Mythbuster

I worked out this morning before work. Shocker, I know. This alone is a definite mythbusted, but not my current topic. When I left the house this morning at 6:20am the radio was saying it was 2 degrees with a wind chill of MINUS 10. That alone should have kept me under my nice warm flannel sheets & down comforter *pats myself on back.*

The myth is this: if you are outside with wet hair in freezing weather your hair can freeze up and break off.

I grew up in sunny Southern California. I remember hearing this myth at winter church camp up near Big Bear. I believed it, hook, line & sinker. What did I know? I thought I was freezing when it was anything less than 70 degrees outside. Then we moved to Missouri. Now snow & freezing weather are a reality, EVERY YEAR! I've left the house with wet hair plenty of times in the middle of winter (my way too thick hair takes FOREVER to dry)--no problem! I've chuckled to myself about that myth & my gullibility (It's a word. I looked it up :) & it IS in the dictionary).

But wait. Maybe I wasn't so gullible after all. This morning, upon leaving the ARC with damp hair from my shower I had to walk about 90 feet to my van. It took me all of about 30 seconds (if that). Once I was in the comfort of my warming up van I went to push a strand of hair out of my face & it was completely stiff like I had a ton of gel in it or something. I ran my fingers through my hair and yep, all of the damp strands were completely stiff. It wasn't completely frozen & did not break at my touch, but still.

In conclusion: my damp hair, after being exposed to truly freezing temperatures (about 7 degrees at the time) for about 30 seconds was stiff. This myth was definitely not busted. I think my hair would have to be exposed to freezing weather for a REALLY long time to confirm this myth and well, that would just be silly. So, I'm going to have to call this one "plausible."

What about this one: "If you lick a metal pole when the temperature is below freezing, your tongue will stick to it." Myth or fact? Someone else experiment with this one and let me know. :)



Addendum: Bryndyn just informed me that the real Mythbusters already did an episode on the licking a metal pole thing. This myth was CONFIRMED! Here is their result: "When you touch freezing cold metal with your tongue, your saliva freezes instantly, essentially gluing your tongue to the metal object. Unless you have a cup of warm water handy to unstick yourself, it's best not to test this on your own -- even if someone triple-dog-dares you -- as you could cause serious damage to your tongue." Or you can click here and take their winter myth quiz.