How do you wear your hair for clinicals?

[Kamdyn]

I've been hearing that our clinical instructors are super picky about our appearance at clinicals (As they should be!). Our hair cannot touch our collars but I'm afraid that a ponytail may be looked down on as being sloppy?! I want to look like I care about my appearance but I don't want to spend a long time in doing my hair when I have to be there at 5:30 am!!! Any ideas?

[HyperSaurus, RN, BSN]

My hair reaches down to my hips. I tie it in a knot, band it together with a ponytail holder, and bobby pin it up. It stays up alot better than a normal bun without giving me a headache.

[Scrubmouse RN]

I don't have long hair, but if I did I would do the "Greek" do. Grab a section of hair on each side. French braid each of the sides and when you get to the bottom, gather it all and roll it up with bobby pins. It looks really cute, but I have short hair, the "Posh" my stylist calls it.

[HyperSaurus, RN, BSN]

That would be hard to get to stay. Lots of flyaways.

[kikisrdb]

:up:I wear mine up in a claw clip! never have to worry about it touching the collar and it looks a little nicer than a ponytail!

[cursedandblessed]

i chopped it all off into a short bob after my first year.

[Essie Marie]

I use those "claw" things; it's super fast (I'm not a morning person and don't like to get up any earlier than I have to) and it keeps my hair off my neck, so if I'm gowning up that day in clinical I'm not touching my hair with my MRSA/VRE/C-Diff-covered-gloved-hands. I sort of twist as though I'm doing a low bun and sort of give up part way so the twist is like a "downward horseshoe" kind of shape.

[MattiesMama]

When my hair was longer I would put it back in a ponytail, then braid the ponytail and wrap the braid into a circle, and secure it with another ponytail holder. It doesn't take long and looks really nice and put together-I got a lot of compliments.

[anewday]

I wore mine last semester down. Neck length. Though the handbook states hair must not be past a certain length, I've never seen any of our instructors say anything to anybody about their hair. A lady in my group had long braids and I believe another girl had a long weave at some point as well. I guess it all depends on the instructor and how strict they are about enforcing the rules. This semester my hair is longer. Touches my shoulder. I plan on wearing it down , unless someone says anything to me. If so I'll just clip it up. I can think of a few nurses on the floor that I work on that wear their hair down, and their hair is all the way down in their back. I guess it's one of those rules that is enforced in some places and not really enforced in others. Thats like acrylic nails too. I noticed that nurses had acrylic nails on at one of the hospitals we did our clinicals at last year.

[kenni]

I wore my hair pulled up in a nice, neat bun. I too have long hair and my instructors would complain not because my ponytail looked messy, but it was so long hair was flying all over the place and getting in the way of work. also once you deal with psych pts (they have med-surg problems too) you will appreciate not having something for them to grab hold to.

[MermiesGreatGig]

Just do a pony tail, but wrap your hair into a bun as you're wrapping the pony tail holder.

[ACorEtACri]

You can find great videos on utube about how to french braid your own hair or make a variety of different buns. With a french braid, if your hair is the right length you can flip the tail back under the itself so the end doesn't go past your collar. French braids and buns might take some practice but are easy once you get the hand of it. They also make you look more professional than styles with clips and is great for anyone with fine hair that slips out of clips.

[HyperSaurus, RN, BSN]

Unless of course, your hair is long enough that even with the tail of the braid tucked under, it still comes between your shoulder blades.

The youtube videos are a good idea.