Securing that nursing cap!

Nurses General Nursing

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Mine has one small loop of fabric on either side behind the temples where I assume I will use bobby pins. Are these bobby pins really going to secure my cap to my head? How have others been able to keep their nursing cap on for hours at a time?

Thanks

Specializes in Public Health, TB.

I wore a cap for a short time after nursing school in the 80's but it was too hot and itchy. I have a rather large head and the cap really didn't fit well. I reasoned that these things were originally designed to fit on a bun so I had the best success to keep to darn thing on by pulling a bunch of hair into a ponytail with an elastic and wind it into a bun.

Cap on top of bun, then I crossed 2 bobby pins at each corner (no loops on my cap). Having my hair pulled taut with the elastic helped keep the pins in place.

Some nurses sewed a little comb inside of their caps to help keep it in place.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

i wore a cap twice -- once for pinning ceremony and once for a picture. i still have it, i think. i used bobby pins -- lots and lots of them -- to secure the cap on my baby fine hair. you have inspired me to dig out the cap and the bobby pins for halloween this year!

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Specializes in Dialysis.
http://www.goody.com/Products/Accessories/Barrettes/Sport/Sport.aspx

you might try something like this...never used them for a nursing cap but I find they stay put better than bobby pins...

Ya know, I did plan on using those metal ones that you have to snap open and shut by bending them, but by myself, I cannot get it into the inside loop thing and then get it closed! I'll keep working at it.

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Holloween or not, there was something to be said for a neat uniform, especially for students.

http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/paharc/collections/gallery/Events/Hospital_Day.html

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Ya know, I did plan on using those metal ones that you have to snap open and shut by bending them, but by myself, I cannot get it into the inside loop thing and then get it closed! I'll keep working at it.

Take a scroll through the following site. If you can find a cap similar to what you are attempting to wear, maybe someone (way back when), wore one like it and can give you some pointers.

http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/infirm/inevo01e.shtml

Bear in mind towards the final heyday of caps, say from the 1970's, many women still wore more hair (ok, big hair), than today, and depending upon the cap's design you may need the extra help of hair volume to give the cap and hair pins something to grab onto.

Same thing often happens with wedding veils, many girls either have hair that is too straight and or fine to hold the combs/pins. Have heard many a frantic cry from the bedroom of a bride to be (or worse right before she was to enter the church "who has extra bobby pins!".

Admire your stick-to-itness though.

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fold a piece of tissue into a 2x2 square, secure it on top of your head. Then bobbie pin the cap to the tissue on you head. Be sure to put a bobbie pin on the back of the cap so it doesn't flop around

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Specializes in OR, peds, PALS, ICU, camp, school.

LOL, I refused to use that tissue trick. My hair is thick enough that it almost didn't matter but my school cap is funky. I had a traditional cap that was easier to secure. If your cap has a fold back cuff in front just use a couple pins on each side at the bend of the cuff. That should make it pretty secure. You're not going to be bumping crib tops and IV poles on Halloween, right? If your cap is on the right place on your head... a little towards the top, not way in the back, then pins in the back should be enough. Last time I wore my cap was nurses week a few years ago. I used those "sport clips" in white to secure it. I was easy to remove and leave outside the room if I needed to start a kid's IV or spend time with a grabby baby in isolation. The kids loved it by the way, just like a Hello Kitty nurse!

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Specializes in Adult ICU/PICU/NICU.
? Wow I havent seen Nursing caps since around the late 70's! We wore them for our grad pics but that was it. Otherwise I havent seen anyone wearing them since then. More of an infection control issue wearing caps actually for that very reason. Cant really wash them and they do fall off and also can harbor bacteria.

1. Caps are washable. I wore one for 54 years and washed it without a problem.

2. There has never been a peer reviewed study done that a nursing cap carries more bacteria than any other article of clothing.

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Specializes in Cardiology and ER Nursing.

Somebody sprinkled some Dorito dust on this thread.

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

The SON and hospital I was at in India, had plastic caps, formed and easy to pin on to the gorgeous long hair (up in buns) most of my friends had. Very easy to wash, but not very form fitting to the head. They kind of perched on top and didn't restrain the hair much.

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