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Original poster

Pupils being told long hair must be tied back - reasonable or not?

62 replies

pannetone · 05/03/2018 20:58

Maybe I’m getting this our of proportion (DH thinks so!) but I’m not happy with the rule the school ( secondary ) has just introduced that long hair must be tied back. This applies to boys and girls - there are a few boys with long-ish hair. But the new rule proportionally affects more girls- including my DD.

The rule was that long hair had to be tied back for safety or hygiene reasons eg in DT or Food Tech. I can’t think of a reason why long hair needs to be tied back all the time. If it’s that the school think it looks ‘smarter’, I’m not happy that it is primarily a judgement on how girls should look.

OP posts:
unintentionalthreadkiller · 05/03/2018 21:09

Totally reasonable.

Are you trying for some weird it's worse for girls angle? Any one can have short hair and anyone with long hair has to tie it back.

TeenTimesTwo · 05/03/2018 21:09

Headlice
Hair flicking
Getting in the way when writing. ( If I am helping DD I often tell her to put her hair in a ponytail as otherwise it flops in front of her eyes).

Not having hair ties when needed for PE, Science, Tech, Drama, Dance, Art.

Eolian · 05/03/2018 21:08

Looking neat and tidy and avoidance of spread of head lice. There's no health and safety reason for students to have to wear a blazer or a tie, or indeed a uniform at all, so I'm not sure you'd get anywhere by objecting that it's purely aesthetic rule.

As for the "it affects mostly girls" thing... I think that's a ridiculous complaint tbh. Imposing the same hair tying rule on boys and girls is as fair as you can be. Nobody is making girls have long hair!

InDubiousBattle · 05/03/2018 21:05

Perfectly reasonable rule imho. My friend's a secondary teacher and says that some of the girls in his classes won't leave their hair alone so would love them to all have it tied back.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 05/03/2018 21:05

It’s a fairly bog standard rule isn’t it?

Can’t really see an issue.

Roseredvelvet · 05/03/2018 21:05

My daughter's primary school and most of her after school clubs have this rule. Stops them getting their hair caught in things & lice. Think it's a very reasonable rule. They also need to remove earrings etc for sport or tape their ears to prevent injury.

LIZS · 05/03/2018 21:05

It is pretty standard in our local schools. Looks tidier , less easy to transfer lice and out of the way for science, art, pe, food tech etc.

ThePrincipal · 05/03/2018 21:04

Way out of proportion

upsideup · 05/03/2018 21:03

YABU its a rule for all students, long hair tied back does look neater. The rule is the same for boys and girls, its not the schools fault that it will affect more girls.
Its kind of like saying rules on trouser cuts are unfair on boys because it will affect more of them as some girls will choose to wear skirts instead.

Anythingforacatslife · 05/03/2018 21:01

I think it’s a very sensible rule and can’t see any possible reason for objecting, unless you object to uniform rules in general.

Screaminginsideme · 05/03/2018 21:01

Head lice.

haverhill · 05/03/2018 21:01

Transfer of lice? I think it’s a reasonable rule.