Will they make her cut her hair?

SmilingBluEyes · Aug 7, 2005

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FloridaCCRN, CRNA · Aug 7, 2005

why should she have to cut her hair? as long as it is up off the collar/contained, who cares? and just because a person has dreadlocks doesn't mean that their hair is dirty. people with dreads wash their hair like everyone else. if they don't allow her to wear them, i say that they need some training in cultural sensitivity and/or diversity.
I agree 100% with the above poster. It is ignorant to think that people with dreads don't wash their hair. I'm sure there are more germs on everyone's hands than in their hair on a daily basis.

NannaNurse · Aug 7, 2005

To say that 'dreads' are less of a hygiene matter than foney nails is about the lamest statement I think I've ever heard!!

Can you imagine the 'gunk' that gets trapped underneath nails? Even if you 'wash your hands in hot soapy water a million times a day'...you are still passing 'god-knows-what' from one patient to another and then bringing it home to your loved-ones...........UCK :barf01:

As long as your hair is pulled up and away from your face..........you don't want it falling into ..."something"...hair is hair! :yeahthat: I certianly don't want to be worrying about a nurse with 'claws' possibly scratching someone or spreading disease.

My biggest peeve??? Nurses who come into work smelling like a ashtray :smokin:

SharonH, RN · Aug 7, 2005

if the dreadlocks don't touch the collar then they needn't be pulled back.
but i am from the school that teaches you that nothing touches the collar.
leslie

Leslie, with all due respect but what is the rationale for that? Seriously. There are a lot of things we are/were taught in nursing school that has no basis in research and I can't think of a valid reason why hair must not touch the collar in situations in which you are not trying to maintain a sterile field. But I would be interested to hear about research on this subject.

pickledpepperRN · Aug 7, 2005

I do wear my hair in a bun at work. Just got into the habit long ago.

Most scrubs don't have collars any more. I agree with Leslie in principle though. No hair on the patient.

My hospital decided on allowing direct caregivers to wear long hair in a low ponytail at the nap of the neck.

That is what we ask registry nurses to do when they arrive with hair down. I wasn't on the committee that decided it years ago but agree with it.

Sharon: I would love to see your hair. I imagine it is soft and beautiful.

I am afraid I mentioned lice first. I've taken care of many patients who had been too sick to care for themselves for a time.

One old woman had ca. Her water heater didn't work and she was afraid to bath alone. She heated water on the stove and washed what she could reach.

Well I covered her legs from just below the knees with shaving cream. The first few times I used a tongue depressor to remove the layers of dirt.

You can imagine her hair. Well thankfully it was thin and short. She did have lice. It was not too difficult to comb her little bit of hair.

This patient was very thankful to be clean.

Another however was a man. He called his hair dread locks. His beard was matted too. He had horrible sores to the bone on his feet. he hadn't taken his shoes off for weeks. Skin came off with his socks.

Well with his permission we cut his hair and shaved his beard, lice and all. They filled more than one small plastic trash bag.

After he was much healthier that nice man with MANY health problems went to a board and care home.

Neither of these patients was truly in need of critical care. I think our ER doc admitted them to ICU because we had the staff to bath them before they went to med-surg on the day shift.

There is a photographer for one of the media outlets who wears long dreads. He is working nearly every time we protest at our governors fund raisers. No big deal at all for a man with a camera. He certainly smells clean.

SmilingBluEyes · Aug 7, 2005

I imagine my hair, down, could create as big, if not a BIGGER problem than dreads ever could. It's impossibly thick, curly and nearly to my waist. I do put it up for patient consideration and my OWN safety. I would think others with long hair would/should do the same. NO matter WHAT their ethnicity or race would be (I am caucasian/redhead--just in case you did not know, lol)

pickledpepperRN · Aug 7, 2005

I imagine my hair, down, could create as big, if not a BIGGER problem than dreads ever could. It's impossibly thick, curly and nearly to my waist. I do put it up for patient consideration and my OWN safety. I would think others with long hair would/should do the same. NO matter WHAT their ethnicity or race would be (I am caucasian/redhead--just in case you did not know, lol)

I'm sure you are quite professional at work. And STUNNING when you choose to be!

jamaicanRN · Aug 7, 2005

as my bahamian best fren would say "well muddasick dread". i am completely astonished at the original question. having dreads does not, let me repeat DOES NOT indicate poor hygiene on part of the wearer. the number one rule in having dreads is to wash them everyday day so that they naturally lock togetherw/ minimum combing lots of cleaning (my uncle douglas has these). when you have fashion locs (the neats people seem to think are so "normal") you have to redo every one to two weeks depending on the length of your hair and you use products to keep them in place so they can be cute (minimum combing required, uncle andrew has these). hair traps dirt because it's hair and we're alive, this is why i wash mine twice a week. hygiene problems are the only reason the lady in your class would have a foul order coming from her hair (or certain products that have raunchy odors, like dandruff products, Pine Tar #1). No hospital or business corporation can tell you how to wear ur hair unless it is posing a serious risk to someone's health and well being (ponytails seem to work fine in hospitals and barettes).

leslie :-D · Aug 7, 2005

Leslie, with all due respect but what is the rationale for that? Seriously. There are a lot of things we are/were taught in nursing school that has no basis in research and I can't think of a valid reason why hair must not touch the collar in situations in which you are not trying to maintain a sterile field. But I would be interested to hear about research on this subject.

spacenurse was right in that we really don't wear collars anymore. but for the sake of semantics, we were taught to wear our hair off and back- in a bun/piled on top of your head. the rationale would be to prohibit any hair touching the pt., ensuring hair didn't touch anything during procedures and generally just to be as 'contained' as possible. my hair is long and i always wear my hair piled on the top of my head, either with an elastic or jaw clip.

you just want to ensure that your hair isn't going to interfere with anything involving pt care. sorry sharon, that's the best i could do. i have no idea as to the research on the subject but would be interesting reading.

leslie

pickledpepperRN · Aug 7, 2005

When my sister wants to cut my hair i answer that i need it long enough to put in restraints.

sunnyjohn · Aug 7, 2005

as my bahamian best fren would say "well muddasick dread".....

JamaicanRN, I grew up in the Bahamas.... that one brought back memories and had me talking in dialect! "Chil' please!"

I have no problem with dreads. I grew up around Rastafarians and spiritualists who had dreadlocks. They had to keep them exceptionally clean as it was mandated by their religious beliefs to do so. Once upon a time the police force would hassle them because of their hair and force them to cut it whenever they detained them. Thankfully, they outgrew that.

Everyone should keep themselves neat and tidy.

underwatergirl · Aug 7, 2005

Ok first of when we state collar, opviously we don't wear collars anymore, I guess a better way to state it is off the shoulders and out of the face...

Rational; first as you know Sterile technique, also how would you feel if you were lying sick and a nurse came to listen to your heart and LS and her hair was in your face? Seriously gross, how many other patients did her hair touch??? So not only asthetic but also professionalism, were not here to pick up dates, LOL, and being respectful of patients personal space. I have long hair, down to the middle of my back and it is curly and very wild...I couldn't imagine how a patient would feel, should my unruly hair was to fall in their face, or their cup of water with meds, or their food...or their bed or their wounds...seriously common sense here is all that is needed.

Nothing is wrong with people doing what they want with their hair, however it comes to a point when it interferes with his/her job or asthetic. Hygiene is always of concern.

Again I ask what is ethnic about dreads??? Where did they come from??? What is the ethnical issue with them???

Annette