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?

How you present yourself to the world is how most people perceive you. Once I had an ER doctor who wore dreadlocks and immediately I made the assumption that she wasn't cut from the same cloth as many of her colleagues. I was right, and as it turned out, she could also tap dance and sing goofy songs as well as provide me with the best medical care I had ever received. I have never had problems with dreadlocks, but I know that this might not be the case for others.

If you want people to think you are the kindest, gentlest, most approachable nurse in the hospital, the day glo green Mohawk hairstylezz probably won't reinforce this image.

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Specializes in Palliative, Onc, Med-Surg, Home Hospice.
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?

I remember the first time I went to nursing school (back in the late 80's I failed), I had french braided my hair but didn't pin the braid up I got into so much trouble. I had to go to the lounge to get some bobby pins (Used to pin my cap on) to pin the braid up. Fortunately, I had spares. I had left it down because it was uncomfortable with my cap. My hair was short the second time I went to nursing school.

My former manager was a stickler about having hair pinned up. She enforced it. Most of my co-workers (the younger ones) had long hair and would come in with their hair down only to be handed an elastic and told to control their hair. It was great! It was that or they had to wear a surgical bonnet. Amusing thing: My manager was young.

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Specializes in ICU.

I don't wear my hair up anymore. I am very tenderheaded - it doesn't matter how I put it up, I'm going to get massive headaches. I decided I'd had enough with being in miserable pain by the time I left in the morning. I put it up for baths, cleaning BMs, and that kind of thing, but other than that, I'm going to wear it down. If that bothers my coworkers, so be it - it's not them having the headaches.

If I had a manager who enforced the hair policy, I would find a new job. It's really that important to me not to be in pain.

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I don't wear my hair up anymore. I am very tenderheaded - it doesn't matter how I put it up, I'm going to get massive headaches. I decided I'd had enough with being in miserable pain by the time I left in the morning. I put it up for baths, cleaning BMs, and that kind of thing, but other than that, I'm going to wear it down. If that bothers my coworkers, so be it - it's not them having the headaches.

If I had a manager who enforced the hair policy, I would find a new job. It's really that important to me not to be in pain.

Just to be clear, you are saying a manager enforcing a dress code policy you knew or should have known existed when hired would cause you to leave?

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Hi

I am searching for the legit articles on evidence based practice on the topic "infection control + having health care providers wearing long loose hair during patient care"

Has anyone came across such?

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

Sorry, MarRN, don't know of any. But welcome to AN.com and thanks for resurrecting this zombie thread I missed the first time around.

And speaking of unrestrained hair, from:https://allnurses.com/nursing-humor-share/bette-davis-eyes-1172997.html

As a female, when I saw that picture, all I could think was "Oh my lord, someone get this lady a hair tie and some bobby-pins!"

Styling your hair like that is actually a dark summoning ritual for your patient to have explosive diarrhea or projectile vomiting. It's true!

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I wear my hair down, now, but in the hospital I wore a Pebbles Flintstone pony tail on top of my head.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
in the hospital I wore a Pebbles Flintstone pony tail on top of my head.

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