Annoying ear pieces

[Nevermore]

I wear glasses every waking minute of every day. I also happen to have hair that grows straight from the ear/head crease up, instead of leaving my ear pieces some room, if that makes sense.

As a result, the combination is beginning to drive me ballistic. The particular frames snag my hair there and taking off my glasses generally results in a pretty painful yank. On the occasions that that doesn't happen, I get that same hair under my earpieces, so I end up with semi-circular, inch long...wings, almost, under them. That looks ridiculous and coupled with the yanking thing, I've gotten to the point where I'm thinking of cutting that section of 20-40 hairs into the sort of sideburn-y things some girls have naturally or shaving them. Even the tightest updo doesn't hold these hairs out of the way (even though it does hold them back...until I put on my glasses again), so I can't think of anything short of cutting them to fix it.

New frames, at least in the next three years, are an impossibility and even with my old frames, from third grade onward, those half circle...wing things have been an issue.

I know cutting them will mean dealing with regrowth which may or may not look strange and shaving them will almost certainly lead to odd looking regrowth, but this is starting to drive me truly nuts.

If anyone has any comment whatsoever on this, I'd be grateful.

[EvaSimone]

Would wrapping tape or something not too obvious around the ear pieces help them from getting caught?

That's all I really can think of, I don't have the same problem when I wear my glasses.

I probably wouldn't cut just because of the chance that it looks really silly when growing out...

HTH

[Angellen]

I was thinking a similar thing to EvaSimone--is it possible to wrap something around the part of your glasses that causes the snags? That seems to be the easiest solution to me (with the least "weird hair" results). If the glasses are to blame (which is doesn't sound like, but maybe...) you could try sanding any rough edges, I suppose...

Sorry I don't have better suggestions. I hope you find something that can fix your problem, that's a tough combination.

[Nevermore]

I don't think tape would work (it'd be obvious/uncomfortable/the sticky edges would still catch the hair) and I definitely can't sand the offending pieces. Basically, the side pieces are two pieces of metal and the actual ear pieces are plastic and go over the metal side pieces, which is the cause of the problem. My old glasses had a molded silicone sleeve type thing over a metal side and ear piece, which caused very few problems, aside from the wings.

Crappy webcam picture showing the problem area:

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g277/happynightmares/WebCam_20080731_01393-2.jpg?t=1217486675

[hazelceleste]

Bring them back to where you bought them (or any eyeglass shop), and explain the problem. I work in an eyeglass shop, and we fix problems like this all the time. They should be able to change the plastic tips, or adjust them so they don't snag hairs.

If they can't do anything for you, I'd get some epoxy and use that to fill in the gaps between the plastic and metal. As long as you take the time to apply it carefully and file it smooth, it should work really well.

[Amara]

hazelceleste took the words out of my mouth! Your eyeglass place should definitely be willing to fit new ends on them.

If not, the epoxy glue is a good idea too!

Just in case this helps you down the road or others reading this thread, I also had this issue, and my new plastic frames completely eliminated the problem, since there's nothing but smooth plastic anywhere, even on the nose rest. Which is great - I used to put my glasses up on top of my head to wash face/bangs etc and then the little nose pieces would catch on my hair and that was NOT fun. I think plastic frames and long hair are a good match!

ETA: I'm not sure why you said new frames aren't an issue, but I thought I'd let you know, if it's financial, you might just hold out for a sale. I got my frames at 75% off and the lenses at half off just by watching the local eyeglass places for sales or coupons. So a whole new pair of glasses cost less than $75. :) HTH!

[sipnsun]

It definitely sounds like there are some snags in your eyeglasses. I wouldn't cut my hair without first checking with the place you bought them to see if they can be fixed.

[bex487]

Cutting your hair could be something you really regret if it goes wrong. I totally understand how expensive glasses are, so I would suggest going back to the place you bought them and asking what can be done. They might fix them for free!

[podo]

I second not cutting the wispies. I've always had those inch-long hairs at the side of my face and at my ears and hated them, even though I don't wear glasses. I can well imagine what it's like for you, but cutting those won't fix it I don't think - it may just cause the longer hairs around your glasses to catch and break.

Try to baby your hair and take vitamins, and those wispies will start to grow out. Mine are now almost 4" long and it's soooo much easier to work with now.

[frizzinator]

My problem used to be more with hinges, but I solved that issue. I have noticed a little bit of the problem to which you refer.

There is nothing wrong with my plastic earpieces, it's just that they are slightly larger than the arm, and the point where that difference in diameter occurs is where my hair gets stuck when taking my glasses off.

I'm trying to remember to remove my glasses very gently: first I grab the arms close to the lenses and then slide my fingers back to the point where the plastic earpiece starts, and hold my glasses there when I remove them. That way I'm removing the hair from the catch point before I move the glasses forward.

[nessthing]

I have the "wing" problem too. If you're pulling your hair back in a braid or something, aloe gel sometimes works to keep them from looking so crazy. Or you could just tuck them under longer hair, like I do most of the time.

[Nevermore]

hazelceleste, bex487 & sipnsun: They definitely wouldn't be able to fix this, because there's nothing actually wrong with the frames and honestly, if I had to choose between modifying my frames and cutting a small amount of my hair, I'd cut my hair. I can't stand even the tiniest change in my frames without going bonkers for a month afterwards (wearing glasses all the time gives me LOTS of time to get annoyed with them) and I cannot risk having them break/get weird before I can replace them.

Amara: Put of the issue is that I wouldn't be paying for them and the bigger part is that I have a super wide face, so most of the frames (especially the nifty all plastic ones) in any given store won't fit. I was lucky to find these because they're wide enough and don't look like something my mother wore in middle school. I've only had four different frames since I was 8 and the only reason I have these is that the pair before them gave up the ghost one day and just snapped. Man, those ear pieces were great, they still gave me wings, but they never snagged.

podo: These are actually mostly full length hairs, or close to it, which is why I they're driving me so nuts. If they were wispies, I'd just arrange flat under my ear pieces or something and that'd probably work, which is why I want to cut them into, essentially, wispies.

frizzinator: Hmm, I just tried that and while it wouldn't fix the wings, it might save me from that moment where I say to myself, "Oh crap, just how stuck in my hair ARE these?!" and have visions of having to cut them free.

nessthing: I haven't tried aloe to hold them down or up or uh, you know, not in my glasses XD, I'll give that a shot tonight

[missmanytoes]

If it's finances holding you back from a different set of frames, try Zenni (http://zennioptical.com/cart/home.php). Even if you get their expensive stuff it's still not a lot of $$

[Nevermore]

I've bookmarked that site for when I can get new frames. I won't be getting another pair with ear pieces like these, that's for sure!

[Nizhoni]

I have the same problem and I really hate that! The most effective way for me to deal with it is to apply hair gel on dry hair and tuck the hair behind my ears following the hair line (ehrm, or at least try to since these hairs are really thin and short), hair spray can also be used for this if applied by spraying onto hand and by hand apply to hair. For best results, let the gel/spray dry before putting on the glasses again. :)

Cutting or shaving is not an option for me, I remember that a girl at my school did that and it did not look good. :cool:

[nicolezoie]

I just pulled the plastic ear pieces off the metal part of the frames. Granted, this ended up irritating the tops of my ears some, but I didn't constantly have wings.

[Nevermore]

Nizhoni: Maybe I shouldn't have tossed that spray gel, lol. I'll have to grab a travel sample size bottle of gel at walmart or something, since aloe is uh...not very great with my hair.

nicolezoie: shudder: I uh...don't think that's an option for me