Playing with your hair....

[oldrocker]

A recent post by Knobby on the Mini-milestone thread has me wondering. She said something about after putting the kid to bed, she lets her hair down and then says something about playing with her hair(if she's being honest..) when she has her me time.

How many of us here actually enjoy their own hair outside of the work on it, and making it look nice, etc...???

It would seem natural that we should like a feature that is important to us all and enjoy it however we want to.

Mine is getting close to full pony length, but the back is long enough to gather up. I do catch myself, gathering it up at work and liking the feel of it getting longer.

What say you all?

O.R.

[Jane99]

OR the initial image that came to my head was having long enough hair to do air guitar motions on. Playing with one’s hair!

I have to say I enjoy my hair now more than any other time in my life, and I am trying to keep my hands out of it because I have one of those special hair types that splits really easily, especially the more I mess with it, and I do not enjoy those.

But I will play guitar with my hair once it gets long enough!

[Bat]

Me all the time it's something I need to stop or I'll end up being bald!

[Iyashikei]

I don't, but then again it's always up. I do like to experiment with it though.

[lapis_lazuli]

Sometimes I'll dance and spin around with my hair. I play with it by making it move :)

[Lady Stardust]

I usually let my hair down for at least a little while in the evening, partly to give my scalp a rest, and partly to just enjoy the sensation of having my hair down. I try not to play with it because my hair is stupidly fragile, but it is nice to run my fingers through it when I first let it down.

[aphrodirty]

I often find myself playing with my hair idly while working or focusing on things and this manifests in either pulling apart my curls, braiding my hair or simply finger brushing a single section. Although all of these activities leave very visible aftermath lol! You can usually tell which section of my hair I've been playing with as it'll be a bit frizzier than the rest as I ruin the curl structure :sad:

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I usually spend a few moments looking at it from various angles after detangling in the morning and before I bun it for the day. It's "me and my hair" time. That's about the extent of it though.

[Dung Beetle]

When I was a teen, I had bad skin, and it was drilled into me that you should never touch your face. So if my nose itched or something and I just had to rub my face, I would use my hair! A habit that's persisted all these years.

[Aredhel]

I honestly don't pay my hair much mind, I've had long hair all my life so it's never really been a novelty for me. I use the same few easy updos on rotation, and I prefer if my hair is out of my way and out of mind. Although I enjoy having long hair, I am pretty lazy with it. Plus my hair is quite delicate so I like to avoid as much mechanical damage as possible. :)

[Finda]

I love petting my tassle and feel its softness. And to quote Lady Stardust, I love the sensation of my hair, especially on my lower back. That sensation makes it really clear for me how long it has grown.

[Feral_]

I don’t tend to play with it when it’s down but if it’s in a plait I’ll twirl the tassel between my fingers.

[knobbly]

Yep, well spotted OR. I definitely play with my hair by just stroking it or braiding bits of it while I’m watching tv, twirling it, etc. It’s really the only thing I do that could potentially cause damage so I don’t worry about it, I just enjoy. :wannabe:

[Hairkay]

When I was very young we got Saturdays to play with our hair. After that I'd occasionally play with a plait or two until I learnt to plait my own hair. Teens were all about changing hairstyles sometimes twice a day. I've calmed down with messing with hair but maybe it's because I switched to doing S & D. I'd been sort of doing that before with just snapping of ends or biting off ends so I do it properly now. I'd also found out that there's a limit that my hair can take to being messed with before things start to go bad and I want it healthy.

[Lady Neeva]

I used to play with my hair and got mechanical damage from twisting my hair in a damaging way so my hair is up most of the time now

[MusicalSpoons]

I used to, but it was more of a stim (I was very highly-strung) than pleasure ... well I kind of enjoyed it, but got frustrated when I could not keep my hands away from it - usually a ponytail or a braid tassel. I also used to have trichotillomania so even when it was in a bun my hands would be searching through all the wispy bits, and that was very much NOT playing, it was awful.

Now though, if it's in a braid I still have to pin it up otherwise I'll be subconsciously looking for splits or fairy knots, or just running my fingers through the ends - same if my length is mostly free for whatever reason, e.g. after a scalp wash before I've remembered how to clip it up so that it's out of the way but still dries. Actually even then I'll be running my fingers through the loose hair on top, mindlessly and I can stop and feel okay about it, but I'll soon find my hands back in there again.

So you could say I have a strained history with touching my hair!

Playing with it and enjoying it? That's mostly scritching my scalp, but sometimes when I'm combing or if my bun has fallen out overnight and I have bare legs (so not really in winter!) I'll enjoy it a bit. Especially if I'm kneeling on my bed to see out into the garden or the sky and I'm wearing a nightie, then my hair will pool all on my calves and feet which is quite fun :grin:

My Mum is growing from a longish pixie and she does the gathering-it-into-a-ponytail thing though :)

[WavyWannabe]

I do this all the time when my hair is down or somewhat accessible. It may even be one of the reasons I enjoy having long hair :D
I grab my braid tassel, or the end of a wave "clump" if my hair is loose, and stroke it, or rub it above my mouth (is that called the septum?) to feel the softness.
If it is loose I also play with waves, cupping one wave in my hand and bringing it up and down, watching it go "boing" when I pull it down and release, or what happens if I twirl it around a finger...
Needless to say, I'd end up causing *tons* of damage like that if I didn't wear a bun most of the time :P

[lapis_lazuli]

This also reminds me of my early years of growing when I'd reach behind my back to feel and pull the ends of my hair straight. I was around BSL-waist then and I did it constantly to check if my hair was getting longer. It was an anxious but reassuring impulse.

[spidermom]

I will spend some leisure time playing with my hair - either combing/brushing it or experimenting with a new style. It can drive me crazy to see someone play with their hair in a social or working situation, though. I remember being at a party where a long hair was constantly flipping her hair back, pulling it back like she was making a ponytail, then running her hand down the length, pulling it over her shoulder and partially braiding it, then finger-combing it out, on and on and on. I wanted to scream (I don't know why).

[The Lizard Wife]

My hair's pretty resilient to mechanical damage, so Of Course I play with it incessantly. Twisting, combing, braiding, running fingers through, stroking, pretend-bunning, ponytail-gathering, fluffing, rubbing against my face, (..............chewing..........that one I don't do anymore, which is great, because there's nothing like wet half-frozen hair touching your face in winter...) It's always been a major stim for me and half of the reason I want long hair, so I can play with it incessantly (the other half is for the look). If it's buzzed short, if it's long; even if it's pulled back into a bun I'll still find myself petting my hair... When I was about 2 my mom noticed that I twisted my hair around my finger all the time, and the hairs didn't really break but I was managing to pull them out entirely instead, so she chopped it really short to stop the bald spot from growing. I've learned to curb the intensity of the twisting but that's about it, haha.

[oldrocker]

thanks for the replies....I didn't want to be the only one...:)

O.R.

[JasminxCat]

I usually spend a few moments looking at it from various angles after detangling in the morning and before I bun it for the day. It's "me and my hair" time. That's about the extent of it though.

That's funny, I do this too. Me and hair time
---
When my hair is down as it is most of the time, I try to avoid touching it. I've had a lot of mechanical damage from twisting and rubbing down the ends of my hair from anxiety. If I'm tempted to touch it, I'll put it up in a bun or wash it. I'm more tempted to touch it when it bothers me

[truepeacenik]

Sometimes I'll dance and spin around with my hair. I play with it by making it move :)

At shows, (remember concerts? I miss concerts) I’d unbraid/un bun my hair and dance with it.

[paper.wyrm]

At shows, (remember concerts? I miss concerts) I’d unbraid/un bun my hair and dance with it.

Ah, I miss concerts too! I used to love headbanging at metal concerts with my hair, although past a certain length it becomes a bit of a hazard!

[Feral_]

Ah, I miss concerts too! I used to love headbanging at metal concerts with my hair, although past a certain length it becomes a bit of a hazard!

Yes I remember at one concert a guy behind me managed to get my hair caught in the zip of his leather jacket. That was embarrassing!