on the scalp and ends ( bun for scalp, which I took down voluntarily and ends had one tiny bead showing up).
The weirder thing last trip, which was a bun pat down and stick examining trip, was my skirt setting off the body scanner right over my left ankle.
There's got to be a stray pin, staple, something in there. I bought the denim skirt secondhand. It's a heavy 1980s denim.


Ha! My dad's had a lot of operations, so he has a lot of pins on his shoulders and knee. Every single time he goes through the scanner, it lights up like a Christmas tree.


Wow they pat down THE HAIR?
I know I shouldn't be surprised but I never thought this was a thing. To the people that this has happened, do you have really thick hair? Was it in a bun or loose?

Nope. My hair's average and while it's long by normie standards, it's not that long, really- only hip. My go-to style is a single English braid- no Dutch or French or anything, no sticks, no metal elastics, and they feel it every single time...except the one time I got to skip the line but that was different. I've never worn a bun through the airport because I know they'll take it down. At least the braid is quick.

[Kina]

Wow they pat down THE HAIR?
I know I shouldn't be surprised but I never thought this was a thing. To the people that this has happened, do you have really thick hair? Was it in a bun or loose?

Mine was loose, not particularly thick. It's at about tailbone length, but with shrinkage looks about waist. Most of the time, I just roll my eyes at the randomly selected bit, but this time was infuriating (I've filed a complaint, it was a lot more than just the hair). I make no effort to straighten or smooth my hair. It's "ethnic" and I'm racially ambiguous, so I get "randomly selected" a lot, as does my husband, who is Indian. We tend to get selected when we travel together more than when we travel separately.

Eta: just to be clear, I think that they often check my hair because it looks like you could hide a lot in there, so I don't get upset about unless they pull. I'm upset because this time it was clearly racially motivated and the treatment I received was horrific. I understand that security has to do their job, this went beyond that.

[Kina]

I don't wear metal at all to the airport, all of that goes into bags, although I did wear a small plastic clip at the crown to hold it off my face.