Long Hair on Public Transportation

[Ladeeda]

I have nothing against long hair in general. Mine is halfway down my back, so qualifies.

My problem is those who keep it loose or in ponytails or similar. Then jerk their heads around or let it be so flyaway that it interacts with other people. Call me crazy, but I HATE going to work and being hit in the face with HAIR because Barbie over here heard something strange and had to see it. I will accept unwanted physical contact as the price of a semi-decent public transit, so long as it doesn't include hands and genitals, but hair is so easily contained that it just drives me nuts to have to deal with the irritating tickle of someone who can't be arsed to buy a goddamned scrunchie.

[patiokitty]

Um, I also have long hair and I only sometimes wear a scrunchie. However, I do my best not to swing it around so it hits other people. That being said - why should people always have to wear their hair tied back just to please the other people around them? In the wind where I live it doesn't matter if your hair is tied back because unless you use a can of hairspray on your head your hair will fly. Trust me, I've tried everything I can to keep this from happening because it drives me nuts to have my hair fly into my face. Short of wearing a snood I just have to deal with it. Ditto for the folks around me. If they don't like that my hair is not staying neatly plastered to my head they can move.

[Ladeeda]

I didn't say they had to. I said it annoys me.

Hence the group it's posted it: things I hate.

Did I say there needs to be a rule? No. Did I say anyone should? No. Did I say it pisses me off when it happens? Yes.

And that's all.

[Dreamstalker]

Some people with long hair seem to have an insatiable need to flip it around just to be obnoxious; I once had to dodge some loudmouth tween on the Green Line who was actually moving around the car trying to get in everyone's way whilst 'dramatically' flipping her hair around (she was on a cell phone). I've wound up with foreign shed hairs stuck to my person/bag/food before. Urgh.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I understand what Ladeeda is saying. It's not the people with long hair, it's not the people with their hair in ponytails, it's the act of getting someone's hair into their personal space. Even to the point of getting whacked in the face with it.

And let me tell you...having been hit in the face by someone with a lot of product in their hair burns when that shit gets into the eyes.

I'm much the same way. On public transportation, personal space is pretty encroached on to start with. Having a stranger in your comfort zone is off-putting enough without someone adding to the problem with inconsiderate behavior. Behavior like flipping the hair dramatically when it does not need to be.

Especially when the person thus hit is not the one causing the drama.

And it's not really the hair. It's everything about these dramatic performers on public transportation that irks me. I've been slapped in the face by a woman who was gesturing wildly (as if the other person could see her over the phone). She tagged me in the eye and when I made an outburst of pain she actually got annoyed at me for interrupting her phone call.

I never wanted to shove a phone up someone's urethra sideways more in my life than in that moment.

So I can understand the complaint. That there are a lot of people that have no concept of personal space (unless someone gets into theirs, then it's the end of the universe) on public transit. There are thankfully many more that do and they can manage to keep their hair, hands, genitals, asses, children, possessions from having a negative impact on my day.

[Ginger Tea]

I guess any opinions I might have formed from the first post stem from the fact we don't have crowded mass transit in the UK, or I've never found myself in such a predicament, so I wasn't exactly sure how such hair movements could be a problem outside of wild shampoo advert hairgasms.

But if you live in NY or some other subway area and you hear a sound, well it might be a survival instinct to glance back to see what the noise was, some sounds get filed into the "don't look and become part of the trouble" others are "is this sound too close and uncomfortable to where I am and what are my options need to get a visual".

[Ladeeda]

"Glances" are one thing. Some small oddity will provoke a look from anyone without headphones on, because in NY, Oddities may mean Violent Crazy/Drunk People Who May Injure You.

This does not mean "Flip Your Hair To the Side To the Point it Hits Others Who Are Taller Than You In the Face".

Part of NYC Subway courtesy is keeping track of your stuff, be it a backpack, luggage, or other. I've heard more complaints about idiots who forget about their backpacks and let it RAM into others even though it takes up the space of a slim person, simply because they don't care about it since it doesn't get in their way.

And yes, before anyone asks, your average elementary school brat, junior high kid, high school twerp, or college dick will have enough in their backpack to cause problems, since they feel NOTHING while it's ramming into others.

[Pixilated]

Hmmm ... If ever I start using public transit again, I think I'll make sure I always have an ice cream cone with me ... a half-melted one ... for the dramatic hair-flippers. There ya go, sweetie, a head-full of pistachio ice cream!

Last time I was a regular on mass transit (years ago) it was the exact opposite: people would scrunch tightly in on themselves and pretend there was nobody else in the car.