Poll: Do you let friends touch your hair?

[Braid Girl]

Do you let friends touch your hair? Stroke it? Style it? Braid it? Only female/male friends? Strangers?

Just curious

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I would if they wanted to.

[Dragonwings]

Depends. If it's my mom, then yes. Hairstylist? Obviously a yes there. Friends? Um, depends on what they're doing with it I guess? I don't really like people touching me so yeah, definitely depends.

[Arctic]

If we talk about a bare touching, then yes if my hair would be clean and it wouldn't be in a time consuming/intricate/easy to mess style. This is for friends, but I don't mind strangers either if they seem nice people.

If we talk about styling, brushing, etc, I would let friends do it, again with few ifs. If my hair would be clean, if I wouldn't have scalp flare up, etc. I have had some hairloss in the past year (thankfully it seems to be slowly growing back) and I am a very self-conscious about it. So right now I would need the person to be someone I trust. But without the hairloss issue I would be more free-minded.

In theory I don't think I'd mind a stranger brush or do my hair, but I have hard time seeing how, and in what kind of situation it would happen. I mean if someone would approach me in a coffee shop or a bus, and ask to braid my hair, it would feel strange - and I would probably be busy and have my hair already done, etc etc, so I would say no.

Anyway the main point is that in proper situation and with nice people I like when someone plays with my hair, it's one of those feel-good things. I have fond memories from my childhood when my sister braided my hair etc. But unfortunately in my current real life no-one really does that. I've never really have had a noteworthy hair, and people don't really pay attention to it at all, especially after I grew out henna (and that's ok, I don't really mind. It's just one of those things in life: some people have attention grabbing hair that gets compliments and touching requests from left and right, and some do not. I'm in peace with that fact.). We Finns also are not very touchy-feely, compliment-giving folks in general.

[fiðrildi]

I do let my friends and family touch my hair. Usually they do it carefully and only for a short time, and it feels nice. I don't let anyone brush it, though. And generally I don't like it when the touching is unexpected.

[lapushka]

My mom is the only one who needs to touch my hair for care purposes - otherwise everyone else, mitts off!

[momschicklets]

Doesn't bother me a bit....especially because most of the time it illicits a "wow your hair is so soft" compliment

[endersworld]

I have friends who like to braid and do various hairstyles, and they sometimes will ask if they can try something they're working on with my hair, but only if it's already down. They usually know not to ask if I've got it up (though most buns I can just take down and put up again anyway). I like it when people play with my hair, but I try not to let my preschoolers mess with it to much. They try really hard to comb it with their tiny barbie combs, and it just doesn't work out, though the intent to do something pretty is definitely there - lol

[TatsuOni]

Yes! They like to touch it to check the quality and if they where to style it, they know to be careful.

[missrandie]

I think so, yes. Friends are allowed to touch, though they really never have.

I've always been the one to initiate hair touching, and that was me asking them politely if I could detangle their hair for them.

Any time I have detangled for somebody, they are hesitant at first, then awed by the fact that it doesn't hurt at all. My neice asked me why I wasn't just pulling through the tangles, and I told her that her hair would stay much nicer if she didn't do that, but instead detangled gently.