# Why is hair in food considered so gross **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544 "2018-02-25T14:34:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/1 "2018-02-25T14:34:13Z")
I was at the restaurant bar last night with my wife and we got talking to the bartender who was kind of new in the neighborhood about local eating and drinking establishments. He recounted a story about one of our favorite places in the neighborhood and how he found a hair in his burger, and how his girlfriend told him to send it back, but he just cut the burger and ate the rest of it, which he admitted as being really gross. But why do so many people find a hair gross? I’ve never understood that. I mean, sure, a curly hair I might be a little squicked out by, but just a regular hair? With the amount of handling of your food that goes on, why is hair supposed to be particularly disgusting? There’s practically zero surface area to it. Obviously, it’s never bothered me. I just pull it out and keep on eating. I mean, the places I go to, they don’t wear gloves to make your hamburgers or anything, but their dirty mitts are all over the burger as they construct it. Why don’t people find _that_ particularly gross, if they find hair gross. I don’t mean this to sound like a “why do humans do things humans do” type of post. It’s just something I don’t particularly understand. Are they are greater disease vector or something that I’m not considering? ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/2 "2018-02-25T15:16:56Z")
Because it’s someone else’s body part! ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/3 "2018-02-25T15:31:39Z")
Pretty much anything that doesn’t belong in food is disturbing, and hair is the most common offender. (I’m having trouble coming up with a top five… Hair, Bugs, Pebbles, Twigs?) A long hair “stuck” in your mouth can be a gross sensation, and pulling something 5” long out of your body has a high Ick! potential. A small hair — eyelash size — might well be a rodent hair, which allows the possibility of rat shit or a decayed rat body. And many people just have issues with food, which might be a good evolutionary characteristic. Any discussion here features posters grossed out by textures and multiple other, seemingly minor, things. ---
**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/4 "2018-02-25T16:08:57Z")
My aunt used to say she could eat a turd until she found a hair in it. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/5 "2018-02-25T17:40:20Z")
Note that the FDA has limits has to how many rat hairs can be found in food. E.g., an average at most 1 rodent hair per 100 grams of peanut butter. Why’s that? Because the rat hairs likely come from rat poop and so they are an indicator of the sanitation levels of the food processing plant. Ditto human hair. Hair in food means lax sanitation conditions in the kitchen. It’s not what you see, it’s what you don’t see. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/6 "2018-02-25T18:58:20Z")
Because the sensation of pulling a long strand of something out of your mouth is one of the most nauseating things I can think of. I’d much rather find a bug than a hair. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/7 "2018-02-25T19:25:25Z")
Pubic or scalp? ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/8 "2018-02-25T20:07:28Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Because the sensation of pulling a long strand of something out of your mouth is one of the most nauseating things I can think of. I’d much rather find a bug than a hair. Exactly. It’s not finding the hair per se, but what it represents. My stomach is roiling as I think about pulling a hair from my mouth. I can’t even stand it with my own hair. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/9 "2018-02-25T20:10:57Z")
Hair doesn’t really bother me. I mean, think about all the drops of snot falling out of the noses of the kitchen prep crew who happen to have colds. Bending right over the food all night, drip drip drip. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/10 "2018-02-25T20:14:50Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > And many people just have issues with food… Pretty much this. I’ve had someone tell me earnestly that my thrifted vintage china was gross because strangers had had used it (like, once a year at Christmas!), then immediately put a restaurant fork in their mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/11 "2018-02-25T20:16:37Z")
This is why I don’t like corn. Those tassel hairs give me the gross outs. Ick! When I cook, I am careful and clean (handwashing, hair out of the way). But I don’t expect restaurants to be so diligent about it. So you just have to go on faith, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/12 "2018-02-25T20:17:11Z")
Found a hair in my eggs. Said “Well, it’s probably shampooed, so it’s cleaner than my fingers holding it.” Went back to eating. But I was out with guys, who just shrugged and kept on talking with their mouths full of breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/13 "2018-02-25T20:28:58Z")
How rude! Talking with your mouth full!😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/14 "2018-02-25T21:22:22Z")
Most of the hairs I find in food fell out of my own eyebrows. I know I certainly can’t stop those from falling out all over the place, so why should I fault the cook if the same thing happens to him or her? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/15 "2018-02-25T21:37:53Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > Pretty much anything that doesn’t belong in food is disturbing, and hair is the most common offender. (I’m having trouble coming up with a top five… Hair, Bugs, Pebbles, Twigs?) Band-aid, glazed spider, ladybird and glass fragment are my top four. The band-aid and the glass got sent back… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/16 "2018-02-25T22:56:18Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Pubic or scalp? Like I said, I could maybe understand a “curly hair.” I guess it’s just that I think, well, there’s probably somebody’s dead skin cells here, maybe some dandruff, possibly some saliva if the cook is double dipping his tasting spoons, etc., so a hair just seems so benign to me. That said, if I found a fingernail, I guess I would be a little grossed out by that. But not hair, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/17 "2018-02-25T23:07:01Z")
> [@eunoia](#): > > Pretty much this. I’ve had someone tell me earnestly that my thrifted vintage china was gross because strangers had had used it (like, once a year at Christmas!), then immediately put a restaurant fork in their mouth. I remember a woman at a party saying that if a dog licked one of her plates, she’d throw the plate away. Are kids today still concerned with “cooties”? I remember frequent talk of cooties when I was growing up in the 1960s. I’ve since learned that many, many things in the adult world operate on the same principle as cooties, though that specific word isn’t used. ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/18 "2018-02-26T01:29:33Z")
I’m with the OP. While I’m not wild about the idea of finding a hair in my food, I can think of a long list of things that would be much worse. And if I was sure it was my own hair, I wouldn’t be bothered at all. Are there people here who’d be grossed out by that? ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/19 "2018-02-26T01:41:20Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Because the sensation of pulling a long strand of something out of your mouth is one of the most nauseating things I can think of. I’d much rather find a bug than a hair. Back when I had long hair, on rare occasion I’d somehow swallow one that was still attached to my head (like 2 or 3 times ever). It is gag-provoking to pull it back up your throat. But I’m not persnickety about a hair in my own home-cooked food - I know where it came from. In restaurant food, it’s more foreign, and I don’t know what else might have ended up in there. That said, I don’t tend to examine my food, and have never noticed any. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544/20 "2018-02-26T02:38:45Z")
Not only pulling hair out of your mouth is gross but it’s also annoying when you know that there’s a hair in there, somewhere, but for the life of you you cannot get the fucking thing out no matter how much you fish your dirty fingers all over your tongue and insides of your mouth and _still_ can’t locate it, until it finally decides, itself, to make itself presentable for you to extricate. I guess I should be more on the lookout for hairs in my meals. An earwig in a package of Danish pies didn’t look too appetizing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hair-in-food-considered-so-gross/809544.md?page=2)