Hair in partner's face
Posted by Bill on October 26, 2000 at 10:08:16: Previous Next
I have very fine wavy and curly hair, and at night it inevitably ends up in my partner's face. While asleep he claws at it subconsciously, and due to its fine-ness, he breaks strands from time to time.
We had dismissed this as just an unimportant matter that comes with the territory of sleeping with a longhair, until earlier this week. I awoke to him being in a tearing frenzy, like one would pull weeds from a garden. I could hear hair breaking like crazy. I cried out, this woke him, and of course he stopped. The next morning we discovered half the hair on that side was missing! Needless to say, we were both very shook up over it.
We doubt that much hair all came out that night - this had been going on for years. It just crossed the threshold to where it became noticeable then, and we realized his tearings were adding up to too much damage. It can be seen in old pictures though if one looks for it. Hair does often grow a bit faster on one side than the other, and I had just chalked up the situation to that, until I noticed a significant change overnight, after the incident I just mentioned.
Hey, it will grow back out, we will deal with that. I doubt a lot of people will notice, though of course I will, until it does. :-( The length is not affected much, it's mainly just less bulky on that side. ;-)
Short of our not sharing a bed (not an option) do any of you have solutions for this problem? Is there anything I can wear that would stay on in bed, for example?
Re: Hair in partner's face
Posted by Pete_J on October 26, 2000 at 20:01:53: Previous Next
In Reply to: Hair in partner's face posted by Bill on October 26, 2000 at 10:08:16:
I assume that tying your hair in a pony tail or loosely braiding it doesn't work.
How about wearing a turban? They are made of cloth and so they breathe well. I think there was a message a couple of months ago about how to tie one.
Good luck!
Re: Hair in partner's face
Posted by Tim Beard on October 31, 2000 at 00:22:53: Previous Next
In Reply to: Hair in partner's face posted by Bill on October 26, 2000 at 10:08:16:
: I have very fine wavy and curly hair, and at night it inevitably ends up in my partner's face. While asleep he claws at it subconsciously, and due to its fine-ness, he breaks strands from time to time.
I think your sleeping partner has a sleep disorder comparable to sleep walking.
Maybe caffeine causes the sleep disturbance. If he drinks a lot of coffee, soft drinks or eats caffeine rich foods, maybe a change in diet would help such as trying decaffeinated coffee.
Maybe it is a temporary process of getting used to sleeping near a long hair. Getting a blanket that have a texture similar to hair may speed up the process of getting used to hair or maybe he would pull on the blanket instead of your hair.
Maybe it would help to create barriers to make it harder to get to the hair--methods commonly used with sleepwalkers. Putting a pillow between each other or getting a larger bed or turning up the thermostat may increase the distance between each other making it harder to reach the hair. Maybe switching sides of the bed may make a difference if he always pulls with the same hand. Wearing a hat as others suggested, or tieing up your hair may help. If the pulling occurs only in the early evening or only at the time just before getting up, maybe it would help if one goes to bed earlier than the other and gets up earlier than the other.
Re: Hair in partner's face
Posted by Bill on November 12, 2000 at 08:07:20: Previous Next
In Reply to: Hair in partner's face posted by Bill on October 26, 2000 at 10:08:16:
: I have very fine wavy and curly hair, and at night it inevitably ends up in my partner's face. While asleep he claws at it subconsciously, and due to its fine-ness, he breaks strands from time to time.
: We had dismissed this as just an unimportant matter that comes with the territory of sleeping with a longhair, until earlier this week. I awoke to him being in a tearing frenzy, like one would pull weeds from a garden. I could hear hair breaking like crazy. I cried out, this woke him, and of course he stopped. The next morning we discovered half the hair on that side was missing! Needless to say, we were both very shook up over it.
((snip))
A few days after I posted the above, I tossed out the problem at our local longhair club's brunch. Two different men had had a simlar problem and solved it by putting multiple pony ties down their manes spaced about four inches (ten centimeters) apart.
This put a rope behind my head rather than a furry mass, less apt to tickle. It occupied less space and was less apt to come in contact with him. The rope was also stronger than individual hairs and thus harder to claw at and cause any damage.
THIS WORKED! Two weeks have gone by, and there've been no problems at all. To my knowledge he has not clawed at it once!