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Vicky Veiss
August 17th, 2009, 07:20 PM
I thought I'd share what I do to deal with my hair while going camping, since I just got back from a long jaunt into the wilds of North America!

My hair is getting close to ankle-length, it tapers down to a very fine tail, and it's just wavy enough to tangle into felted mats when it's allowed to blow in the wind or gets rubbed by hats and hoods. Recipe for disaster on a two-week trip, right? Actually, I did pretty well with it this time. :)

I wore it up constantly, of course. Even when I couldn't comb it all out in the morning, I would sweep it up into my usual figure-8 bun secured with a Flexi-8. (I need to order myself an extra-large of those, BTW, since a large will JUST fit over the top half of that bun.) However, if I'm hiking around, jumping from rocks and generally being active, my hair tends to slip downwards at a rapid rate and I end up having to undo and redo my updo all day long. Which is a pain when it's windy or when I'm among trees -- I catch the flying ends on EVERYTHING.

So after putting up the hair, I take a big square silky scarf, fold it into a triangle, put it over my head babushka-style and tie it with a firm knot at the back of my neck, right underneath my bun. This is to give my hair some support and keep it from slipping. Then I take the narrow ends of the scarf, bring them up on each side of the bun and tie another knot ABOVE the bun, thus enclosing all my hair within a sort of bag. Yes, it looks a little odd, but over that goes my sun hat to hide most of it! This scarf-bag will last me hours if it's properly knotted, and I barely have to think about my hair during the day.

Oh, and it really helps with stays at unimproved campgrounds if you're already used to going a week between washes... ;)

Gingevere
August 17th, 2009, 09:10 PM
Until this year, I just braided my hair when I went on camping trips. But my braid has now gotten long enough to get in the way and annoy me during the day while hiking, canoeing, etc. I recently tried a tichel, which is a head covering that I believe some married Jewish women wear. Anyway, it's really just a large square of cloth worn almost exactly the same way that Vicky Veiss just described. I got some in pretty colors and patterns at http://www.coveryourhair.com/.

trolleypup
August 17th, 2009, 09:51 PM
Pony scrub (http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/nursing-medical/womens-scrub-hats/pony-scrub-hats/) for me. Granted, my hair a fairly coarse and minimally wavy, but it is awfully nice to know that if I keep it up in the pony scrub (sometimes day and night) I can end the trip with untangled (and uncared for) hair.

This is for active outdoor activities...my regular bun will stay up for many miles of just hiking.