Grabbing someone’s hair is an act of aggression that may seem relatively trivial. Kids do it a lot on school playgrounds, after all.
However, grabbing a person’s hair is not trivial and often signals a more brutal move. Panic instinctively sets in, as the upper parts (seat of cognitive functions) are threatened, and the body goes into “alarm” mode. You only have to observe the reaction of a person who is grabbed at the neck, at cervical. This is almost always followed by a withdrawal movement, as if the person were trying to curl up.
It is the same thing when someone is grabbed by the hair.
In order not to let the situation get out of hand, it is necessary to train oneself to go slightly against this reflex which delays the problem more than it does not solve it, in order to get out of the grip as quickly as possible.
Women are more often victims of these assaults, partly because their hair is usually long enough to be taken in hand, but also because the aggression itself is not very “manly” and an aggressor will prefer to impose himself more frontally against a male. Fortunately, the appropriate counterattack in this case does not require great physical strength.
However, regardless of the scenario, an immediate answer is needed in both cases.
Let’s take a look at two approaches (introduced at the yellow belt level in Krav Maga) to put an end to headaches.
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Counterattack #1: act on the aggressor
The first option is to do some impacts, here a double impact at the genitals and the eyes.
There are few subtleties about this counterattack, except for 2 points to keep in mind in practice:
– The upper arm hits the eyes, the lower arm hits the parts.
This may seem obvious, but pay attention to the positioning of your limbs in relation to the attacker’s grip. If he grabs your head with his right hand, be careful not to hit his right arm while attempting your counterattack to the face, using your left hand for instance.
Don’t create unnecessary discomfort and prefer the open side, making a counterattack to the face with your right hand whose movement will not be blocked by the attacker’s outstretched arm.
– In addition to the strikes, use your legs to perform a forward thrust to give more power to your strikes and push the attacker behind.
If you do it properly, the technique should logically push the attacker back from taking two hits in very sensitive parts.
Once released from the grip, ensure you can escape by making another impact if necessary, preferably to the genitals.
Counterattack #2: act on the grip
Acting on the grip
The second action is less conventional option is to break free of the grip by doing damage directly to the attacker’s hand that is gripping your hair.
You need to go in hard and press forcefully at the base of the hair with the phalanges bent.
To visualize this, think of a finger and its three phalanges. When you grasp the hair, the middle phalanx lies flat against the skull, while the distal (highest) phalanx is bent toward the inside of the hand.
Then you can get the attacker to let go by maintaining his hand flat against your skull and then striking it with your palm from the top down to exert damage to the phalanges joint. Considering the pain it inflicts, he should let go.
You need to hit the back of his hand, at the junction between the metacarpals and the phalanges. The shockwave will then propagate in a targeted way and inflict a maximum of damage to the fingers.
Be careful, however, as this option requires a strong blow, which is why you must maintain your attacker’s hand pressed against you, otherwise he could withdraw it at will and watch you stupidly hit your skull…
