Long hair unrestrained at work

LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN · Feb 19, 2015

I have hair that goes to the middle of my back. I always have the front part pinned back and out of my face.

As for the rest of it?

That depends, I usually have a clip to pin it back or an elastic to pull it back if need be.

Where I work I don't do a lot of wound care. My last shift I had the psych pod, safer for me to keep my hair down and remove my stethoscope.

Keeping it pulled off my face keeps it out of the way for starting IVs.

When I worked the floor and did bowel program with my SCI pts then yes my hair was pulled up.

I don't go whipping my hair around in pt rooms, and even with it pulled back in a pony, it still falls past my shoulders.

As long as it is pulled off the face and is clean

JWG223 · Feb 19, 2015

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?

Let a patient grab it and you will rein it in. Most of my female co-workers wear their hair long, but many have chosen to go for some restraint so they can whip it out of the way when someone nuts up and gets violent. Pony-tail, braid, etc.

nurse2be13 · Feb 19, 2015

In nursing school we always tied our hair back. But where I work nobody really ties their hair back. To each their own I guess.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Feb 19, 2015

I cut my hair to just below shoulder length recently, much to the dismay of my husband who is in the women should have long hair camp, lol! I cut it because wearing it back in a ponytail all the time for work was giving me headaches and my hair is not the thick, heavy type. I can't imagine the headaches I would suffer if my hair were like that. All the nurses and CNA's I work with that have longer than shoulder length hair wear it back or up at work.

No Stars In My Eyes · Feb 19, 2015

Gooselady,

I had to laugh at the image of the long, long hair being removed from somewhere it had fallen. My hair is just a tad shy of waist length so I have had that experience many a time at home.

Here's another question about that corkscrew hairpin. Well, maybe not a question per se......my hair is thick but very straight, and even covered elastic thingies have a tendency to slide down the ponytail. If I pull on a hat, it slips upwards and tends to end up on top of the top of my head! I was the one who, when getting ready for the prom, went to the hairdresser to get 'Grecian curls'. . . .Ahahahahaha. It took 72 bobby-pins, no lie, to keep it up, but after an hour they began to lose their grip. So I'm wondering if the corkscrew grip would be enough. I have purchased many different items....remember alligator clips? Useless.

And no, I am not willing to cut my hair. All through my childhood I was 'forced' to wear a pixie haircut that made me look like a boy. I will go out of this world with long hair, if I have anything to say about it!

TexMex22 · Feb 19, 2015

I know it's a bit off-topic, but I gotta say it! White scrubs are a horrible idea and always will be. "Whites" were not translucent, baggy jammies. Scrubs were green or blue. When we wore whites, they were more like business clothes that were tailored and had things like collars, cuffs, buttons, zippers, and waistbands you wore with appropriate undergarments.
I cringe when I read posts from poor souls who have this inflicted on them, especially guys. The reason for white - it was a way of displaying "clean and sanitary" especially back when laundry was done less often and less thoroughly. White had a huge heyday in the '20s. There are lots of articles on the history of nursing uniforms that explain it better than I can.

Just a little history, since you brought it up. Whites were still being worn at some hospitals as late as the 70's. My grandmother was still wearing a white dress with a cap (!) in the 70's. She was in her 60's.

Even a short few years ago, I worked at a hospital where different staff members wore different color uniforms to help patients and family identify us. No one fussed or complained. It was understood that those were the rules.

[h=3]Nursing Uniforms In The 19thCentury[/h]Nurses in this era wore servants' uniforms, which consisted of a full black or printed gown with a white gathered or banded cap and a white apron. Nursing was still a street profession, though some nurses worked as private health caretakers for wealthy households.

People started feeling a greater need for nurses around 1840 and nursing as a career started gaining more respect. Nurses were trained to some extent and made to work at city or local health board. these nurses did not wear servants' uniforms; rather, they wore ladylike gowns with white aprons and caps to indicate that they were nurses. The starched white cap became synonymous with the nursing profession at about this time.

Florence Nightingale paved the way for the ultimate recognition of nursing as a superior, compassionate profession. Nursing in the post Nightingale era turned into a more respectable job, with schooling systems and uniforms for nurses. Nurses had to wear a hat and band to distinguish themselves as nurses and display their nursing rank. Fresh nurse students would wear ribbon bands of pink, blue, or other pastel colors. Senior nurses and nursing teachers would wear black ribbon bands to indicate seniority.

- See more at: The History of Nursing Uniforms

cnacram · Feb 19, 2015

that is something really untidy. Why let the hair untied? and why did they ever enter nursing if they don't know how to take care of this simple thing?

No Stars In My Eyes · Feb 19, 2015

It's not that they don't know how to take care of it, but more that they don't want to corral their hair. As the 70's song goes,"I feel like letting my freak flag fly...."

danielle2000, MSN, RN · Feb 20, 2015

I have long dread locs and my little tikes love pulling on them. I agree it can be unsanitary and it is best to keep the hair neat above the collar or a neat ponytail. After all, this is for the patients' well-being.

Katie71275 · Feb 20, 2015

I work labor and delivery and usually have my hair up. My hair is below my shoulders. If I wear it down that day...I put it up closer to delivery.

brillohead, ADN, RN · Feb 20, 2015

Here's another question about that corkscrew hairpin. Well, maybe not a question per se......my hair is thick but very straight, and even covered elastic thingies have a tendency to slide down the ponytail. If I pull on a hat, it slips upwards and tends to end up on top of the top of my head! I was the one who, when getting ready for the prom, went to the hairdresser to get 'Grecian curls'. . . .Ahahahahaha. It took 72 bobby-pins, no lie, to keep it up, but after an hour they began to lose their grip. So I'm wondering if the corkscrew grip would be enough. I have purchased many different items....remember alligator clips? Useless.

You have what a friend of mine calls "Teflon hair" -- nothing sticks to it!

I think the Spin Pins might be just the answer you're looking for -- because of the way they "sew" themselves in (like a whipstitch), they have tension in multiple directions, so they aren't likely to slip/slide.

You can find knock-offs really cheaply on Ebay -- just know that the ends are sharp on the knockoffs (even if the pictures look like they are rounded), so don't poke your scalp with them. The original Goody brand has little rounded balls on the ends, so there's nothing sharp on them.

No Stars In My Eyes · Feb 20, 2015

Teflon hair? :yes:That sounds about right! Funny, but true!

Well, I have tried so many things, I might as well try these Spin Pins!

Thanks!