Wearing long hair under Hard Hat/safety helmet

[domonic_uk]

Any ideas on this, can't really be down due to all the dust and getting trapped on a construction site, how ever I wear it. It seems to always get trapped at the safety harness at the back of the helmet.

[angelthadiva]

Hmmm, even an English braid, or two twin French Braids?

[domonic_uk]

Plaits aren't really for me just need a way to secure it without it falling down once on site you are not really allowed to remove the helmet.

[Presto]

Ugh I feel your pain! I had to wear one for a whole year, and all the ripped bits of my hair are still growing out. I wound up defaulting to pulling the side and front bits up top with a flat barrette, and everything gathered at the base of my head in a ponytail. Not the most attractive. My hair wasn't really long then, but I'd get dreads from the stuff swinging across my shoulders under the edge of the hat if I didn't confine it. I would probably turn that pony into a braid with the length my hair is now.
We got to remove ours periodically as we went to different jobs, and I think all the on-off ripped more hairs. Hate hate the tension-band!

[Nightshade]

Check with Beldaran. She plays football and got a lot of creative ideas on how to get all her hair up inside her helmet.

[Anlbe]

This is a very common problem for people who ride horses. The general solutions are a braided bun right at the bottom of the head, a plain bun at the bottom with a thin silk scarf wrapped around the whole head or just a hair net. I've never found any of these options particularly attractive but the scarf thing stopped my hair from being snagged or damaged. The funny thing was a few people (who I didn't really know thought maybe I was muslim or something. It's funny how people are so sensitive about a woman covering her head nowadays, particularly when she's wearing skin tight jodhpurs!

[pustekuchen]

First I recommend modifying your hard hat.

take some terry cloth or thin foam and wrap it around the band, secure with tape. then take a bit of a silky material, wrap that around the foam/terry cloth and stitch.

after that, wash it once a week in the sink and rinse it out well (it gets pretty gross, especially in the summer time, it you don't clean it regularly, and you'll end up with black heads and/or acne)

anyway, that helps to protect the hair.

just remind to size the hat a little bit loose, so that once you add a bit of bulk to it it doesn't end up too tight.

oh, and if you use terry cloth, there's the added advantage that you can soak it in water in the summer, and it helps to keep you cool.

good luck, i've been working construction for two years, and I wish I had come up with that solution sooner. would have saved me a bunch of damage.

[Blueglass]

tucked under french braid.

[purplebubba]

When I was working in a machine shop I wore a ponytail and tucked the tail under my hat. We didn't have helmets. However if you want something faster than a braid you can do a ponytail like this and try tucking it under the helmet.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/purplebubba/PB1/SleepTail.jpg

You can customize it to suit your needs or preferences.

This is what has come to be known as PurpleBubba's Sleep Tail. But I also wear mine during the day.

[Smokering]

Mm, helmets are a pest! When I was motorbiking with DH, I had to wear pretty indestructible styles (it didn't matter too much if we were just going for a ride, but if we were biking to church I didn't want to turn up looking like a wurzle-bush!). I usually opted for twin Dutch braids, and if I wanted to doll them up a bit once we arrived I'd quickly coil and pin them into a flat bun. If I was in a hurry, I'd just do a single French or Dutch braid, with the length tucked under my jacket for extra protection.

If you're concerned about damage, you could try some of the 'biker's braid' accessories. They're a fairly... specific... style, usually leather, but they do protect against friction damage and so on.

[Nini]

I wear a Buff to protect my hair. I don't have to wear a hardhat though, but I think you'd be able to fit it on very well.

I just braid my hair, bun it low at my nape with a scrunchy and put the Buff over the whole thing. Then I place my cap on top, and I'm ready to milk the cows:)

Nini

[Tapioca]

The only thing that works with my bicycle helmet is a braid. I'll tuck it under sometimes, but I have a cruiser-style bike, not a racing one, so I'm not leaning over the handlebars. My braid stays on my back by itself.

[Beldaran]

When I had to wear a hard hat for work, I braided it and it didn't catch on the support system of the hat. You could also wear a buff or bandanna to help protect the rest.

The way I wore my football helmet won't help you much, being that I tucked all my hair into a do-rag as if it was a swim cap and put the helmet over that. It looked like absolute crap when taken off, so if you're at work I don't reccomend that.

Honestly, your choices are a normal pony tail, or some combo of braids. I really wouldn't try a bun that low, but possibly if you have less hair, or thinner hair than I do it may work. If you don't like braids, I'd try PurpleBubba's sleep tail as shown above.

[jojo]

how about wearing a wooly hat underneath? its cold at the moment in the UK so you could get away with it, in summer mmm..thats more difficult!

[Nightshade]

how about wearing a wooly hat underneath? its cold at the moment in the UK so you could get away with it, in summer mmm..thats more difficult!

The other problem with this is that it's against OSHA regulations to wear anything more substantial than a bandanna under a hard hat. So a buff may be okay, but even baseball hats are against regulations, as they're too thick and may cause the helmet to come off the head if an impact were to occur.

[jojo]

mmm .thats a point, i suppose a bandana might work, glad i dont have to wear a hat for work

[domonic_uk]

In the U.K were not allowed to wear anything under the hard hat and on the railway no hoods on coats either. Never mind the rain on your head giving you a cold, the hood may prevent you from hearing a train coming. To me though the hoods are only thin and if you can't hear the train your probably hard of hearing and would have failed the medical anyway.

[trolleypup]

I use a ponyscrub (http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/products/scrub-hats/women/pony.php) , side benefit is your hair doesn't get all (or not as) gross. Just got back of a day of trailwork, wearing a helmet, and my hair was only a bit sweat damp, rather than filthy tangled disgusting.

[doodlesmart]

Under my riding helmet, I start with an english braid and fold it up to my forehead. Once it is there I turn it back around at an angle and lay it back down the other way. I do this without the end of the braid secured so that the hair tie doesn't press into my head and hurt. It also lets the ends spread out and be more comfy. My hair is only waist/hip length, so I only get one fold. I stick a bandana over that and I'm good to go. Plus the added benefit is that the bandana is much easier to wash than my helmet.

[Keiera]

I've run into this problem recently with a bump cap (lightweight hard hat). The plastic pieces on the inside can grab my hairs and rip them out. I usually use a scarf to protect my head from them. To keep the hair out of the way, I usually just do a braid and tuck that into my paint suit (covers every bit of clothing. Might not work well enough if your hair isn't long enough to stay back there). Sometimes, I can manage to make a bun with a single hairstick and cram the top portion of the bun under the cap, although that wouldn't work so well if the cap isn't big enough.

Braids and scarfs have worked well for me, but I get teased for the scarfs, since I work with men only... :rolleyes:

[MadPirateBippy]

I would wear bandanas rosie-the-riviter style or some other type of hair covering. When I was doing construction work sans hard hat that's how I kept paint and dust out of my hair.

If it's a matter of getting all the hair under there, crown braids might work (but I am a bit obsessed with them at the moment) plus the bandana covering should keep your hair safe and YOU safe from getting your hair caught in machinery.

There's a store, Tsunis, I think, that sells all kinds of scarves for wrapping hair for jewish women, but they have some great stuff that even a devoted heathen like myself can fancy.

[BlueRose4217]

How about a bee butt bun at the nape of your neck? I do that often when I wear a baseball hat - it might just work for a hard hat! HTH - :)

[Anne~]

I used to put my hair in a bun then make a bandana large enough to cover all my hair and tie it in the back. Adjust my hard hat insides to a larger size, then put it on. This worked great. It was tight enough that I could bend over and it would not fall off and it also kept my hair from catching on FIRE!