Being in low gravity for long periods of time does alter your body’s height or bone density, but it sure won’t stop the hair on your head from growing. That’s why every once in a while the people aboard the International Space Station have to cut their hair themselves, and judging from Italian astronaut Sam Cristoforetti’s livetweets of her own outer space salon session, the process is… pretty messy.
New Year, time for a haircut. Setting up shop at “Chez Terry”. Anno nuovo, ora di tagliare i capelli da “Chez Terry”. pic.twitter.com/7yDpYhRKMA
— Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) January 1, 2015
First of course I washed my hair. Per prima cosa naturalmente lo shampoo. pic.twitter.com/5UPhipv03h — Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) January 1, 2015
Washing your hair with no gravity is also a bit of a process unto itself, as Karen Nyberg demonstrated to us in 2013 when she was aboard the ISS with Expedition 36/37.Â
And here goes the first hair into the vacuum cleaner! E i primi capelli se ne vanno nell’aspirapolvere! @AstroTerry pic.twitter.com/6dN4GPqHEi — Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) January 1, 2015
While master @AstroTerry cuts, apprentice @AntonAstrey is at the vacuum cleaner. Apprendista Anton all’aspirapolvere. pic.twitter.com/CWhJcnawSf — Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) January 1, 2015
That’s NASA astronaut Terry W. Virts and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov actually doing the cutting…and vaccuming. Gosh, and you thought it got messy at your local barber’s.
Voila’. I think @AstroTerry‘s preflight training paid off, right? Risultato finale: grazie Terry, cliente soddisfatta pic.twitter.com/3ms08XuUtV — Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) January 1, 2015
Watch, they’ll all probably still be picking little bits of hair out of their clothing for the next two or three days. Hey, just like we do back on Earth!
(via Phil Plait, picture via Sam Cristoforetti on Twitter)
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