How Many of You That Wear HA's Grow Hair Long to Cover Them?

I have long hair but I tuck it behind my ear. Hate the way it sounds if I leave it loose! I wish I had gotten HA in green to match my glasses but I didn't think to ask about colours.
 
I put my hair in a ponytail because I can not stand the feedback it gives when I have my hair done I wear my hair up everyday


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Dbay said:
There are plenty of reasons I would rather keep them out of sight. One of which is that those who are hearing impaired are often stigmatized, and to me, it comes off as a sign of vulnerability/weakness.
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I used to believe this, too. I waited until I was in my early thirties to get hearing aids (I am coming up on that 1 year anniversary actually). I am deaf in my right ear and have mild sloping to profound loss in my left. I decided to get them because I wanted to see if the latest technology could actually help me. They were digital, smaller, and had bluetooth capabilities, so why not. I had your same mindset and wanted the smallest ones I could get and wanted them completely hidden from the world. My audiologist recommended BTE's and since they were small I decided to try it out. I picked out black ones so they blend in with my glasses.

So far in almost one year, not a single person has pointed them out or asked me about them (I have short hair). Not once. I just started wearing them one day and never told anyone. Either nobody notices them or they already knew I had hearing problems so it wasn't a surprise to see them on. I think it's probably a bit of both.

I've started to believe that the stigmatization and weakness thoughts are less the reality and are more just unfounded self consciousness by people who wear hearing aids. Like someone else said, it all comes down to your own confidence as to how you are treated.
 
My hair is naturally long (I don't look good with short hair) but I always have to put my hair in a ponytail or braid it... I hate the feedback sound when my hair brushes my HAs.
In school I'd always have my hair up, sometimes down. Sure I was self-conscious with my HAs but now (mid-high school really) I realized "Hey, it's me who cares what people think!" So I just wear it up (sometimes down or put hair behind my ears)
 
My Naidas feedback when I have my hair down so always wear my hair up and proudly show them off. Just wish I had glitter earmolds.
 
Jiro said:
I can't help it when my HA looks hidden because I'm growing back long hair and my HA is pretty small.

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Big different in size! Is the big one your old one and then your upgrade is the small one? The different is huge!
 
Dbay said:
I apologize in advance for resurrecting an old thread, but I registered because I happened to find this thread in a google search and wanted to throw in my two cents...As a 21 year old male college student, who was born with great hearing and lost 65% in both ears 6 months ago, YES, I am absolutely growing my hair long to cover my HA's. I have Starkey 3 series CIC aids, so they aren't highly visible to begin with, but there is no way I would consider getting my hair cut short until I can afford some sort of totally invisible HA. My hair was medium-long before the hearing loss, and I've been growing it out ever since. I'm surprised by how many people said that they don't wear long hair to cover them, really, but that's just where I'm at right now I suppose. There are plenty of reasons I would rather keep them out of sight. One of which is that those who are hearing impaired are often stigmatized, and to me, it comes off as a sign of vulnerability/weakness. Also, I would rather not have anybody asking about how I lost my hearing to begin with, because it is a story that's painful for me to talk about. It was my own actions that resulted in this, nothing else. If I hadn't arrived at the hospital w/o a pulse or respiration as a result of a MASSIVE polydrug OD (it was accidental, but the toxicology report makes it painfully obvious how routine this sort of thing was for me at the time already, this one day just happened to put me over the edge) I may have a different outlook on this. As of right now, I'm wearing beanies and ballcaps most of the time, and when it's warm, I'll style it in such a way that my ears remain covered.
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I have big red hearing aids and very few people notice them with my hair up. More people will notice your hearing loss rather then your hearing aids. I can notice ITE and CIC hearing aids from across the street. RIC hearing aids are less noticeable my far!
 
My HA is black and silver.... sort of looks like bluetooth. I didn't want tan because I wanted to change that stereotype from hearing people that I'm old.... the two comments I've always gotten about my deafness which made me want to smack people is either that their grandmother is deaf or their dog is deaf. My hearing aids don't blend in because I don't want to fit their boring stereotype.

My ear molds are HOT pink, but not by intention. They were supposed to be "bubblegum" pink so they were colorful but not noticeable like blue or green would be because of flesh tone being more pink. Clear and "pinkish" which the audi showed me looked old... and I know from my last pair of ear molds that the clear starts to discolor a little bit... wanted opaque for that reason. So now I have neon pink ear molds by accident.... lol I don't try to hide them behind long hair though because I get annoying sounds when my hair rubs up against it. My hair is now to the middle of my neck, not quite at my shoulders yet... it's always in a half-up messy bun.
 
Dbay said:
There are plenty of reasons I would rather keep them out of sight. One of which is that those who are hearing impaired are often stigmatized, and to me, it comes off as a sign of vulnerability/weakness.
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Strength comes from character, weakness is a lack of it.
 
I wouldn't hide mine. Then you couldn't see my pretty Hello Kitty stickers and purple glitter earmold!

Seriously though, those that think I'm "impaired" or broken in any way and want to treat me badly because of it don't deserve to be in my life. I have nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed about. I am who and how I am.
 
I do what I want, long hair, short hair, hearing aids, no hearing aids. Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. I just remember to choose love over fear and think about the positive impact vulnerability has on building understanding.

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I wear my hair long to keep my ears warm in the winter. I notice there been a lot of ads for HA on TV and the ad said their HA are 'so small' you can hardly see them. This pissed me off, these ads are making it look being HOH is something to be ashamed of and that you should try your best to hide the fact that you're HOH. The companies are going after the aging baby boomers that are first time user and have no or little knowledge about HA . People do not wear their hair to cover their eyeglasses so why should need to do it with their HA ???
 
Hahaha I has a long hair on my top back. I has a hearing aid and CI. I don't mind the people look at my devices. I like to be show off my colorful decorate BTEs to look so pretty and fashion. I don't like the boring beige. I covered my BTE to decorate as pimping. I'm so proud to be Deaf!
 
As a male college student, I have med hair that cover half of my ear but enough to cover back hearing aid! I have been having med hair since 8th grade and it makes difference to hangout with friends!
 
Michael2013 said:
I've started to believe that the stigmatization and weakness thoughts are less the reality and are more just unfounded self consciousness by people who wear hearing aids. Like someone else said, it all comes down to your own confidence as to how you are treated.
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For the most part, I think you're right. A lot of that stigmatization and whatnot is probably self-imposed, sort of like a "Double Conciousness" type of thing.

Anyway, I'm still growing my hair, so I figured I'd attach a recent pic of my hair to give people an idea of what it looks like now. Thoughts?
 

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I've never tried to do anything to hide my HA's. When I first got them I soon found that very few people even noticed them anyway and the only ones who did were little kids, other HA wearers or people who are looking to get HA's, other than that very very few even noticed. Basically people don't look at your ears when they talk to you, it's not like when you first get glasses and everyone sees them, HA's go largely unnoticed.
 
Jiro said:
I can't help it when my HA looks hidden because I'm growing back long hair and my HA is pretty small.

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The HA on the top with the long tube looks very uncomfortable . The tube is too long looking to me.
 
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