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This may sound silly, but I'm wondering if it's possible to use your hair as a weapon in a self defense situation. Perhaps as a hair-whip?

I understand that long hair is often a liability in a fight, but has a trained martial artist ever used it to their advantage?

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    No. Hair is too short and soft to act like a whip with any force. Precision would also be a problem. Some martial arts movies add needles and razor blades to hair, but that's just in the movies.
    – Steve Weigand
    Jun 22 '20 at 21:30
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    If you have long hair, you can use it to strangle someone, maybe.
    – RoundHouse
    Jun 22 '20 at 22:51
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Your question reminded me of a Chinese Buddhist Nun, who is also a Kung Fu Master. She pulled eight (8) cars with her hair. True story! It was reported by both BBCNews and The Telegraph.

"Zhang believes her hair is instilled with special powers, giving her the ability to not only slice through paper with her plait [braid], but also support great weights." The Telegraph

There's a youtube video (in Dutch and Chinese without English translation), where you can see her pulling the cars in her last performance, before having her head shaved.

In the video, Zhang Tingting is 52 years of age. If she worked out how to pull cars with her long braid, I'm sure she figured out how to use her hair as a weapon too.

Sorry to disappoint, Grasshopper, but I couldn't find any video of Zhang Tingting practicing Kung Fu hair-slicing moves.

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  • Who's grasshopper?
    – RoundHouse
    Jun 23 '20 at 4:14
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    Kwai Chang Caine from the Kung Fu TV series starring David Carradine. The show was a cultural phenomenon in the 70s. Caine's teacher nicknamed him, Grasshopper.
    – thatgirlisfunny
    Jun 23 '20 at 4:27
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    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_hang It' an old carnie-trick that combines specific braids with the inherent strength of regular human hair.
    – Macaco Branco
    Jun 23 '20 at 19:44
  • Yup. Nothing that can be used to actually fight. But fun to see.
    – Steve Weigand
    Jun 24 '20 at 1:57

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