Hair toys, which to bring on flight?

[PixxieStix]

Hey everyone, so I'm making a really, really short notice trip out to my home state, we just found out my mother has breast cancer and she's going to be having a lumpectomy on Wednesday this week, and I'll be flying back home Tuesday. My mother is fine and handling this well, but my two younger brothers and sister are having really rough time dealing with this, as is my father, and I'm going out more to support them than my mom, she'll have MORE than enough people fawning over her (which she rather despises), but I want to make sure that while everyone is taking care of her, someone is making dinner, getting my sister to track practice and picking her up, helping her with homework, keeping laundry moving, etc.

Wow, sorry for the long intro, can you tell I'm nervous and antsy? Well, long story short , I will be only bringing a carry on bag which has to include everything (my oil shampoo, clothes, make-up, and, you guessed it, hair toys!).

Any recommendations on which ones NOT to bring? I want to bring my flexi-8s, a couple wood hair sticks and one of my MairzyDozy two prong metal forks, but do you think they will allow them on the plane? I'm terrified of bringing them to the airport and then having TSA think they're weapons of some kind (but really, they are no more dangerous than a metal pen)! Do you guys have any experience with this? I refuse to let panic and fear of the unknown make me stop taking care of myself, or my hair.

I already put together travel sized amounts of my shampoo, hair oils, OCM oil for my face, and my ACV/water toner. Just, not being able to take one of my hair toys with me once I got there could easily throw me over the edge, I'll be perfectly fine and the picture of strong and stable once I see my family, but until then I feel like I could crumple into a crying mess on the floor at any moment, and I don't want that to be when I'm going through security at the airport! Advice/comments/suggestions for hair travel appreciated.I was also planning on wearing a sock bun on the top of my head with a french braid going up the back to keep layers in their proper place, good idea for hair travel? That should be comfortable, right?

[cwarren]

Sorry to hear about your mom :( But its good to hear that she's doing better.

I would only bring claw clips and barrettes with a carry on just to be on the safe side. Or, if you have cheap hair sticks (like an actual sanded chop stick or something) then bring that. They can legally "confiscate" anything that looks like it might be used as a weapon.

[brave]

Yes, the sock bun should be comfortable. I usually wear either two braids or a bun right on the very top of my head when travelling -- anything you can sleep in.

I know they let me take my crochet needles into carryon, and I believe they are a lot less stringent now in general. I think wood toys would be better than metal because they won't really appear so suspiciously on the scanner -- esp. if they have little danglies or something.

[Long_hair_bear]

I'm glad your mom is going to be ok and I hope your family will be too! As for suggestions, I dunno. Forks and sticks could be seen as weapons by the paranoid tsa people. A Ravenscroft moon really is a self defense weapon! I would just keep my hair braided were I you and leave the toys at home. I would cry for you if they were taken away!

[ouseljay]

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. My Other's mom was just diagnosed Friday and we're on pins and needles waiting for more test results. :grouphug: And good for you for going to help out your family, that's really thoughtful.

As for hair toys, nothing metal. The Flexis will probably be okay since they look innocuous, but the MD fork could be iffy. It all depends on the TSA agent who looks at the scanner and possibly through your stuff. Just got a lecture on letting questionable things through? Having a bad day? If they can't clearly see the purpose for something long and pointy they may err on the side of "no." Though even that's not a guarantee, I had a friend nearly not get on his flight because of the metal (obviously) musical instruments he had with him. Since "hair pat-downs" seem to be getting more common, I'm thinking the sock bun might not be a good idea. It would be kind of a pain to have to unroll it for them. Maybe just a tucked under braid or something like a Gibson tuck?

[PixxieStix]

Thanks you guys. My mom should be fine, it's garden variety breast cancer, caught super early (it's smaller than a pea), and it's been less than a week in terms of the mammogram, breast ultrasound, found something, did a biopsy, biopsy came back positive, and scheduled for surgery, it's just happened so fast I feel like I'm still trying to catch my breath with it.

Okay, leaving the nice hair sticks at home, I have a pair of wood ones I won't cry over if I don't get them back, scrunchie, flexi 8, and my Ficcare. *takes a deep breath* Thank you ladies so , so much. It might seem like such a small thing, but having someone tell me what would be best is making this much easier on me.

Reminds me of a time I was in a car accident where I was in the passenger seat and we were T-boned on the side I was on, and once the car stopped spinning the very first thought I had after realizing we'd just been in an accident was "Crap, now how am I gonna get that paper done tonight?!" Seems like the issues not related to the one scaring you are the ones that'll send you over the edge. ;)

[skaempfer]

You might have a problem with anything long and pointy i.e., a stick, but I can't imagine a problem with a flexi8. Of course, I can't tell you in advance what they're going to object to. The metal fork might be pushing it.

Is all your luggage going to be carry-on? If you're only taking enough clothes for a carry-on, you probably don't need that many hair thingies (yes, I realise that's heresy for an LHCer ;) but supporting Pixxie's mom and family and *not* having cool hair thingies confiscated are the long-range goals here.)

I always braid my hair when I travel by air, because it's comfortable and visible, i.e., they don't have to worry about what might be stuck in it and I don't have to worry about them fondling my bun.

[Ligeia_13]

I have no recommendations, I just wanted to wish your mother well :)

[Carrie Ingalls]

I hope everything goes well with your mother, your travel and the rest of your family.

On a lighter note I misread the title of this thread and thought it said "Hair toys, which to bring to a fight." oops..:o