DIY Disaster: Why you should ALWAYS put long hair into a ponytail

Meet Rachel

Rachel with a goat at a local farm!

She is my outdoorsy, adventurous, kitchen-master of a roommate. For Chrismakuh (the holiday that gets celebrated when a former Catholic lives with an Atheist Jew), she gave me the COOLEST PRESENT EVER: mushroom plugs. These little nubs are filled with mushroom spawn. The basic idea is to drill holes in logs, insert the plugs, seal with wax, and wait for delicious mushrooms to grow.

Yesterday Rachel and I finally sat down to inoculate our mushroom logs. I got about 25 holes drilled while Rachel went behind me inserting the mushroom plugs. My arm needed a rest, so I handed the drill off to Rachel. Just a couple rows into it Rachel let out a little scream and the drilling stopped. Rachel's long hair, which had been hanging in her face as she leaned over the log to drill holes, was stuck in the drill. Not in the drill bit, mind you, but inside the motor of the drill.

I quickly unplugged the drill. We soon discovered that her hair was completely stuck:

Rachel with her hair in the drill

In the end I had to cut her hair. Luckily, it was a relatively small portion of her hair, so you can't even tell that she's missing any. We got the hair out of the drill by taking it apart, but I think the incident blew the motor, so I'll be procuring a new drill before the mushrooms can be fully inoculated.

The lesson? ALWAYS pull long hair into a ponytail before working with any kind of power tool. Rachel was very lucky that we were working with a relatively benign tool, and no permanent harm was done. Be safe!