Hair Scares...

[Neon Gloss]

Are you paranoid about losing all, or most of your hair, for whatever reasons? Like having it EXTREMELY damaged, or even cut off? There's been times I had my hair up and thought that it got cut off, heh heh.

On public transportation, there's been people cutting off people's long ponytails for YEARS. The moral here is to wear a hoodie if there's people sitting behind you. ;(

ITT discuss your greatest fears in relevance to hair, or even your experiences with losing your length unwillingly.

[AJoifulNoise]

I am scared I'm going to get cancer and go bald like my mom did. I mean, duh, I'm scared I could die from it. But, if I don't die... I could lose all or most of my hair. That makes me sad. My hair is really important to me.

[jojo]

omg thats awful, people actually cut strangers pony tails off thats assault.

[sweetkandi]

Yeah Im afraid of getting cancer also, and losing my hair to it. My grandma had breast cancer.....And I cant believe people really do chop off a random persons hair! I havent heard anything in the news, but youve got me scared! lol

[AJoifulNoise]

I do sometimes think about someone randomly chopping off a braid in public... Or a lock of hair. Gives me the heebie-geebies. But, I don't dwell on it. Besides, I usually bun my hair when I go out anyway.

[vindo]

Well Im also scared of loosing my hair due to cancer and I have a high tendency for it in my family and also have caught that pap-virus :uhh: But most likely once i actually have it I will focus on surviving more than my hair and not pay too much attention to it.

Public scares me everyday. especially since a guy on the subway (last year) ripped out a small streak of my hair and smelled it :(
I mostly wear it up and if I dont its hidden in my jacket or at least over my shoulder and I always pay attention to whos behind me.
With really long hair you do get a lot of stares and its hard to tell creep from just fascinated.
I came across a lot of internet trolls with a cut or shave f e t i s h in some german hair forums...very scary. :/

Im also scared about getting into a fight..long hair can be a real disadvantage there..

[Shanarana]

Well Im also scared of loosing my hair due to cancer and I have a high tendency for it in my family and also have caught that pap-virus :uhh: But most likely once i actually have it I will focus on surviving more than my hair and not pay too much attention to it.

Public scares me everyday. especially since a guy on the subway (last year) ripped out a small streak of my hair and smelled it :(
I mostly wear it up and if I dont its hidden in my jacket or at least over my shoulder and I always pay attention to whos behind me.
With really long hair you do get a lot of stares and its hard to tell creep from just fascinated.
I came across a lot of internet trolls with a cut or shave f e t i s h in some german hair forums...very scary. :/

Im also scared about getting into a fight..long hair can be a real disadvantage there..


If you talking about the HPV virus, having HPV doesn't mean that you have or will have cancer. In most cases it goes away. I had it and it cleared up on it's own. Just keep up with your tests. Finding problems early can be taken care of these days without kemo.

[ilovelonghair]

My hair scares:

-people cutting it off (does that really happen? why do they do that?)
-hair suddenly falling out (happens to me sometimes, but only little patches)
-chemo

[ChloeDharma]

Emichiee.....i really understand the getting into a fight thing.....long hair down or in a ponytail as you say can really be a handicap....i found that out in play fights with my ex.

My main fear with hair is loosing it from illness.....after seeing how much i lost last year from getting ill and getting telogen effluvium. Before that my main hair concern was that it was growing too slowly and the condition (as in fried) because of chemical treatments.

[SHELIAANN1969]

We have gas heaters here in our house, theyre the blue flame space heaters, sometimes when I dont have my hair up (middle of the night or early am) and I bend down to turn it up or down, I am like OMG, what the heck am I doing, I could catch my hair on fire!!

I am pretty much clumsy, duhhhhhhh.....I cant be trusted around fire with my own head obviouslly, maybe I should buy a fireproof helmet for hair protection? haha, that was a joke, I would look dorky in a helmet!! (lolol)

But seriously, I always worry about burning it! (Thank goodness I dont smoke!)

I also watch ever careful when shaving pits in shower, someone posted that they cut their hair accidentially and one day I noticed a large chunk of wet strands in my pit right before I shaved it! (Now I make sure all the hair is NOT IN PIT before shaving) I would have a fit if I did something like that to myself! ack!

[artemis]

I've had students pretend to cut my hair and I'm worried that one day they'll accidently do it. I don't think any of them would be that malicious to cut my hair on purpose, but when they're teasing, accidents can happen.

I also get nervous when I stand close to a fan or a fire. Christmas-eve candle light services make me jittery, too.

[AJoifulNoise]

I also get nervous when I stand close to a fan or a fire. Christmas-eve candle light services make me jittery, too.

Eek! Me, too. I go to a church full of longhairs, but none of them seemed as concerned as me. I kept glancing over my shoulder at the people behind me to make sure they were minding their candles.

[artemis]

Eek! Me, too. I go to a church full of longhairs, but none of them seemed as concerned as me. I kept glancing over my shoulder at the people behind me to make sure they were minding their candles.

The pastor at my grandmother's church always makes an announcement before passing out the candles, asking people to please be careful around the hair and clothing of the people in front of them. Unfortunately, I have five younger brothers who think it's funny to wave their candles in my direction :rolleyes:

[SHELIAANN1969]

The pastor at my grandmother's church always makes an announcement before passing out the candles, asking people to please be careful around the hair and clothing of the people in front of them. Unfortunately, I have five younger brothers who think it's funny to wave their candles in my direction :rolleyes:


You ever hear that song by Ray Stevens "The day the squirrel went berserk"?

Well that would be me if anyone tried bring fire near me, Church or not, I'd be praying "Lord give me the strength to catch em and beat em"!!

Oh man, that is sooooooo not funny.

[artemis]

You ever hear that song by Ray Stevens "The day the squirrel went berserk"?

Well that would be me if anyone tried bring fire near me, Church or not, I'd be praying "Lord give me the strength to catch em and beat em"!!

Oh man, that is sooooooo not funny.

Heard it? Heck, I've got the music video on VHS :D

[vindo]

If you talking about the HPV virus, having HPV doesn't mean that you have or will have cancer. In most cases it goes away. I had it and it cleared up on it's own. Just keep up with your tests. Finding problems early can be taken care of these days without kemo.

I had a pap 3 and it went away after a minor laser treatment. But the Dr. told me you always have the papillom..bla (spelling?) virus in you but the important thing is that no infection breaks out again and youre fine.

[TheSpottedCow]

I'm afraid of someone cutting it or pulling it against my will. I've heard of it happening enough times.
I guess relatively it's a pretty rare type of assault.

[florenonite]

Has anyone read the poem The Rape of the Lock, by Alexander Pope? It was written because two families refused to speak to each other after a man from one cut off a lock of hair from a woman from the other. I just thought of it with people talking about cutting off hair against the owner's wishes.

[GlassEyes]

I'm terrified of going bald. Seriously.

Sometimes my paranoia is so bad I'll catch myself sneaking glances at my hairline in mirrors and it gets so bad I can ever feel my scalp tingle. e-e.

[akurah]

I'm terrified of children sitting behind me on the bus or train, as well as getting it caught into things. There's something wonky with the seats on the train I commute on, and I always end up getting caught in it if I wear my hair down--the weird thing it's only ONE strand that gets caught when it happens.

I've had kids pull my hair once on the train, and I gave the father of the child a look so dirty I think I scared him and he yelled at his child.

[ChloeDharma]

The pastor at my grandmother's church always makes an announcement before passing out the candles, asking people to please be careful around the hair and clothing of the people in front of them. Unfortunately, I have five younger brothers who think it's funny to wave their candles in my direction :rolleyes:

Maybe you should explain to them that they all have things they care about, and if pushed they all have to sleep, and that if they don't stop being twats and should anything happen to your hair you will have to inflict whatever damage you decide on them and their posessions. Works mostly, though some blokes just need a bloody good slapping. I don't hold withy this "boys will be boys" stuff, rudeness is just that....no excuses.

[SearMeCarefully]

Hair getting caught in drills, belt sanders, and saws etc.. sometimes I forget to put my hair up in a bun at work and it's left tucked into my shirt.. but a few strands will sneak out and I've have a few strands get sucked into the drill, and I'm super paranoid about the belt sander.. and the saw.. that's not even funny I _always_ make sure nothing is sticking out when I mess with that..

[rubyredslippers]

I've always been afraid of getting gum in my hair. I went to a highschool with lots of stairs, and I was always afraid of someone sticking their head over one of the bannisters and spitting it out, to land smack in my hair.
:couch:
Keep that gum away from me!

This fear was intensified by one of my friends, who went to sleep with chewing gum in her mouth as a small child and got tangled thoroughly in her beautiful long hair. She had a very short pixie for years afterwards . . .:agape:

[david]

Yeah, I always get really self-consious and worried on public transport, busses etc that someone is going to do something to my hair. Especially when you hear all the horror stories of people getting their ponytail cut off on a bus:run:

[savi]

In festivals, conserts etc. some idiots decide to smoke right in the middle of the crowd, I'm always afraid that someone will set my hair on fire. And yes my hand has been burned before, and it hurt.

[harley mama]

I have cancer and have shed a lot of my volume due to the chemo. I don't really fear going bald as much as I fear not beating the cancer. The hair will grow back.

[girlcat36]

I had a pap 3 and it went away after a minor laser treatment. But the Dr. told me you always have the papillom..bla (spelling?) virus in you but the important thing is that no infection breaks out again and youre fine.

My cancer was caused by HPV, and it was not cervical cancer, it was throat cancer! My advice for anyone exposed to HPV, get regular dental oral screening exams. Little known fact to the general public---HPV is now thought to cause up to 75% of head and neck cancers.
HPV is not only putting women at risk, man are at risk, too. In fact, the only other HPV oral cancer patients I know were all men!
Sorry, don't mean to scare anyone but I had to get on my soapbox, because there are people even in the medical field that are not aware of this link(hence my late diagnosis!)
Hair scares---I had them! Radiation treatment caused the loss of the hair on the bottom half of my head. That looked pretty stupid. I was told it may never grow back in. Yikes!!(It is growing back). Chemotherapy caused a diffuse thinning all over my head. So I lost about half my hair to cancer treatment.
Current hair scare----there is always the worry of a recurrance in the back of my mind, and if that happens, will I have to have the kind of chemo that makes you go totally bald?? and will all this effort put into growing my hair long be a waste of time?
Okay, back to positive thinking.....going to my happy place....:)

For anyone nosy about my cancer story and treatment here is a link
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/teresadillon

[MeMyselfandI]

girlcat,

Thank you for sharing your story with us.

rubyredslippers,

Peanutbutter works wonders for gum in hair.

My daughter fell asleep with gum in her very long hair hip. (long is relative on this forum LOL) Whenever her hair would be long enough to get into the toilet bowel, I would sneak a trim when she was in the bath. Now it is halfway down her back.

I sat her down with creamy peanut butter put it on the gum, I was able to get all the gum out no problem.

girlcat,

Thank you for sharing your story with us.

I never heard of anyone cutting off someones hair.

My husband tells me it is "Just Hair". Now that I spend money on colouring it. He was the one that did not like the grey. He was the one that complained the most about me cutting my waist hair completely off.

I was going to use the user name just hair. I know that breast, hair can be lost to cancer or other illness. I have often thought of that and I keep it in perspective. I am sure it would be different if I was suffering from an illness though.

I did set my hair up in smoke once at church in a candle. I had tucked my hair into my collar. Some escaped and poof, up in smoke it went.

I think my biggest fears is head lice. I had it once as a child. It was not even in my school. I got it from someone after school. My mom, cut my hip long hair to chin length. My daughter does not like her hair in braids. I have convinced her to put it in a pony tail at school. But I always have this fear of the head lice. Just dealing with it and the resistance they have around here. Now that I know about henna, it will be my first line of defense.

This past Valentine day, I had a different fear for my hair. After lightening my hair and colouring it, hair felt worse then ever. My hair started breaking off. I actually got scared, I would lose all my hair to stupidity on my part .

I since used henna, and will not be using any more chemical strong stuff or dyes on my hair.

[khyricat]

girlcat36 -

I didn't know HPV was involved in your diagnosis, but you are lucky that the hair grew back.. Bill's stepmom had 3 bouts of "unrelated" cancer before she died 6 years ago.. the first one was throat cancer.. then she had bone cancer in her leg and finally she had lung cancer..

with both our family histories of cancer and it on both sides of my family, I just pray to stay healthy, though not about the hair.. if I get cancer, I'm sure that will be the least of my concerns..

On the other hand, I am afraid of catching my hair in something- I've done it before.. and it isn't fun..

[Keiera]

I thought I had gotten lice recently. My sister caught it from her roommate (who finally moved out, and who still has lice!) over a year ago. Her hair was almost to waist, as was mine at the time. Instead of looking for other treatment options or spending the time to get it fixed with the long hair, she chopped it all off into a short bob. Her boyfriend was devastated (she had had this done once before when the two of them broke up a long time ago to "get back at him", and had just gotten it back down to where it was when she had first cut it). He loved her long hair, and now that it's short, she wants to keep it short!

For the next year, I would either heavily oil my hair or put it in some sort of impenetrable hair style (or wear a hat or scarf) whenever I went over to her house. Every time my head itched, I'd run to my boyfriend and demand that he check me for lice. Fortunately, I've only ever had dandruff :D. Now that her terrible roommate is gone and their (sis and her bf live together) house is lice free, I come visit and hang out there a lot more often.

[Sarahmoon]

I'm affraid of people dancing around with cigarettes when I go out. Not just for my hair, but also for my skin and clothes etc.
Ofcourse I'm also affraid of ever getting a terrible disease that causes me to lose my hair... Though I think in that case my hair could be the least of my worries.
Since I found a few white hairs in my hair, I'm sometimes affraid my hair might suddenly become grey/white very fast, before I'm 30 years old, and then for some reason it won't hold colour so I won't be able to dye it.... Does that even exist? Hair that can't be dyed?

[vdhendrix]

i read some where that in india women will go to hospitals and stay over night and wake up with all thier hair cut off, because other people steal it and sell it for hair extensions

[Maddy25]

I'm really afraid that because of the damage my hair has been through, that it wont grow very long and be thick like I want, because it will break off. So Ive been taking extra good care of it to make sure this doesnt happen but still!

[halo_tightens]

Just last night I told my DH--

"If I ever get into an accident or something and I'm unconscious, DO NOT let them cut off my hair! If I wake up and see that I have to start all over again, I'll be so upset I won't care how badly I'm hurt-- I'll kill!" :)

[Smitts]

I constantly think my hair is thinning. I even have dreams about people saying my hair is thinning. I swear that it looks like it is but everyone else thinks it looks fine.

I had one person back in high school act like he was going to cut my hair with scissor. I threatened him and nearly got into a fight.

To the topic starter. Don't people realize that, depending on who's hair they cut, they could be risking there life. I would probably kill someone if they cut my hair off.

Also, I try not to wear too many hats because I got paranoid. Two reasons, someone told me it cuts oxygen off of your hair and it will fall out. I noticed I shed more after showers when I had wore a hat. So hats freak me out if I wear them for too long. I use bandanas.

[enfys]

I keep my hair up almost all the time, smoking in public places is banned, it's survived lice twice at classic length in school and I would kill anyone who cut my hair off so my time in prison would give it chance t grow back.

Illness? Yeah, that scares me. I'm vain and not ashamed of it.

[LoversLullaby]

My little brother's always laughing at me and threatening to cut off my hair while I'm sleeping.
I'm always scared he's gonna end up doing it. :confused:

[rags]

I was diagnosed with an illness which required some very strong meds (not cancer). I lost over half of my hair to very diffuse thinning and cut my tailbone length hair up to shoulder. They said it would grow back. Well, it didn't. It's been four years now (three years since I finished the drug) and I got back very little of it. I'm growing my hair back out anyway - 1.5" ponytail and all!

So I worry I will need the meds again, or something like it, and lose the rest of my hair. Oh, well. I'm enjoying it now!

[ericthegreat]

I like to wear my hair down and loose very often, so I'm always worried about it getting caught between doors, it always gets caught underneath the corners of my chair, and I'm also afraid of somehow getting into a freak accident in which my hair gets caught between the doors of a train. I take the subway to go everywhere around the city, so whenever I'm taking public transportation I WILL NOT BOARD an extremely crowded train. I don't even want to be forced to stand against the train doors...........for one my hair can get caught between them. Imagine all the damage it would suffer if it got dragged over 10 or 15 stations!!!!! And the other reason its that I wouldn't even want to risk falling out of the doors once they open!

[JamieLeigh]

I'm not paranoid about it, per se....that is, I don't walk around expecting it to happen, or even taking precautions against the possibilities...but I would definitely NOT appreciate it if it did. And God save the person who tried it, if I managed to get hold of him/her. :demon:

[Miasen]

I had a coworker tell me she was so envious of my hair that she was going to get me really drunk at the next work party and chop of my braid. Naturally I swore to myself not to drink at work parties ever. Not that I think she'd really do it! But you never know what people do when they are drunk enough. LOL

My hair is like the one thing I like about my looks, so I'd be utterly depressed if I lost it somehow. I get depressed just thinking about it now. XD

[Wicked Princess]

I wouldn't say I was overly worried about anything except for cancer, and subsequently losing my hair. It will grow back! :)

As far as people touching it goes, I wear my hair up every day - which keeps it from being noticed (except for my hair accessories - people normally compliment those), or being a topic of conversation at all. I like to bypass all the "you should donate it!","your hair is so long!","can I touch it" comments all together. :D

[Deb!]

Having had cancer twice and subsequent chemo, I can personally state worrying about going/being bald is the last thing on ones mind!

[vdhendrix]

I constantly think my hair is thinning. I even have dreams about people saying my hair is thinning. I swear that it looks like it is but everyone else thinks it looks fine.

I had one person back in high school act like he was going to cut my hair with scissor. I threatened him and nearly got into a fight.

To the topic starter. Don't people realize that, depending on who's hair they cut, they could be risking there life. I would probably kill someone if they cut my hair off.

Also, I try not to wear too many hats because I got paranoid. Two reasons, someone told me it cuts oxygen off of your hair and it will fall out. I noticed I shed more after showers when I had wore a hat. So hats freak me out if I wear them for too long. I use bandanas.


lol i am the same way about wearing tight pony tails or braids, i always think that im going to get tension alopecia or something. one of my biggest phobias is that im going to get female baldness when i get older

[ColoradoDreamer]

Having had cancer twice and subsequent chemo, I can personally state worrying about going/being bald is the last thing on ones mind!

Been there, done that. Hair grows back. Breasts do not.