Long hair unrestrained at work

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Sorry if I'm offending anyone here, but in nursing school wearing ones long hair down was a big no no, due to infection control issues we were told. Yet, I constantly see nurses with long hair at work, flowing freely. Has the no long hair past the shoulders, and loose, rule gone by the wayside? Has it been proven to not matter?

Yep we have this policy however it's rarely enforced. I have long (past shoulders) hair and I cannot stand it in my face! I always wear it up for work and also much of the time I'm not at work.

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Specializes in Acute Care Pediatrics.

I have no idea if it's part of our dress code, but I can tell you it's not enforced. That being said, I would love to see some evidence based practice. I mean, I am not rubbing my hair anywhere. If I put it up, it's still long and loose in the back. It's going to be an infection control issue for anyone, regardless of length I would think - hair is hair, shoulder length or not - and if that is a case we should all wear scrub caps. ;) I am not preparing food (and I would think that is less about germs and more about who wants to find a hair in the soup), and I am not performing surgery. I am taking care of acutely ill kiddos. I don't think that me tying my hair back is going to effect that kid with bilateral pneumonia one way or the other. Of course, my hair is cut short so I don't have a dog in this battle... :) But I do think it's kind of gone by the wayside along with the requirement we all wear white leather shoes.

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Of course, my hair is cut short so I don't have a dog in this battle... :) But I do think it's kind of gone by the wayside along with the requirement we all wear white leather shoes.

I have long hair, and I don't wear it down very often, but I certainly don't put it in a bun or anything. It's very thick and heavy, so it literally gives me headaches when I have to bun it for clinicals :(. I'm considering getting it cut because of that.

For work (I'm a CNA in the same hospital I do nursing school clinicals at), I tie it back. I've never had a problem with it falling over my shoulder as I do my dirty work.

I think there are a lot of kind of silly practices in nursing that still get shoved onto nursing students as being a "by the book" rule. White scrubs and white shoes is a great example. One of the area nurse managers (from a different hospital, not the one where I'm going to work, thank god!) told me that they're strongly considering going back to making nurses wear all white so that patients can more easily identify them. Yikes! :dead:

My question is, what female would knowingly put other females through the anxiety of mandatory white pants? I'd believe a guy might not think of the feminine consequences of that one, but women? C'mon. And white is just way too easy to get dirty in any case. I've seen nurses wearing dark green and dark blue where I live, and that's way easier to hide stains on when you inadvertently get dirty at work.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Used to be "off the collar" was the rule. I have very long hair and always wear it back in a ponytail, but I am not in a hospital or LTC. Like one PP said, when I wear it down, people don't always recognize me!

In nsg school I had to braid it and fold the braid three times and use about 37 hairpins and two large barrettes to keep it in place and be able to wear a cap on top of it. The best thing was at the end of the day being able to let it loose and scratch my scalp!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Whenever I'm in patient care areas, my hair is tied back at the base of my skull and an OR bouffant over top. When I'm off the unit, such as taking my break, I let my hair down simply because the weight of it pulled back gives me a headache. I've seen some nurses with hair long enough to tie back not tied back, and I always wonder how they manage to keep it out of everything.

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I prefer how I look with my hair down. Sometimes I go to work with wet hair too, so I'll leave it down while charting, getting report but put it up when doing personal cares with a pt.

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Specializes in L&D.

Not to offend anyone, but personally, I find it pretty gross. It just screams "unkempt." Shoulder length is fine, but anything longer than that and I would feel uncomfortable as a patient.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

I have long hair, too. It's always tied back and off my face. I've helped other nurses turn people or clean them and watch a curtain of hair dangling and thinking that would wick up the yucky stuff just like a paintbrush if it got a little closer.

I have a feeling this may be heading in an "acrylic fingernails" or even a "gum chewing" direction, some may remember the gum dropping out of the mouth into the wound comment.

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Specializes in Adult ICU/PICU/NICU.

I have long hair but put in up in a bun whenever I do nursing. I also still wear my cap....proudly.

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There is a nurse at work whose hair reaches close to her waist....She always wears it down. I have seen it DRAG across beds and on patients. That would scare me.

Once a contact prec patient touched my hair (you can guess where they were right before he did) and it took everything in my power not to bleach it.

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I have a feeling this may be heading in an "acrylic fingernails" or even a "gum chewing" direction, some may remember the gum dropping out of the mouth into the wound comment.

Ohhhhh...The Great Gum Debate... I don't remember which thread about gum it was (there have been a few!) but it got ridiculous... and I was no innocent bystander in how ridiculous it got :laugh:

I'm picky about my hair (must be up!!!) and my fingernails (short with no polish!) and my scrubs and shoes... but NOBODY is going to take away my gum :madface:

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Specializes in Ortho, CMSRN.

I'm picky as well. Hair MUST be up. Infection control is a BIG reason that I insist upon this, however... as well, I want to keep clean. We wipe bottoms sometimes and long, dragging hair can go places you don't want it to. Nails.. however... I MUST have my nail polish, but for me, it has to be flawless. I either change or update my polish every 2 days or so, so there are NO chips. Thank goodness my job allows that. I LOVE where I work, but doing my nails is a de-stresser for me, so... if they didn't allow that, it could be a deal breaker ;)

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