Defense Against Hair Grabs:Almost all girls/women are familiar with having their hair grabbed & pulled by the time they have left Jr. High, if they were raised with brothers, or liked to "rough house" with the boys in the neighborhood as a youth. Women are more suceptible to being grabbed by their hair, but even a man with hair length of moderate to long, needs to learn a simple defense a "hair grab."
I have personally been in street fighting situations and found myself grappling, twice, where my opponent tried to put on a "head lock" in one case, and a "neck crank" in the other, upon yours truly. Both times however they were immediately and painfully removed by grabbing a "chunk" of their hair and jerking them, howling painfully, off of me, allowing me to reverse the situation in both cases, giving me the opponent's back and the "naked choke" w/o hope of them doing anything but submitting (tapping out...quitting).
I described how to
use the "hair pull or grab", so that you may see the common factor that spells success or failure of the "grabber" and "grabbee". What is this commonality found in the hair grab? What makes or breaks it's success in an offensive and defensive situation? While we will look at escaping the hair grab, it becomes very obvious how to use a hair grab as a weapon in your arsenal of tricks. Do it right and it never fails, do it wrong and well......you're in a world of trouble. Let's teach it right!
The
"TRICK" of making a hair grab work, is to reach in and grab the hair with an open hand, and grab the hair with fingers open. Next rotate the wrist and close the fingers, entwining the hair within the grip and clamping the finger tightly shut. You will have the opponent by the hair, and right down to the roots. They can't go anywhere!
Knowing this trick allows us to exploit it's only weakness. That being: "grasping and twisting the hair" as one locks the grip into a tight bunch, and makes escape very difficult.
Some Rules:1. Never allow anyone to grab at your hair!
2. The moment they move toward your hair, you move as well, removing the offending hand from your "person".
3. You must remove the "grabbing hand"..............when?
4. Remove the grabbing hand before it can catch a handful of your hair and twist it tightly into a clenched fist!!!!!
5. As you feel the hand start to touch your hair, simply react naturally and in a rising motion, let your arm sweep upward and easily knock the grabbing hand away or off, if they have made contact. It will come away easily and painlessly!
6. Any attempt at this defense against a properly set hair grab (hair interwoven through fingers and clinched tightly), and you're going to lose a nice chunk of hair (and scalp) with it!
I have personally demonstrated this technique, hundreds of times and against very large men, to prove how easy it is to employ. It will never let you down unless you make your one and only, fatal mistake: allowing someone to get a grip on a section of hair and "setting the grip" by rotating the wrist and gripping tightly!
Remember when they move.....you move! When you feel the hand reaching for, or grabbing for your hair, you should immediately attack upward and strike the offending hand/wrist smartly and the hand will always pop off your hair painlessly...always! But, let the opponent grab your hair, twist his wrist & cinch up a handful of hair, without reacting to knock them off instantly, and you are in a world of hurt.
Summary:To defend, simply slap the grabbing hand away from the hair immediately, before it is fully set, and you can stop the strongest man from pulling your hair. For defense against people choking or "cranking" your neck from behind, use the hair grab...properly! Simply reach up and over a shoulder, grab a huge handful of hair, let it fall between the fingers as you close your fist around it and rotate the wrist slightly. Your opponent will easily be flipped over your shoulder if you are in a kneeling position or at the very least, let go immediately to defend against this quick and easy counter attack.***
Practice this often until you are very smooth with it....just do several repetitions during several training sessions.
Practice this technique slowly until you can execute the defense without thinking about it.
Be careful with your training partners and discuss this fact with them. Your safety depends on your training partner, and his safety depends upon you.
***Counter attacks can be mounted if done so with speed and purpose. Weapons used can be your free hands, a handgun or knife, but a safer deterrent would be
pepper spray or a
high voltage stun gun applied to the torso of the attacker.
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