The Horrifying Reason You Should Stop Wearing Hair Ties on Your Wrist
Ah, hair ties: Where do they come from, and where do they go? There must be some magical fairyland out there that’s home to the millions of elastics we’ve all lost over the years. Wherever it is, we hope they’re happy.
Of course, there’s one obvious solution to the disappearing hair tie problem: Just wear the darn things on your wrist, like 99.9999 percent of all dancers do.
Or, actually, don’t do that.
Like, really, REALLY don’t.
Because it turns out those improvised elastic bracelets could…um…kill you?
NOT BRACELETS.
We learned this from a woman named Audree Kopp, who developed a severe infection on her wrist thanks in part to the glittery hair ties she’d been wearing. Scratchy elastics—>irritated skin—>serious infection, which could have led to sepsis and, possibly, death in Kopp’s case if it hadn’t been caught by her doctor.
YIPES.
Doctors say the risk of infection increases if the bands are especially tight around your wrist, and/or if they’re left there for long periods of time, which allows them to collect bacteria. So…yeah.
Don’t do it, dancers. Just don’t do it.
