GIRLS: how do you wear your hair

a very frustrating thing about being a female firefighter in my experience is masking up/ wearing a helmet with longish hair. i have not found a way to wear it comfortably and out of the way. high bun in the helmet makes the helmet fit wierd, low bun below helmet limits movement of my head. any advice from the girls out there??!!!

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Permalink Reply by Sandy113 on January 28, 2008 at 5:49pm

i'm actually getting prescription bunker pants with built in knee pads...i had surgery on both knees and have 2 screws on each-directly on the surface that is crawled on! but anyway!! my hair sounds just like yours...bangs n lotsa layers! ill try that low pony thing...i hope it works! im just hoping i dont get anymore ripped out...i have so m any fly away strands about 1 inch long from hair getting ripped out!

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Permalink Reply by O'Kitty on January 28, 2008 at 6:02pm

Wow, I never heard of prescription bunker gear! Good luck taking care of your knees. That sounds like a delicate situation.

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Permalink Reply by Greenman on January 28, 2008 at 8:58pm

It doesn't sound like a complaint to me, she's just trying to find a better way to make sure stays out of the way and doesn't become another hindrance while firefighting. At least she's putting some thought into it ahead of time...

While I don't have long hair, I've seen in the past women wear two braided pony tails low behind their ears...ala Sacajawea. It looks like it would work well to keep it out of the way and not cause problems with the helmet.

In the Army, my “Day Job” women have to wear it up all of the time and their hair cannot interfere with the wearing of their Protective mask, or Kevlar helmet; it also has to be above their collar at all times. From my observations, two French braids work for women with a lot of hair better than one French braid.

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Permalink Reply by Alana on January 28, 2008 at 9:28pm

I have long straight hair. Here's what I (finally) found works best with the style helmet I'm issued. Some of my hair I pull up into a flat barette on top of my head. The rest I have pulled back into a ponytail, but in order to meet my departmen'ts rules I have to have my hair up so I have a giant clip that holds it up off my collar. It takes all of one second to take the clip off and throw my nomex on when in route to a fire. Since my hair is in a ponytail the weight of my hair keeps it under my nomex just fine... in fact, a lot better than when I had my hair cropped in a pageboy. Trust me, I've gone back and forth and threatened at times to just shave my head but truth is, I'm on duty 24 hours, and want to be a woman with long hair during the 48 hours I'm off so for now I'll just keep doing it this way.

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Permalink Reply by Spanner 122 on January 28, 2008 at 10:06pm

Hi Sandy, my hair is a pain in the ass at times as well. I wear it high in a bun, just a quick wrap the elastic around the hair kind of bun, nothing fancy by any means. It fits into the highest part of my helmet, but I can't carry my flash hood there like some of the guys do. There's only room for one thing. No big deal, small sacrifice really. The worst part is when I am adjusting it on the way to a call and my partner in the back says, "Hey Capt do you have a mirror up there "Spanner" needs to fix her hair!!" hahaha!

A little discomfort won't kill ya, wrap it up, make sure you have elastics with you at all times just in case and away you go! :)

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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on January 28, 2008 at 10:19pm

Do I see that right, prescription fire gear? You get it at the local pharmacy or is the word prescription another way to get the improved fire gear from your department due to yours not being right? I have to hand it to you having the determination to keep firefighting when you have 2 screws per knee, but in this line of work, with the location of the screws and the fact they bother you, you would be a liability. Does your department make you take a yearly agility test? What about a disability?