Long hair/dreads and Jiujitsu

Hey all, I have a quick question. I have been growing dreads for bit, And I REALLY dont want to get rid of them (Ive become somewhat attached), but I have come to the point in my life where I am about to pursue jiujitsu in a very competitive manner. (lots of competitions/drilling) And I was just wondering if having long hair is something I should be concerned with. As of now, The only downsides Ive really found bothersome is when someone gains top position, And there knee or arm ends up pinning my hair down so i cant move my head. And also, it makes it somewhat uncomfortable/difficult to escape guillotines at certain times.

So to those of you with long hair.. Do you feel like it is a hindrance at all while competing? Do those skullcaps/headgear really fix the problem/stay secure the whole time? Any suggestions on which caps I should use? Ect.. I would love to keep my dreads, but at the same time.. In my list of priorities, reaching my full potential in jiujitsu is above keeping my locks. So if its necessary, Im sure I could part with them.

I had long hair for years, and dreads are bad ass. I think most peeps serious about BJJ end up cutting it. I personally do not like to roll with peeps with long hair, and avoid it if I can.

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Originally Posted by chronic_jiujitsu

Hey all, I have a quick question. I have been growing dreads for bit, And I REALLY dont want to get rid of them (Ive become somewhat attached), but I have come to the point in my life where I am about to pursue jiujitsu in a very competitive manner. (lots of competitions/drilling) And I was just wondering if having long hair is something I should be concerned with. As of now, The only downsides Ive really found bothersome is when someone gains top position, And there knee or arm ends up pinning my hair down so i cant move my head. And also, it makes it somewhat uncomfortable/difficult to escape guillotines at certain times.

So to those of you with long hair.. Do you feel like it is a hindrance at all while competing? Do those skullcaps/headgear really fix the problem/stay secure the whole time? Any suggestions on which caps I should use? Ect.. I would love to keep my dreads, but at the same time.. In my list of priorities, reaching my full potential in jiujitsu is above keeping my locks. So if its necessary, Im sure I could part with them.

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You should be good to compete with dreads. I haven't seen to many jiu jitsu girls with butch hair so they must know a trick to keep it out of the way.

When I did Judo man I hand long hair and it honestly served as a huge distraction, and if I was thrown sometimes they would land on it or it would get it in my face or mouth and worse sometimes get pulled. Honestly cutting it was probably the best thing I ever did for my game. I think when you get serious you will ultimately cut them off. Dreads are a lot of work though and really bad ass so I can see why you want to keep them around.

I have hair just past my shoulders. Not dreaded. My hairs is pretty thick (like each hair is thick) it does not hurt at all when it gets pulled or I have to pull it out from under someone. It only bothers me when it gets in my mouth but I don't really notice until we're resetting. One thing that does bother me is guys are too nice about it. I can tell at certain times they are trying to avoid pulling it or hesitate to grab my neck. For that reason I'm considering cutting it. Thing is I might not have many years before I start to go bald so I kinda want to keep it till then.

I also wonder what girls do and if headgear helps.

Ended up cutting mine off after braiding it back and tying it up for as long as I could stand.

Jj is to damn sweaty for dreads.

As for long hair, there will be a position at some point where it will be a disadvantage. It would suck if that point were in the finals of a tournament. Against a d-bag that you really wanted to beat.

A really good training partner of mine has long curly locks that he identifies with. He also outweighs me so I'm super tight when I play rg on him. When I cleared to chilldog one of those locks got caught between my forearm and shin. I kungfu moved and we transitioned. Anyway, after the roll that lock was laying on the mat and I have purposely released clinches because of that since then. Won't give two shits if in a comp.

It is a liability, your call on how big.

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Originally Posted by bobby rivers

Jj is to damn sweaty for dreads.

As for long hair, there will be a position at some point where it will be a disadvantage. It would suck if that point were in the finals of a tournament. Against a d-bag that you really wanted to beat.

A really good training partner of mine has long curly locks that he identifies with. He also outweighs me so I'm super tight when I play rg on him. When I cleared to chilldog one of those locks got caught between my forearm and shin. I kungfu moved and we transitioned. Anyway, after the roll that lock was laying on the mat and I have purposely released clinches because of that since then. Won't give two shits if in a comp.

It is a liability, your call on how big.

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You just sent chills down my spine. I have long golden locks. What about headgear, does it help? And what do women do?

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Originally Posted by bobby rivers

Jj is to damn sweaty for dreads.

Anyway, after the roll that lock was laying on the mat

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Ive thought about that countless times. Realistically if you lose a dread, its really easy to re-attach, but still.. Im sure it wouldnt feel great. And what you mentioned about the sweatiness I wondered too. I wash my dreads every other day, but still.. I picture a sweaty mat and just see my dreads acting like a giant mop. Thats another reason I was hoping there were nice caps available that would prevent them from coming out. I remember seeing eddie use a skullcap/headset and it seemed to stay pretty secure when Id watch him roll, But I also wonder if its because his hair was a bit shorter, and if it would work as well with dreads. Pretty much.. If I cant find a good cap, Im pretty positive Ill have to cut them.

I had dreads 3 1/2+ feet long, I cut them for jitsu... If you want to compete seriously I would have to say it will prove to be a massive challenge and burden, unless maybe you wear a scuba suit like eddie used to... but even then I don't think so. If you keep them short you can probably get by without much problems but in general, short hair = performance in jitsu

i cut my hair after i realized that the "thinning top hair" look isn't sexy to women. the reason i had kept my hair long was as a representation of my freedom but i've since realized that confidence comes from within and hair is just hair - i had similar problems rolling with a pony tail getting all over the place and even a tight ball kept coming apart so i said fuck it and cut it and now i love my short hair.

my cuz had dreads for a while, i remember finding a dead fly in his dreads once and that pretty much turned me off dreads, ja :D

I had long hair as you can tell in the profile pic and had the same problem and it would really hurt now my hair is super short almost bald and I prefer it I want to pursue my jj further as well and I wouldn't grow it back just cause I feel better rolling now

I had dreads for about 6 months during my first year of training. It was nearly impossible to keep them healthy and train.

Long Hair is good for developing good technique. It gets you in the habit of keeping hands and arms off your head and fucking up your hair. you also have to be mindful when yanking your head out of chokes cuz youll mess up your rig. I usually wear a diver hood or beanie with head gear over top.

I had dreads as well, the more I trained, the more I hated them.

But I do miss them! lol :)