Out in all weather - how to protect my hair?

[trampledbygeese]

So, I'm a farmer. I'm outside at least two hours a day (although, it's more like 10 hours on good weather and really bad weather days) and I'm beginning to wonder if this is having a negative effect on my hair.

What kind of damage can being outside do to your hair? I know sunlight can cause damage to anything, but what about being frozen, attacked by chickens, pelted by hale...?

What type of things can I do to protect my hair (I want it to grow long and healthy) while I'm working on the farm? I'm very active, and tend to wear a sun hat, but I noticed when I keep my hair in one or two braids, it gets a lot split ends.

I'm aiming for as little product possible (due to allergies), or natural thing I can make with the ingredients in my kitchen. I had a quick search and couldn't find any threads on this topic, but if one is already out there, please feel free to point me in the right direction.

:)

[Viscountess]

Invest in a set of spin pins! I find when I braided my hair I'd get splits too, but by keeping my hair up with spin spins the wind doesn't tear and tug at it, and I can wear a hat over the bun (I wear a 'newsboy' style hat which gives me enough bun space) when its cold.

The spin pins hold my hair very solidly. They rock

[trampledbygeese]

Sounds very useful. Where do spin pins come from?

I only just learn how to put my hair up in a bun using a chop stick, so I'm pretty new to the whole care-about-my-hair process. :)

[Viscountess]

http://www.thekit.ca/beauty/hair/goody-spin-pins/

You can find them at your Walmart - I got my latest set at Ardene's in the mall here and I've seen them at the grocery store. they really work well

here's a link showing you what you're looking for. You Tube has a bunch of tutorials too.

[PixxieStix]

Hats, scarves, bandanas, all are good things to help cover your hair and protect it from the elements. Learning protective updos that work good for your hair (hooray, you know braids don't work for you, that's good step in the right direction!) will help immensely, and have you looked into avocado oil? It has some natural sunscreen properties, and it if agrees with your hair, you could do light oilings before going outside to help protect it from the sun as well as the elements (stuff has a hard time getting past the oil to the hair itself). I'll be following this thread to see what others have to offer!

[trampledbygeese]

...

here's a link showing you what you're looking for. You Tube has a bunch of tutorials too.

Thank you for the link. Those look...um...kind of scary at first, but I bet once I figure out how to get them in my hair, I'll love them.

I'll pick some up next time I'm out shopping.

[Viscountess]

Screw 'em in clockwise to secure your hair, screw 'em out counterclockwise to remove them. You will get the hang of it. Think of it this way - as the screw rotates, its picking up hair from the bun and the scalp area and as it turns into the bun, the shape of the pin 'locks' the pin into place and it won't come out until you 'unscrew' it.

I find the spin pins fit under hats or touques better as hair sticks tend to stick up and come loose as you take the hat on or off. If you're outdoors and the weather is bad, a hat is pretty much a necessity.

[trampledbygeese]

Hats, scarves, bandanas, all are good things to help cover your hair and protect it from the elements. Learning protective updos that work good for your hair (hooray, you know braids don't work for you, that's good step in the right direction!) will help immensely, and have you looked into avocado oil? It has some natural sunscreen properties, and it if agrees with your hair, you could do light oilings before going outside to help protect it from the sun as well as the elements (stuff has a hard time getting past the oil to the hair itself). I'll be following this thread to see what others have to offer!

I love big floppy hats when I'm working on the farm. But how wear a hat AND keep my hair off my face while I'm working... this I still need to learn.

Do braids not work for other people too? What is it about them that makes my ends split? I have so much to learn.

Avocado oil? I'll have to look into this. I always imagined I shouldn't oil my hair before going out in the sun, in case it intensify the sun's damage... but if it has natural protection in it, well then I'm sold. My hair loves oil, it just gobbles it up. Do other natural oils have sunscreen properties?

Sorry for so many questions.

[furnival]

I work outdoors too. I put my hair up in a bun and secure it with a large claw clip or spin pins, then on cold/windy days I hide it all under a large woolly hat that I've lined with a silk scarf. The silk stops the hair catching on the coarse wool and is also a good insulating layer.
The hat keeps all the annoying flyaways out of my mouth/eyes/ etc too. On sunny days I bun it and wrap a light scarf round my head.
ETA- I love your user name! :)

[jacqueline101]

I'd wear a bun and put a hat over it to keep your hair from being exposed to the elements.

[Gabriel]

A Buff over a secure updo is pretty awesome. There are all sorts summer and winter versions and even some with UV protection. Linky (https://www.buffwear.com/catalog/).

Braids unsecured hang down and rub against clothing or get caught on things. Probably why you get more splits with them. Could also be what you secure them with that does it as well. If you braid your hair use a hair friendly elastic to bind off the braid and try pinning it up with tiny claws or hair pins under a bandana (or Buff!).

[trampledbygeese]

...
ETA- I love your user name! :)

Thank you.

I'll have to learn how to wear a scarf. I have plenty of silk scarves, but they are not very common around here in the country.

I wish I could wear a claw clip. Sadly, my hair is just too thick and I've never found one that can hold even half of it up. Funny how we never end up with the hair we want.

[Kinkycurlygurl]

Sounds very useful. Where do spin pins come from?

I only just learn how to put my hair up in a bun using a chop stick, so I'm pretty new to the whole care-about-my-hair process. :)

You can get spin pins at any of the chain drug stores or Walmart.

The cold dries out my hair. I put it up in a bun I bought 3 cute hats on sale from Khol's. I've been rocking them all winter.

[trampledbygeese]

What type of hat do you usually wear kinkycurlygurl?

[PixxieStix]

Oiling your hair prior to sun exposure should not increase the sun damage if you are using one that has sun screen properties (avocado is the only one I know of), and the heat generally should only help the oil soak in more, not fry it. :)

Split ends on braids could be caused by the use of elastics on the ends, if that is what you use to secure them with. Over time they rub and cause damage, you'd be much better off with a coated "hair friendly" elastic, or even braiding in silky scarves and using the ends of those to tie it off with.

Aw yes, many of us understand the claw clip predicament well, which is why the Flexi 8 (http://www.flexi8.com/) is so amazing! For me they were tricky to figure out how to use, took about 20 to 30 minutes, but after that, pretty smooth sailing.

[Anje]

I'll add a vote for a bun + a bandana or a bun + a Buff (http://www.buffusa.com/) to keep your hair protected, out of the way, and to keep from getting junk in it. Some of the Buffs also have UV protection built in, which is good if you have problems with hair damage due to sunlight or if you're prone to scalp sunburns like I am.

Hats work OK with really low buns or braids, but if I'm really doing anything, the brim gets in my way. (Some people do hats with high buns stuck up inside them. I suppose I should consider it a milestone that my buns are too big for hats to fit effectively like this, but I suspect it's really just because I've got a big head.)

[heidi w.]

I'd at least wear all my hair up in an updo, and I would also locate a super long and wide scarf and wrap my hair all up in it, after it's bunned. I would bun with long bobby pins, not a hair stick, or the hair stick may pose a problem with wrapping up the hair. I'd also wear a wide brimmed hat to protect my skin and wear a strong SPF factor on the skin to protect against sunburn and UVB or UVA rays (on gray days one can get a certain kind of rays that is bad for skin). I'd also recommend finding a good moisturizer for the skin. Oil on the skin, applied oil that is, will lead to skin being burned.

Then the hail can pelt all it wants; the geese can bark all they want; and mud can build, and you can go to a barn party and have the best hair in the room! You won't have to worry about your hair whatsoever in the elements.

heidi w.

[heidi w.]

Here's how I wear my wide-brimmed hat outdoors. I bun my hair kind of low on the back of the head. Then I take the string of the hat. It is placed on the back of my head. The hat is propped on top, and then I tie the string tight under the bottom of the bun. The hat stays put all day.

I had some guy show me how to tie it at an Open Air Market. He told me that's how the "Mexicans" in the fields tie their hats. I've been doing it that way for years now, and it works well. My hat does not blow off; I do not need to redo it.

My hat string actually has a bead that I draw up and then tie a knot below the bead. I tie it fairly tight.

Everyone likes my hat. It's a wide-brimmed straw hat.

The guy who showed me was an elderly Mexican man. He just came up at the fair and showed me in the middle of the street how to tie it up. I hate tying under the chin, and then if it's super windy, the hat pulls the string choking me. Aaack!

You might like that method a lot.

I wear glasses too, so it's a real get-up! But my hair isn't billowing about in the wind and muck.

heidi w.

[heidi w.]

Thank you.

I'll have to learn how to wear a scarf. I have plenty of silk scarves, but they are not very common around here in the country.

I wish I could wear a claw clip. Sadly, my hair is just too thick and I've never found one that can hold even half of it up. Funny how we never end up with the hair we want.

Consider it a blessing. Claw clips do not do your hair any favors. At a certain point I had to wear 2 claw clips to hold all this hair. I also found that the clip eventually tipped to one side or the other and that it pulled on forehead hairs. It was very uncomfortable, and I eventually gave it up, and threw them all out.

heidi w.

[trampledbygeese]

Happy! I got a couple of spin pins today. I think they are going to work out great if (a) I can get the bun low enough on my neck that it doesn't push up the brim of my hat and (b) if I can fish them out of my hair. Once I finally talked them into holding up my bun, they seemed to get lost in my hair.

Although my hair isn't all that long yet, it is thick and the spin pins only go about half way into my bun (at best). I wonder if they make a large size.

[jeanniet]

I'll add a vote for a bun + a bandana or a bun + a Buff (http://www.buffusa.com/) to keep your hair protected, out of the way, and to keep from getting junk in it. Some of the Buffs also have UV protection built in, which is good if you have problems with hair damage due to sunlight or if you're prone to scalp sunburns like I am.

Hats work OK with really low buns or braids, but if I'm really doing anything, the brim gets in my way. (Some people do hats with high buns stuck up inside them. I suppose I should consider it a milestone that my buns are too big for hats to fit effectively like this, but I suspect it's really just because I've got a big head.)
Buffs are awesome. I have the regular ones and some of the merino wool ones, which are longer and really great for cold days because they're so versatile. Sometimes if I'm working outdoors and it's really windy I put a Buff over my head/bun and tuck it under, and then wear a Gypsy Wrap over that. A Gypsy Wrap is more or less just a tailored bandana that you don't have to tie. http://www.etsy.com/shop/juliebartel?section_id=6927926 That and a Buff together will hold up to a good deal of wind and protect hair from the sun too.

[ktani]

Both my winter coat and hat have a satin acetate lining. So, sometimes I pile my hair up inside my hat, and sometimes I wear it down inside my coat with a satiny acetate huge scarf around it.

As to oils with UV protection, that is very low at best naturally and I do not recommend that.

Here is more - oils can increase UV intensity on skin,
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=1964586&postcount=132

[trampledbygeese]

So basically, don't oil before working in the sun, but in the middle of winter (when we get about 4 or 5 hours of diffused daylight, it would be okay to protect it from the elements?

It's a shame I can't wear sunblock or products that protect the skin/hair from sun (due to allergies). Good thing I can't seem to get a sun burn. Well, I lie, I got a sun burn once, but that was due to a drug interaction.

We get a really strong sun in the summer, and I'm usually outside between 5am to 11pm (with an hour break for lunch). So a big floppy hat is my friend.

[trampledbygeese]

So basically, don't oil before working in the sun, but in the middle of winter (when we get about 4 or 5 hours of diffused daylight, it would be okay to protect it from the elements?

It's a shame I can't wear sunblock or products that protect the skin/hair from sun (due to allergies). Good thing I can't seem to get a sun burn. Well, I lie, I got a sun burn once, but that was due to a drug interaction.

We get a really strong sun in the summer, and I'm usually outside between 5am to 11pm (with an hour break for lunch). So a big floppy hat is my friend.