Zippers and hair.....

**Nae** · February 25th, 2010, 07:32 AM

I am noticing things I have never noticed before thanks to you guys!! I was at Wal-Mart yesterday and checked out with a fairly long haired cashier, her hair was down (probably BSL or a bit longer) and was in pretty good shape in the back but the front was a bit damaged.

Of course the gears in the brain start chugging away, what could cause that? How could I avoid that? What is going on?

As I am noticing this discrepancy between hair damage from the front to the back I notice she is wearing a zip-up hoodie and as she reaches for the items coming across her register and then bags them her hair is swinging back and forth over the the teeth of the partially zipped up hoodie. It was kinda hypnotic......back and forth, back and forth, back and forth like one of those swinging watches. At this point my brain is telling me. Esh, stop watching this woman's zipper already!! Once I got myself out of "hair mode" and back into "normal shopping person mode" I came up with a theory. (Not an earth shattering theory I will admit, but I am no scientist.)

My theory is, eight hours of zipper rubbing a day is NOT good for hair. Brilliant huh?

It is funny how I notice things like that now. I know I shouldn't be staring at other peoples ends, rude and all that, but the discrepancy was so odd it grabbed my attention. I am definately going to be careful about wearing hair down with zippered garments in the future. And that is the story why I have hair on the brain.

**curlylocks85** · February 25th, 2010, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Nae

I am noticing things I have never noticed before thanks to you guys!! I was at Wal-Mart yesterday and checked out with a fairly long haired cashier, her hair was down (probably BSL or a bit longer) and was in pretty good shape in the back but the front was a bit damaged.

Of course the gears in the brain start chugging away, what could cause that? How could I avoid that? What is going on?

As I am noticing this discrepancy between hair damage from the front to the back I notice she is wearing a zip-up hoodie and as she reaches for the items coming across her register and then bags them her hair is swinging back and forth over the the teeth of the partially zipped up hoodie. It was kinda hypnotic......back and forth, back and forth, back and forth like one of those swinging watches. At this point my brain is telling me. Esh, stop watching this woman's zipper already!! Once I got myself out of "hair mode" and back into "normal shopping person mode" I came up with a theory. (Not an earth shattering theory I will admit, but I am no scientist.)

My theory is, eight hours of zipper rubbing a day is NOT good for hair. Brilliant huh?

It is funny how I notice things like that now. I know I shouldn't be staring at other peoples ends, rude and all that, but the discrepancy was so odd it grabbed my attention. I am definately going to be careful about wearing hair down with zippered garments in the future. And that is the story why I have hair on the brain.

That poor hair. I think even without the help of this forum and all the others I would still not let my hair rub up against zippers. It would not be that hard because my hair is curly and it would pull and hurt. At least the back was in decent shape.

**JamieLeigh** · February 25th, 2010, 08:07 AM

I agree, constant rubbing on anything, even the fabric of a tee-shirt can cause damage in the long run.

I too find myself hypothesizing on how other people could fix their visible hair "problems" (I say that in quotes, because where I would not be happy with what they're doing, they obviously are - I prefer to think ignorance is bliss!!

) when I'm out in public and waiting in line, or bored in a doctor's office.

**MommaRalph** · February 25th, 2010, 08:49 AM

You're probably right. Here's another theory too: does the front of her hair have layers? I am growing out layers and there were lots of layers near the side of my face. The ends of the hairs of my layers split a lot and catch on eachother. I'll be glad when they're gone!

Valerie

**embee** · February 25th, 2010, 10:58 AM

Zippers love hair. Not quite as much as Velcro loves hair, but.... And metal zippers love hair more, in my experience.

So you're probably right, if she wears that hoodie a lot, and her hair swings across the zipper teeth all day long, there's gonna be some damage. They're not called "teeth" for nothing, after all!

**tralalalara** · February 25th, 2010, 11:02 AM

like MommaRalph said, it could also be layers growing out. or if it was all the same length, the hair coming from the top of the head is longer and older than hair from the nape, so it has weathered more?

**Anje** · February 25th, 2010, 11:54 AM

My front sections are always a bit thinner and more damaged-looking than the rest, even though my hair spends most of its time up. Probably gets the most handling and is on the outside when pulled back. I think a lot of folks have shorter terminals near their face, though that's probably not quite what's going on here.

Zippers are nasty to braids, too. When I wear a braid, I often pull it over my shoulder, but if I'm wearing a coat or zip-hoodie, it likes to catch in there. I don't have a great solution, but I'm trying to learn to coil the braid inside the hood.

**centurytoolate** · February 25th, 2010, 12:15 PM

I got my hair caught in the zipper of a cash bag at work last week. Ouch. My front hair is the most beat up looking as it is without the help of zippers.