Hair stuck in my mask straps!

[chrispina]

I usually French braid my hair and that controls the tangles, but the baby hairs around my temples keep getting caught in my mask straps. How do I keep them under control without interfering with my mask seal?

 

[DevilEyeDog]

Handband! I usually use something called a buff (go on amazon and type in buff). If they are too long, I just cut them. I usually end up with 2-3 headbands out of one buff. They come in a ton of great colors. I wear them even under my 7mm hood when I dive New England. In the Caribbean I wear them and look like a colorful hippie with my tie dye buffs on my head but it's easy to spot me and I don't have hair in my face mask.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Checking my wife's hair for any caught under the mask seal has become part of our pre-dive check. I'll suggest a piece of a Buff, though.

 

[ElCarlos]

Maybe a Slap Strap is worth a try?

 

[Boarderguy]

Hood or beanie cap?

 

[Kimela]

Are the hairs getting stuck in your mask or is it your snorkel? I kept getting those hairs wrapped around my snorkel, so I ditched it. Then I tried carrying a snorkel attached to my BCD (collapsable) and it kept deploying when I'd splash. I don't use a snorkel at all now. I've found that no hairs get wrapped around my mask strap - or at least not most of the time. I dive with a hood (lavacore in the summer - more neoprene in cooler water) to keep the hairs back from my mask skirt.

 

[sea_ledford]

Instructor to a dive program that is mostly women:
Get rid of the stock strap and replace with either a velcro slap strap or one with the cam locks.
So one like this:

Or like this:

but not one that just covers the standard strap in the back. In my experience, it is usually the buckles that trap hair. The buckles with the push buttons to release are the worst offenders, and those are attached to the mask, so no way to get rid of them. But replacing the strap means you don't have the urge to change your strap during the dive, so it doesn't grab hair as much.

 

[Dark Wolf]

I guess one benefit of local diving is that I always wear a hood, so none of my hair gets caught in the mask strap.

DW

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

The SCAP

thescap.com

 

[lachica]

I am also with the majority, I do a braid, and I wear a headband that goes through the ponytail so it's secure. You can find them on Etsy as Scuba headband. But my mask has to have the neoprene strap.

I also ditched the snorkel as this was another source for hair tangles, and have a foldable snorkel in my pocket. I have the Oceanic Pocket Snorkel - the reason I chose this one was for the locking velcro-like piece that goes on the mask.