ER doctors say popular hair accessory is a death trap: ‘They get embedded in your skull’ - New York Post
They’d never wear a claw clip in their hair. “Claw clips have the potential to cause injury during road traffic accidents. “I will never wear claw clips while driving.” A cemetery worker added, “My daughter is eight and really likes claw clips.
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In a viral discussion on Threads, hundreds of ER doctors and nurses weighed in on the dangerous everyday things they’d never do themselves.
Some were obvious: They’d never ride a motorcycle, especially without a helmet. They’d never let their kids jump on a trampoline without protective netting. They’d never speed through the city streets on an e-scooter.
But also? They’d never wear a claw clip in their hair.
Claw clips have been a messy-bun staple since the 1980s, but in the recent frenzy for anything “vintage” or “Y2K,” they’ve become a staple for Gen Z.
20-something celebrities like Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner have sported the toothy accessory, which retails for as little as $4 at Walmart… or as much as $750 at Prada.
But according to health experts, the cute, trendy accessory is not worth the risk they impose.
“Claw clips have the potential to cause injury during road traffic accidents. If our head is forcefully propelled back into the headrest, metal claw clips can cause head, neck and scalp injuries,” Dr. Dorieann O’Leary explained in the caption of an Instagram video.
“They can become lodged in the scalp, cause lacerations and need surgical removal,” she warned.
A retired ICU nurse agreed, advising online readers that during a car collision, “they get embedded in your skull.”
“Death investigator here,” wrote another. “I will never wear claw clips while driving.”
A cemetery worker added, “My daughter is eight and really likes claw clips. I won’t let her wear them in the car.”
In 2023, a British college student named Jeena Panesar, then 19, suffered serious injuries to her skull, face and eye sockets when her car flipped over on a rural road, causing her hair clip to dig into her head.
Last year in Australia, a 22-year-old fashion influencer named Ella Carter suffered a similar fate, enduring a severe concussion because of her plastic claw clip.
If it was metal, she told her followers, the doctors thought it could have killed her. (But she was apparently well enough to make a TikTok while in the ambulance.)
But though the clips are convenient and super-cute, it’s tough to make a life-threatening head injury seem chic.