Ok, It's official I hate me.
So here's the story. 2pm yesterday I had my first ever Cake testing (YEY!) I was so excited. I made chocolate cupcakes the other day then yesterday I made the ganache and fondant. I have a medium-long length of hair and everytime I do cakes I tie my hair up and sometimes I use hair nets for those big orders. Fast forward to the cake testing, we were at a coffee shop and I let them taste my cupcakes. The Guy companion of my client enjoyed the taste of MMF so he was munchin on the MMF little at a time then when he pinched through a part of the MMF there was a a very thin hair, He did not react but I know He saw it. It was EMBARRASSING and I think he was grossed out and stop munchin on the mmf. When my clients just went out to get money for the down payment, I Immediately reached for the cupcake and pull the hair off. They still booked me as their decorator and I learned the lesson the Hard way. so how bout you? how do you prevent hair in your cakes? do you always wear hairnets?
Thanks for reading!

I'm sorry that happened to you! I'm a hobby baker so I don't have any suggestions, but I'm glad they booked you as their decorator. Congratulations!

I have long hair and shed like a dog! I only do cakes for a hobby, but I always pull my hair up in a bun/knot of some kind before making any kind of food, because otherwise there WILL be a hair in it!

I'm sorry you had that experience. I would have also been mortified if I were you. I bake with a bonnet or scarf on my head. Occasionally, I'll just pull in back into a tight bun (slicked back with gel) if I am in a rush or tying up loose ends. I have short-medium length hair so it doesn't fall in my face.

I think that after hearing your story, I'll make it my practice to always bake with the bonnet.

I always wear my hair in a bun and then tie a bandanna around my head while I'm baking...DH calles it my Outlaw Baker look

I've had a hair problem though...I made a topper for a friend and took it over to show her, and it had a bunch of blonde hair caught up on some of the pearl beads. None of us is blonde so I figure it was doll hair, but I don't know how it got there.

OMG. You brought back horrible memories...!

Years ago, back when I was young enough to pull it off, I had waist length hair. I'm tall, so that was probably a good yard of hair.

We were putting on a dinner party at our house and we were serving my DH's delicious Pasta Marinara (nectar of the gods). As we sat at the table dining, I ran across an incredibly long hair in my own plate of spaghetti (there IS a god!! at least it was MY plate), but I had one heckuva time discreetly getting rid of it!! I grabbed it between finger and thumb, then slid my hand down to my lap and pulled... and pulled... and pulled. I was scared to death someone else would see me or worse yet find one in their own plate!

I wear a chef band which is like a really wide hairband--elastic in the back and wide band of material in the front--really comfortable.

My son had surgery a year 1/2 or 2 yrs ago and they gave him an Iowa Hawkeye surgical cap to wear. Guess what I use it for now?! Finding hair is one thing that petrifies me. I delivered a cake to my mom's workplace and after I got it all set up, I noticed a single strand of hair laying on top of the cake. Of course, the length, color, etc wasn't mine so I knew it came from someone who was oohing and aahing, but I was still freaked out!!!!!!

I've been thinking about what to use for the wedding cake I have coming up next month. I need something light weight that will contain but not crush my hair. All I could think of was a sugical cap. The beautiful blue ones they make us/the patient wear. I found a hair in a cake I took to my dd's once. It was in the cake itself. It wasn't mine or dh's. I'm blond and his is too short. Had to have been my youngest granddaughters.

I went to the local scrub shop and bought a scrub hat that surgery techs wear during surgery. Mine is tight and flat on the front, and has elastic in the back to help hold in your hair. It works great, and they come in tons of fun designs!

A hair net or a big shower cap! The big shower cap won't flatten your hair and you can poke holes in it for ventilation!

Here's my "hair" story. It turned out to be much more than a "hair" story!... So, I had delivered this cake to a Golden Anniversary that I was also attending. We got there with the cake set it up and since we were attending too, I was all dressed up and my hair was down. Then I noticed that some of the flowers had shifted in transit. I went over to adjust them. Good thing it was only me and my husband around the cake at this point! A tiny, like little baby hair fell off my head onto the royal icing roses on top of the cake. It was so small that I thought it would be best to just lightly blow it off instead of trying to get it with my fingers. Well I blew and guess what happened???????? Oh! I forgot to mention.... I have a partial (my four front teeth - accident when I was 13!). Well I blew and the partial flew out my mouth!!!!!!!!! GOOD THING>>> IT DIDN'T LAND ON THE CAKE!!!!!! It hit the edge of the table and ricocheted unto the wall and then landed on the floor. For a split second we froze, panicked that someone might have seen. Then I quickly picked it off the floor rushed to the restroom to wash it and came back. By this time we were laughing uncontrollably. People came up and were asking us if we were having so much fun setting up the cake. We were like "yeah! uh-huh, sure, of course!"

OMG, SharonK! That is hilarious!

I also have long hair and shed like a dog. The problem isn't the hair that's still in my head, it's the hair that's stuck to my clothing! After I tie up my hair, I go over my entire body with a lint roller. Amazing how many long strands are stuck to it!

Here's my hair story... Thank goodness it was while I was still decorating the cake. I was using my clay gun to extrude a thin snake. Suddenly, the fondant started tearing and coming out of the hole curly. I saw the hair and started pulling... and pulling... and pulling... I swear it was a clown hair! I can't imagine how I missed it while I was loading the clay gun. Needless to say, the whole blob of fondant went right in the trash.

[/quote]Here's my hair story... Thank goodness it was while I was still decorating the cake. I was using my clay gun to extrude a thin snake. Suddenly, the fondant started tearing and coming out of the hole curly. I saw the hair and started pulling... and pulling... and pulling... I swear it was a clown hair! I can't imagine how I missed it while I was loading the clay gun. Needless to say, the whole blob of fondant went right in the trash.

Here is the link:

http://www.chefwear.com/store/index.asp?DEPARTMENT_ID=83

Oh my - this is MY BIGGEST FEAR!!!! I have layered shoulder length hair and shed like crazy. I only bake and decorate for fun and a few family things but I am super duper paranoid. I wear a hair net and DH laughs like crazy. I wipe everything down and check my clothes, but still I fear a stray hair.

The hair net breathes well, but leaves me with flat funny looking hair

I don't know if this will help but I once had dinner at one of Chicago's most expensive restaurants. One where the chef is known world wide. The kinda place where you save for a month to eat there.

The food was fabulous and the service attentive........ and then my eagle eyed friend found a hair in her salad...........

It happens to the best of them so tie up your hair and keep baking

I shed SO badly...I have to lint roller my shoulders, arms, and shirt after putting my hair up because I find that sometimes even after putting my hair up, a hair will fall on my shirt and then make its way to my cake.

Even after all THAT I still occasionally find hairs. I just have to watch carefully all the time!

I wonder sometimes if customers ever find hairs. I hope not.

I only do this as a hobby.......but I now have two cats,(well 1 cat one kitten) and I am paranoid all the time about a cat hair floating up into anything................

Not only do I pull my (very long, blonde) hair up, but I only wear short sleeved t-shirts or a chef-coat. Twice I've found hairs in food I made for friends/family when I've worn long sleeves (especially knits) - I realized they stick to the sleeves and fall into whatever I'm mixing.

I have never had any complaints of customers finding hairs, but I PRAY nothing like that has ever happened with something I sold.

I know what you mean Madge, I vacuum and mop before I ever start baking or decorating. Do not want those kitty hairs in the cake!

SharonK, that's the funniest cake story I've ever heard. I'd have been absolutely useless for the rest of the event had I been there to see that.

Does the name Ruth Buzzy mean anything to any of you? That'd be me in a hair net. And I'd have the net mark on my forehead and flat hair for half a day after I took it off.

Its my greatest fear too. I shed like crazy, and I am so careful with my hair. But I always worry about the stray hair on my clothes, so i'm afraid to reach over the cake, i'm so paranoid about this, and it still happens.

Well, my hair always falls out so I tie it up and slap on a bandana. Once I put my glasses on too, I look ridiculous. Then, I always put on one of my husbands old, white dress shirts. I find too that the hairs fall off of my clothing more than my head and the only way to stop that is to trap it!
The big white shirts I keep washed up for cake days. My Chef's coat works well too but it is so hot.

I don't worry so much about my hair as I do the 5 cats I have! When I start baking I throw down a handful of food on the basement steps to lure them in and then I shut the door..they go on "lockdown" when I'm in the kitchen!

I have been tying up my long hair so tightly for sooo long that it started falling out like crazy! I recently decided if this is my profession, I'd better get the haircut to go with it! So I cut it down to an irish pixie, something I haven't done since I was seven! It took awhile to get used to, but now I love it! So easy.
The thing I had the most trouble with was hair clinging to my clothes, that's pretty much been eliminated with the short hair. I still check though. Fortunately I don't bake/decorate at home so I just check before I step into the bakery and I wear a heavy hairnet. I have to wear it high on my forehead or I also get the all day red mark across my forehead!

Well, this isn't about hair, but dust. I follow Sugarshacks directions for icing/smothing a cake, and one time I picked up computer paper from the stack by my computer to do the final smoothing, and boy did it look GREAT.....until I realized there were little dust flecks all over my perfectly smooth icing!! Waaaahhhh!!! It goes without saying (but I will just in case!) that that batch of icing was scrapped and I had to start all over again. But...I did learn to keep a ream of computer paper INSIDE a plastic tote just for cakes, and I always grab from the middle of stack and shake vigorously, JUST IN CASE!!

Also, we change our furnace filters at least once a month; it's amazing how much less dust we have the first two weeks with a new filter. And it absolutely disgusts me when I vacuum EVERY day the amount of crap that fills the canister, so it's all there....just not as noticeable as a big long hair!