Hair In Your *OWN* Food....

[Pickles]

I don't think many of us wear hairnets when we make our own food at home....so I was rather appalled when I dug into my dinner this evening and captured a long blonde hair. I had my hair "up" and everything. That sucker must have been sitting on my shoulder like a crow waiting to swoop down. So glad I was not with company when that happened. Anyway...have you ever gotten hair in your own food/cooking? If the food was served to guests, how did you handle the situation? I'd try to make light of it..."We all shed hairs...it could happen to any of us!" Of course that doesn't lessen the humiliation and the feeling you're not..."clean" or something when you cook. Feel free to talk about your own food sanitation rules at home. Separate cutting boards, gloves when you toss your salads, etc. etc. Come "clean."

[torakris]

I have major problems in my house with hair in my food.

I always wear my hair up when I am cooking but like you said if often falls off your clothes. Luckily I don't cook for other people all that often, but my husband often says he finds at leat one hair per day in one of his meals (I make his breakfast and lunches and he eats them at work)

Besides shaving our head I don't really know what we could do, maybe try pulling up our hair and then changing our shirts as well?

[Anna N]

Like Kristin said and I am NOT shaving my head. Always have my hair tied back and a head band in place but still find the odd hair in something. But having worked in hospitals for some ten years I also know that even the most fastidious among us can only keep the "bugs" down to a dull roar. I bet none of us engages in a full surgical scrub prior to cooking and none of us has an autoclave in the kitchen.

[Carlovski]

Anyone seen that report where computer keyboard contain 10 times more bugs than toilet seats?

As long as you don't do anything obviously stupid I don't think it's worth getting too worried about it in your own home (Young kids or elderely/infirm relatives etc, then maybe a bit more careful)

There was a program on in the UK to find the countries worst cook. Didn't see it, but apparently there was a scene where one woman was attempting to defrost chicken by running it under warm water, then use the same water to wash the salad

[JennotJenn]

If I'm cooking for guest, I will use a bleach water solution on my countertops, wash my hands fasitdiously and try to make sure all kitchen crevices and the floor are good and clean. But everyday. for me and DH? My hair, cat hair, oops dropped that on the floor....better rinse it off before I throw it in the pot. The only thing I'm really careful about when it's just us is making sure there isn't any raw meat cross contamination, and I do use bleach water on my cutting boards. I like to think I'm making our immune systems stronger by exposing them to low levels of (not too horrible)contaminants. That's my excuse, anyway.

I did have a hair get into a loaf of bread I baked for the office, though. I only know because I got the hairy piece (I hope it was the only one). As far as what to say? Well, at least the heat of the oven killed off any nastiness. Hey, lucky yesterday was my hair washing day!

[Jinmyo]

Besides shaving our head I don't really know what we could do...

[GG Mora]

Ah. Your profile makes you look so severe, Jinmyo. You're much more approachable this way.

In addition to my own wily head of hair, there's my husband's, plus a Big White Dog who sheds her wooly coat full-time and three cats who only respect the "stay off the kitchen counters" rule when someone's watching. Even if I wore a hair net or "sported a Jinmyo", hair-free cooking just isn't going to happen around here. We deal. Adds texture.

[sparrowgrass]

I keep a clean kitchen, but that hair just finds it way into stuff from time to time. I know it won't hurt me, my hair is washed every day, but gee-golly-gosh it grosses me out.

And embarrasses the hell out of me if hair ends up in someone else's portion.

[Cynthia G]

GG Mora, I also have a Big White Dog (Great Pyrenees) who wants always to be where I am, and if I'm cooking that means sitting nicely at my side waiting for any scraps that might fall! (And he needed to be taught that just because he can reach everything on the counter doesn't mean he may!)

Since my hair is turning white (at 41.... prematurely, obviously!) my increasing problem is knowing whether that random stray hair is mine or Jack's!

[browniebaker]

Gosh, I'm glad someone brought up this "unmentionable." I thought I was the only one with hair problems! My hair shows up about once ot twice a week in food I make for my family, and I have to wonder how often it shows up in food I prepare for guests.

I'm so nervous about it that last year I instituted new measures when cooking for guests: hair- net; clean shirt with tightly buttoned cuffs reserved just for cooking and folded tightly right side in when not in use; total countertop wipedown with wet cloth followed by dry.

One thing I found harbors a lot of hair: these Polartec fleece tops I love to wear are a no-no in the kitchen.

Three-year-old loves to help in the kitchen, and I bought her her own hair-net. Really.

But I don't bother when cooking just for just the four of us. We just pull out the hair, I feel embarrassed, and we continue eating.

[Ladybug]

I have very long hair but I usually wear it up and out of the way. Nevertheless, every couple of months I find one of my hairs in the food. I've always been embarrassed to find it if anyone else is eating but I've also always wondered. How unsanitary IS hair? I mean, it's on your HEAD, not your tail. How dirty is it? I understand the possibilities, but I'd be much more worried about someone's hands in my food.

Another thing I've always wondered - what about ARM hair? Some people appear to have rugs on their arms and that must get into the food. My husband worked in a pizza place once and when they mixed the sauce the Parm would get hung up in the bottom of the Hobart. The boss told them to SHUT THE DOOR, then roll up your sleeve and stick your arm right in the sauce to unclog things . . . up to your elbow. My husband has hairy arms and his boss had even hairier arms. ICK! I've seen some hairy folks in my day and some guys even have long "finger hair" on their hands.

[McDuff]

I used to work at a retreat house and one day was tossing a big bowl of potato salad. One of the resident priests was watching me and murmured, "I wonder how many of your epithelial cells we've eaten?" Nowadays when people ask me if I can make them a cake, I tell them, "2 dogs, 4 cats, it's up to you."

[Bombdog]

Nowadays when people ask me if I can make them a cake, I tell them, "2 dogs, 4 cats, it's up to you."

That's what I'm talking about! I'm a retired K9 Handler and have 2 German Shepherds and 2 Belgian Shepherds at home. It doesn't matter how long or how much I clean, or how careful I am, there's a pretty good chance somebody is gonna get a hair of some sort in something before the day is done.

[Susan G]

Yup, I also get embarrassed, but I figure, hey, that's what an immune system is FOR! (Long hair, and I own two cats and a dog).

[Devilkitty]

Just tell any complainers that you're giving them a head start on flossing.

[Jinmyo]

Ah. Your profile makes you look so severe, Jinmyo. You're much more approachable this way.

?

That's from a mug shot for serially slapping dessert eaters.

Seriously though folks, severe?

[sparrowgrass]

Not hair, but a kitchen sanitation thing that grossed out a coworker.

I made my son a hamburger patty, and it was sitting, raw, on the counter. I went outside for a moment, and didn't realize the eternally hungry cat had slipped inside when I went out. By the time I came back in, she had eaten an ounce or so out of one side of the burger.

I reshaped the patty, put it in the pan, and cooked it up for the kid. He didn't mind, except that his burger was a bit light, but Betsy 'bout puked when I laughed about it at work.

[srhcb]

....so I was rather appalled when I dug into my dinner this evening and captured a long blonde hair.

This would present a major problem for me. I do all the cooking and my hair, what there is of it, is "silver", GF's hair is medium length brunette, and our dogs are either black or white.

SB (would have to do some quick 'splainin')

[mrbigjas]

Edit to say this is in response to Jinmyo's "Seriously, folks. Severe?" question:

Definitely. Things like that are what makes me glad that there's an option to turn them off. Yours makes you look horribly severe. Jason Perlow's (the last time I saw it) was downright creeparific. Holly's is just kinda nasty. There are others, I'm sure, but I can't remember what they are because I've had them turned off for a while now (it also makes it easier to browse at work if there's not a bunch of blinking pictures on your screen SHHHHHHH don't tell anyone).

Edited March 30, 2004 by mrbigjas (log)

[adoxograph]

Ah yes, cat hair. One of mine has hair as long as my SO's, so I remember a particularly memorable evening when he tried to blame a hair on the cat.... wrong color, but he insisted.

My hair is unmistakable, more's the pity. Maybe if we get a miniature horse :)

I do try and keep things sanitary, but I realize that the occasional bit of humanity is inevitable, and personally I'd rather have some sense that a person made the food than the random bits of things that can end up in processed foods. How many bugs are we allowed per can?

[curlywurlyfi]

OK I have delayed posting this story until I am about to go home so won't be here to hear the screams of revulsion.

I was in Italy for New Year at a charming, half-renovated mediaeval tower of some friends. No running water in the kitchen, so we had to wash everything in the shower cubicle round the corner.

This photograph shows Lucy (front) and me (just visible behind) combing the chard with a torch - not much light in the kitchen either - after I realized that there were, in effect, hairballs in the saute pan.

and yes, we ate it anyway.

Fi

[srhcb]

Maybe if we get a miniature horse :)

Reminds me of a favorite old vaudeville joke:

#1. (coughing) I'm getting a little hoarse.

#2. Good, can I ride it?

[hjshorter]

Just tell any complainers that you're giving them a head start on flossing.

Has anyone welcomed you to egullet, Charlie? If not, Welcome! And thanks for the laugh.

[McDuff]

Just got prompted to remember this--my wife had to go through chemo for a second time and I had my head buzzed so she wouldn't be bald alone. We went to a Todd English joint, had spicy fried calamari on arugula, and after we lapped it up discovered a looong black hair under the salad. We pointed it out to the waitress, who said, "are you sure it isn't one of yours?" I'm such a classy date, I don't drink, but my wife wanted a glass of wine, so I bellied up to the bar and ordered a number 92. The bartender nicely pointed out that was the vintage.

[cakewench]

jinmyo- If you're seriously polling: I really, really like your profile shot. I think it fits perfectly with a lot of your one-line responses. I think 'deadpan' more than 'severe'.

one topic: I have long hair, and always have it pulled back in the kitchen. Not out of any feeling of cleanliness; more because I just don't like it being in my way. I think I have managed to get a hair or two in there, regardless, but it doesn't bother me.

Now, someone ELSE'S hair. hm. It doesn't bother me as much as it used to, but it is still pretty creepy.