I’ve always been a hair person. For a great deal of my life it was long enough to touch the top of my pants. Any time I would cut it short I would immediately start growing out. My hair is soft and feminine and I’ve always listed it as one of my favorite physical features. About two years ago I took several inches off and it’s a comfortable length. For the most part I just put it up in a ponytail. It’s a seriously low-maintenance haircut.
Still need to cut about 2 inches off
But, with BJJ, my hair now feels REALLY long. Too long to be really comfortable rolling on the mats. I have to constantly fix my hair because it gets in my face and in my eyes and in my partner’s mouth. I usually wear it in a ponytail because if I use a bun it can really get in my way.
It starts off fine, but then quickly moves into this tangled mess:
Would YOU want this in your face?
So I’ve been toying around with the idea of cutting it. And by cutting it I mean shaving it. I am going to give it some time. No worries about me chopping it all off tonight, but if I do end up going to Brazil in 2013 I’m seriously considering doing it. It’s been on my mind so much that today, in my jet-lag induced nap I had a dream about it.
In my dream I was talking to my dad and my dad had a fancy electric shaver with the kind of blades you’d usually find in a fancy razor. You know, the kind where you buy the packs of razor blades and unscrew the top and put a new blade in? Well in my dream you can go to Fred Meyer and have them sharpen your blades. I decided in my dream “YEAH, I’ll shave my head!” but decided I’d leave a fringe in the front. My father said I could use his shaver but he was out of blades. So we went to Fred Meyer and they were sharpening the blades, and I started looking around at the different models. I finally went outside, tired of waiting for the blades, and so I bought some new blades. I tied my hair into a tight ponytail and took the razor blade and just started cutting it off with no shaver. As I was about 80% finished the cops came and tried to take me away and a psychiatrist was asking me why I was doing this.
Not me, but it COULD have been!
So apparently the whole shaving my head thing has been on my mind. I also realize I may not SHAVE it, but rather get a teensy tiny haircut. It leads me to ask this question to the ladies: who has changed their haircuts to fit their BJJ lifestyle? Or have you resisted and kept the long hair? What do you do with your long hair when you roll?
Updated 7/28/2013: I wanted to show what I ended up with. Also because MegJitsu has a great gallery of BJJ hair, and Meg from Tangled Triangle has advice for BJJ and Afro hair.
From the different angles and also sweaty
I’ve had short hair for most of my time in martial arts. When I started training in ’98 I had hair nearing the ‘top of my pants’, but at the end of that year I took it to shoulder length. I then went to about an inch of spikiness for several years (these were the ‘Matrix days’ remember) and then went back to shoulder length. I was doing non-grappling arts at the time so it wasn’t entirely training-based decision, but long hair is hard to keep nice with all the washing and stuff with lots of activity so was defo an influence. When I started BJJ 6 years ago, I went to a chin length bob and progressed to the ‘pixie cut’ I’ve been rocking the last 3 years or so. I was never too attached to my hair as a feature as it is wavy and a pain to keep from going all frizzy when longer, so it wasn’t a big decision for me and it is massively practical (and I’m a pretty pragmatic personality) and easy to style (even for a reasonably talentless hair-styler such as myself). A mate in London recently went supa short and reported feeling ‘liberated’ rolling with short hair. From the point of view of rolling with people with longer hair, I have to admit I don’t really like it. On the one hand, sweaty strands get in my face which sorta grosses me out (but I’ve got a bit of a weird ‘thing’ about hair) and on the other hand I really don’t want to rip through it; no matter how considerate I try to be – e.g. agree to stop and readjust once it is clear I’ll get the hand through rather than just ripping through it – inevitably rolling leads to pulling out hair which no one wants to do to their training partners. Of course, folk should wear their hair as they like! I’m just saying it can be awkward from your partners’ perspective just as much from your own.
I have such a round face that part of me worries about looking like Charlie Brown or something. Plus, I have really straight hair that doesn’t hold ANYTHING well–curls, hair spray, etc, so I’m a bit worried about getting it at a weird length where it would look like straw.
I will miss playing with my hair, though. I absolutely love how it feels.
I figure I’m going to give myself a full year in BJJ before committing to a BJJ haircut 🙂
Man, try rolling whilst wearing ear guard lot wot I do. I have short spikey hair but when I take off my ear guards, the hair is a nightmare. Really. I’m not vain but I shun group photos after rolling. I now go to seminars without the guards and risk caulis rather than look bad in the group photo after.
Still, I have nice cauli free ears.
I have always had long hair; it is very fine and won’t stay in ponytails, etc when rolling. Not only did I have to stop and re-restrain it after every single roll, people were placing their knees on it, grabbing it during chokes, etc… it was painful as well as a COMBATIVE LIABILITY. Plus, a lot of it was getting torn out, so it was full of split ends and I figured it would never look good again anyway. And it was a nest to try to brush out afterward. One day after a class in which we were doing a lot of chokes, I went home and showered, then drove straight to the hairdresser and said, “chop it all off- quick, before I change my mind.”
It was sooooooooooo much easier, to not have to fuss with it on the mat, it wasn’t constantly getting yanked and torn, and it didn’t take four hours to dry after my frequent showers.
I hate the way I look, though.
After a year of very short hair, and a lot of hats- I’m thinking about trying to grow some back. Now that I have to wear headgear (I had to have an ear drained in April), I’m hoping that may keep it restrained a bit more.
Do you have any pics? Or is your Internet persona a secret?
I don’t know anything about BJJ but I know -you- so I’ll say this – for a shorter cut, be prepared for it to take more styling than you’re used it (bit harder to comb with your fingers!) The easiest is super short pixie or something, if it’s a chin-length bob be sure it’s the magic length that lets you pull it back, or you’ll have the same problem.
Have you tried any texturing gels with super-grip ponytail holders to help keep it back as is, with tight, higher ponytails? Or a French braid that ties off into a pony-tail end?
awwww! It’s My Suzy! 🙂 NICE NAME! 🙂
Don’t want to use gels, as BJJ has you shoving your head all over another person’s body. Seems like hair products are just as icky as makeup on someone else’s gi.
Yeah, I was thinking super short pixie kind of thing, but I have at least a year to think it over 🙂
I’d go french braid route and/or super tight/high pony tail with the super-grip pony tail holders (I’ve used them before, they’ve got a bit of rougher plastic around the holder, and it keeps it tighter) and use multiple holders along the length of your pony tail (like put one every inch or so down the line, rather than just using one. You’ve got more for your hair to work itself out of, then.
You could go a pigtail (or more than two) route too, with buns. Again, harder for the hair to work out of..
..it’s a pity you aren’t in Ukraine. You could have gotten a stylish mullet. At least then you wouldn’t have the problem of the hair getting in your eyes/face, just getting loose in the back. 😉
http://www.bijoucreeksports.com/servlet/the-888/Hair-Net/Detail
Try one of those? It looks like a couple places make custom ones which look better than the mass-made cliff keen one.
I think it might get sort of hot to wear, so it usefulness factor probably depends on how much time you’re rolling around with people.
No pics; although it looks somewhat like Ellen Degeneres’ hair. A friend has opined that I look like Ellen Degeneres when the hair is dry and Annie Lennox when it’s wet. I just think it makes me look like a butch dyke… not that I have anything against butch dykes; I know some very cool butch dykes. But I’m not one- and I already have plenty of people assuming that I am one, just because I’m single and I do martial arts. I also often dress a little like one… so the butch dyke hair on top of all of that is just a bit too much.
Sometimes I stick my head under the sink faucet just to get the hair wet so it will spike up a little. I think it ages me when it’s short, especially when it’s short and FLAT. I don’t like to use product, and I’d never go on the mat with any product in my hair. I’d be too afraid that it would slime everywhere.
I could use some aging 😉 I look like I’m 26, though I’m 34. Makes a huge difference when you’re training teachers.
I agree about the hair product on the mat. Ewwww. Especially on no gi days when the sweat is rolling off everyone. Blech.
So… when I started BJJ, my hair was down to my lower back and so thick I couldn’t hold it up with ordinary claw clips or even the super jumbo ones– the ponytail was so fat, I couldn’t touch my thumb and first finger together around it. For tournaments I French braided, then tucked the end of the braid back up and underneath and then re-rubberbanded the little stubby end to hold it all together. Worked great. On the mats at home though, I just made a pony and didn’t pull the thing “through” all the way on the last go-round… or I’d pony it with the tail part braided.
Within a year, I had had so much hair pulled or torn or broken, the ponytail was down to half the volume (from 2″ diameter to about 1″) and I was devastated. My hairdresser was too.. but she cut it to about midway between shoulders and chin and told me to take prenatal vitamins.
I am on the brink of considering another chop– a stacked bob (shorter in back, longer in front) but long enough to keep it in a pony if I want. Right now it’s about 4″ below shoulders and in cooler weather, I have great results from wearing wrestling headgear with the girls’ haircap thingie (designed for lady wrestlers) over it all. Too damn hot though for 6 mo of the year. Currently when I roll, I do the doubled-over pony in the back, or make two and look a little like Princess Leia. The Leia thing is good because the back of the head is flatter, gets less rubbing, but worse if you get triangled ever.
The problem with the bob is that if the hair is long enough for any of the ends to reach your eyes, bits will escape and be getting in your eyes. That drives me crazy, especially when it’s all sweaty and I am TOO BUSY trying to choke someone to mess with it. I got shorter and shorter in gradations, and finally it got to where I was sitting in the hairdresser’s chair and she’d go, “How about THAT?” and I’d lean forward and press the hair against my cheeks with both hands. If any of it could reach my eyes, I sat back up and said, “Nope, that’s not going to work. Shorter.”
Are you using the Cliff Keen “slicker”, Georgette? Someone just gave it a poor review on Jiu jitsu Forums. But I want to try something. I’m dying to get some hair back.
I am actually growing my hair out while doing bjj.
I used to have a sort of wedge style cut, chin length in front, fade in the back, barber-superskills required on the sides to blend the two together. Absolutely no maintenance required on my part, though I liked getting it cut every three weeks to keep the part above my neck really short. I have straight hair and needed no gel or anything. I might have had a cowlick in the back, but who cares? I really enjoyed that cut, but, like you, I’ve always been vain about my hair. So I had grown it long again before I started jiu jitsu. I would train with my hair in a bun, but after losing a lot of hair at the level of the elastic band, I started wearing an underarmor skullcap underneath wrestling headgear. I have a four strap model and place my bun in between the two straps in the back of my head. The headgear helps keep the skullcap from shifting too much, and I prefer the skullcap model with the jacquard elastic band as opposed to the “mesh,” which lost elasticity quickly. This setup works well for me, though my bun pops out of the skullcap every once in a while. Of course the bun gets in the way a bit, but I think my headgear/skullcap make it easier to get out of guillotines, etc. . and you can offset the bun so it’s just behind one ear. My hair is almost at my waist now. I was surprised to note that Leticia Rebeiro has a whole lot of hair and manages to keep it all even though she competes. I think if I were a pro fighter, It would make sense to go back to my short cut, but I’m happy with my current solution.
Hope this helps.
Yeah…BJJ definitely limits your hair choices. I had natural hair (I’m Black) before I started, but I know that doing BJJ means I likely could never go back to straight hair (wouldn’t really want to anyway).
My hair is crazy thick. Straight, it’s at my bra strap, but when dried and in its natural curly state, it’s shoulder length. If I rolled with it loose, someone would get a foot caught. Now, before every class, I wash out all the product I use in it, toss in some leave in, comb it out and braid it in the back. I then tuck that braid under, put a TIGHT elastic on it and twist the remaining ends under. I keep the braid up just a bit so that there’s room behind my neck (I’ve gotten my hand caught in other women’s hair way too many times when trying to cross-face). My hair is still a mess, but it’s a controlled mess by the end.
My hair is cut in a short pixie style, like Meg’s only shorter. It really works for me since I have cowlicks in the back and it spikes back there with little encouragement.
Also, I wear headgear when I roll, so I end up with the headgear hair Meerkatsu describes. I just take it off and spike all my hair before any pictures are taken.
I used to have really long hair, thick like Georgette’s, but it was hot and so much work to keep looking nice. Eventually I cut it off, then I grew it out again, then cut it. So don’t worry, if you cut it and don’t like it, it will grow back. Just make sure you find a hairdresser you trust. Good ones can work magic.
MC- brand/style/model name of the skullcap you use, please?
This is what I wear.
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/search/results/pid8000071-Skull-Cap/8000071-100
It seemed a little small at first, but stretched to fit in a few weeks without getting too loose. A do-rag might work too, but I haven’t tried that.
Oh yes, my long hair came off, and BJJ is the culprit 🙂
Why I did the deed:
http://journey-of-fenix.blogspot.com/2010/01/things-we-do.html
Before and after looks:
http://journey-of-fenix.blogspot.com/2010/01/photos-for-people.html
No regrets. Only downside is that I occasionally get mistaken for a guy (well, I don’t dress very feminine, and I don’t have delicate feminine features…). But it’s all good for a laugh.
Hey Julia: I’m digging your blog.
I struggle with what to do with my hair. The main time it bothers me is when I know that my training partners worry about it or dislike it; they comment that they are trying to avoid grabbing it, or they feel badly if it gets pulled. It also annoys me when someone’s knee is on it, and I hesitate to move because I feel pieces being torn from my head. (I only do a ponytail or bun; I honestly can’t braid for the life of me.)
I wish I had the nerve to shave my head or even cut it really short. But I don’t. I freaked out at my last haircut when it got cut too high above my shoulders. It was so “short” and I hated it. I know lots of girls who look amazing with super short hair; but frankly, I don’t want a “boy” haircut and I don’t want to dislike the way I look, like Savage says. Sure it would be liberating, but I don’t think it would add confidence for me off the mat. So for now, I’m keeping it (relatively) long.
I would definitely recommend learning to braid. It will take a bit of time, but it will be absolutely worth it.
I hear what you’re saying. I do like my hair, and I like what it adds to my face. Though I do think it would be a good challenge in life to one time shave my head. Not sure I’ll do it, but part of me loves the idea.
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