Hair Pulling 101

I'm not sure how it all happened, but about 3 years ago on a wine trip to Eldorado County in California, I garnered a reputation as a great hair puller.

Odd, right?

Having had super thick hair all my life, I have had to toughen up my head. And one of the best feelings ever, is having my hair played with. Wanna hear me actually purr? Run your fingers thru my hair. *sigh*

My knowledge was greatly expanded about 6 years ago. I went down to San Diego to help my baby sister find salons to get her hair done for her wedding. One place gave us up-dos. Used a bagillion bobby pins. But in order for the stylst to get ALL of our hair tamed she had to cinch it all down. I have never had my hair pulled so tight before. It was... strangely relaxing. I had had a headache and it went away with a well-placed tug. It was so great, that we left our hair up in those bobby pins for 2 nights. On the 3rd night we drank redbull and vodkas and counted to see how many total were used. I think it took use 2 hours to find them all. I won at 166.

So this experience taught me the mastery of pulling hair. Ha. Mastery! Anyways, at this drunken wine event, I proceeded to pull every chick's hair. You would think this would have gotten me beaten up. But alas, I have been asked ever since to demonstrate my "technique".

Seriously. On complete strangers.

Anywho, I was talking with a gf about how people (read: boys) alway do it, and they do it wrong. It actually hurts and ruins what could be a great moment. And she ordered me to post a tutorial. A nonvisual tutorial, mind you. And I am forever following orders...

Step 1: Make sure she wants her hair pulled.

Seems simple, right? Wrong. I once had a boy try to make me kiss him. When I shied away, he grabbed my hair and tried to really make me. I believe I nailed him in the balls to stop.

Step 2: Where you pull is very important.

If you reach back to your own neck, you can feel where the tendons run up to your scalp. If you run your fingers up so the base of the palm of your hand is resting on those tendons, that's as high as you want to go. Any higher and it gets into the headache inducing regions. Also do not splay out your fingers extra wide. If you grab all of the little hairs with your thumb and pinky, you are just causing pain.

Step 3: Your grip is important.

We know you are strong. You don't have to grab and squeeze really tight. You know that grip you have on a bat before you swing? Firm but not clamped down? That's about the right amount of force needed. Please take note, this is with curvy thick hair. The finer the hair, the less of a grip you need. Seriously, if you let go and there are strands of hair caught in your fingers? Rethink the grip.

Step 4: Don't hold on for more than 10 seconds.

Goes against the grain to last only 10 seconds, huh? Until your partner is comfortable with you, you are not going to want to exceed this. Think of it like acupressure. You don't find a nerve ending and hold pressure on it for so long the pain and tension come back. There is tension already residing in her neck, and you pull long enough for the tingles to start and leave her with that.

And that's it.

Now go forth and... yank?