Monday, October 08, 2012

Going out with your hair wet commonly results in lethal brain inflammation

Americans, we are bound to agree, go out after they wash their hair, with their hair still wet — even in the winter! We concede that no sane Bosnian mother would ever allow her child to do that, as everybody knows that going out with your hair wet commonly results in lethal brain inflammation. At this point I usually attest that my American wife, even though she is a neurosurgeon — a brain doctor, mind you — does the same thing. Everybody around the table shakes their head, concerned not only about her health and welfare but about the dubious prospects of my intercultural marriage as well. Someone is likely to mention the baffling absences of draft in the United States: Americans keep all of their windows open, and they don't care if they are exposed to draft, although it is well known that being exposed to severe airflow might cause brain inflammation. In my country, we are suspicious of free-flowing air.

— from The Lazarus Project, by Aleksandar Hemon.

I go out with wet hair, but I usually tuck it into a beret — my head feels cold otherwise. I let my daughter out with wet hair all the time, and I feel like a negligent mother for it, not just because it's wet, but because we're so disorganized and rushed for time to have to even consider that as an option in the first place. No brain inflammation yet, but it could happen any day. Do you go out with wet hair?

3 comments:

claire said...

Yes, absolutely, I go out with wet hair. Though I often wonder if it were really freezing outside would my hair freeze? Don't ask about my children because they're all boys and their hair are super short and dry in about a minute.

That's such a funny quote, you just made me get my copy from the TBR shelf and want to start to read it.

Stefanie said...

I got out with wet hair all the time even in the middle of winter when it is snowing and well below freezing. It makes my husband nuts, he thinks I am going to get sick, but I've been doing it for a big piece of my life and no illness or brain inflammation has ever resulted.

Cipriano said...

I never quite thought about this before, but I do indeed go out with wet hair. Almost every morning when I arrive at work, my hair is still wet.
AND I have severe brain inflammation. But this was pre-existent problem!