Does not play nice with black hair.

[Princess Pilfer]

It's not surprising, but it *is* dissapointing that I spent 1100 dollars on a VR setup that was so clearly designed for short haired men and nobody else.
I'm a black woman. I have big hair. Valves choice of hard plastic supports around the back of the head and a strap along the top of the head, as well as their specific placement, make it extremely frustrating to try to get the thing on, and I'm worried that in the process of doing so it'll end up breaking at some point.

If you're also a black woman (or a black man, or just have big hair) consider a different headset until/unless valve fixes this issue. (note: The HP Reverb has the same straps and stuff as the index)

[temps]

Why don't you just gather your hair up in a ponytail or a hair bun or something so it stays out of the way?

[BOLL]

Just out of interest, what would be a working mounting solution, all soft straps like the Quest 2? I don't have curly hair myself but I've got old school mates that do, and it automatically got to be big and fluffy indeed. When that is the case, how to don helmets and other head worn devices? Is the choice just to trim the hair short or abstain?

[Princess Pilfer]

Originally posted by temps:

Why don't you just gather your hair up in a ponytail or a hair bun or something so it stays out of the way?

It's an affro, it's hardly that simple. If anything that would probably make it worse, an affro puff would be impossible to make work with the solid back peice.
But as it is, my hair personally is too short for that. Also lots of black women have, say, thick braids or dreads (or wear a hijab) and that woulnd't do anything for any of them either.

Originally posted by BOLL:

Just out of interest, what would be a working mounting solution, all soft straps like the Quest 2? I don't have curly hair myself but I've got old school mates that do, and it automatically got to be big and fluffy indeed. When that is the case, how to don helmets and other head worn devices? Is the choice just to trim the hair short or abstain?

Soft and/or adjustable. As in vertically. I can kinda make it work by wearing a headband or nightcap, undoing the strap up top, moving the back part all the way out, putting it on, and then tightening everything down. But I can't like, either put it on or take it back off from a 'fitted properly' position. I have to go though the rigamarole every single time, and the device is clearly not intended to be used that way because it isn't particularly fast.

If, say, the top of the hard plastic bit (the one with the knob) was hinged and I could move it up farther, it would be much, much, much easier to just pull back my hair with a headband and put it on as Valve actually intended (ie where you don't have to adjust it every time.) If it was cloth past the headphone connection place as well as hinged, even better, it'd be super easy to place the strap where ever it was comfortable for a given persons hair situation.

TL:DR, we don't. Or we plan ahead and pick a hairstyle specifically to make it work with whatever we're going to be doing a few hours/days in advance. (straighten it, do a bunch of thin braids, ect.) Needless to say this is a *highly* unreasonable request for a videogame headset. Especially as (unlike, say, a bike helmet or a baseball helmet which look like they do out of necessity) the straps don't actually have to be positioned where they are or like they are.

[BOLL]

As you said the problem with VR in general right now is that the hardware is made for specific styles of physique. For myself I apparently have paddles for hands and cannot use the Index controllers comfortably without 3D printed boosters and re-routing the elastic. And the original Rift had a semi-rigid strap that would create pressure points on my skull, giving me a headache.

I imagine this comes from the fact the VR market is still tiny, relative to gaming in general. So small it is hard to support multiple SKUs for varying sizes of headsets, controllers, straps, etc. It'll probably be another bunch of years before we get good support in that area, if the market keeps growing that is.

[Princess Pilfer]

On the one hand, yeah, VR install base grows slowly because they're expensive and require a fairly beefy computer to take full advantage.

On the other hand, I don't...really consider that to be an excuse, and nonsense like this actively slows down the install base growth. Black women can design and 3dprint a more accessible set of straps for the Oculus in like a week and a half. (there's an article somewhere where she details the process.) Valve opting for hard-plastic complicates it but it's by no means insurmountable. They just didn't care to make the effort to include anybody except the presumed audience.
I don't regret my purchase. But if I could go back in time about a month and buy a different headset and only have the valve base stations and controllers, that's what I would do.

[temps]

Just change your hair style then. There are other VR users who are jumping through more hoops than that to get into VR.

People who wear glasses and have to go see an eye doctor and get contact lenses, for example (requires multiple appointments and a daily care regimen, not to mention the risk of eye infections), or pay another $150 or $200 for prescription lens inserts so they can use it without glasses.

There is no reason to act like every VR headset should have to cater to every single hairstyle.

Likewise, people who put hair gel in their hair get their hair messed up when they wear headphones.

They just didn't care to make the effort to include anybody except the presumed audience.

Or maybe they had a design that is optimum for most people and creates problems for some % that you fall into. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

If they changed it in the way you are demanding, there would probably be some other % of the users who would be upset by it.

[Princess Pilfer]

I shoulnd't have to. But also, it's not my hair *style* you jerk, it's my hair. I spend multiple hours a day straightening it, I cut it off, or the headset is a hassle. There are no other options.

Spending hundreds of dollars on contacts is *also* hugely unreasonable, but at the very least it's not something can be prevented by valve with relatively simple design changes. (though they should maybe look into it if they can) Accomadating different types of hair, however, is.

I didn't say every headset should accomidate every hairstyle. I said it doesn't work with big hair, and no attempt at accomidation was made, so other people with similar hair should stay away.

A woman designed better straps for an oculus that was having the same problem in under a week. And I detailed how it could be made to work better with my hair, even in a way that woulnd't significantly alter it's current design.

I'm quite sure if they changed anything at all about it to accomidate my hair people would throw tantrums. Most probably people like you who jump into a simple heads up/warning for people with hair like mine to tell me about how all my opinions and experiences are invalid and about how I should make significant lifestyle changes to get around a problem that doesn't need to be there.

I would now kindly invite you to take your opinions and shove them up your butt (where the rest of your head already is) so the rest of us don't have them inflicted on us.

[sin_rtb]

Originally posted by temps:

Just change your hair style then. There are other VR users who are jumping through more hoops than that to get into VR.

People who wear glasses and have to go see an eye doctor and get contact lenses, for example (requires multiple appointments and a daily care regimen, not to mention the risk of eye infections), or pay another $150 or $200 for prescription lens inserts so they can use it without glasses.

There is no reason to act like every VR headset should have to cater to every single hairstyle.

Likewise, people who put hair gel in their hair get their hair messed up when they wear headphones.

They just didn't care to make the effort to include anybody except the presumed audience.

Or maybe they had a design that is optimum for most people and creates problems for some % that you fall into. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

If they changed it in the way you are demanding, there would probably be some other % of the users who would be upset by it.

I have no issue with the Vive, Quest, PSVR, or Index wearing perscription glasses. Tell your friends to get smaller frames..

[temps]

Originally posted by sin_rtb:

Originally posted by temps:

Just change your hair style then. There are other VR users who are jumping through more hoops than that to get into VR.

People who wear glasses and have to go see an eye doctor and get contact lenses, for example (requires multiple appointments and a daily care regimen, not to mention the risk of eye infections), or pay another $150 or $200 for prescription lens inserts so they can use it without glasses.

There is no reason to act like every VR headset should have to cater to every single hairstyle.

Likewise, people who put hair gel in their hair get their hair messed up when they wear headphones.



Or maybe they had a design that is optimum for most people and creates problems for some % that you fall into. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

If they changed it in the way you are demanding, there would probably be some other % of the users who would be upset by it.

I have no issue with the Vive, Quest, PSVR, or Index wearing perscription glasses. Tell your friends to get smaller frames..

Wearing glasses under the headset can cause scratched lenses on your pricey VR headset. Not a smart solution. Also not comfortable.

[nagadu]

Originally posted by temps:

Just change your hair style then. There are other VR users who are jumping through more hoops than that to get into VR.

People who wear glasses and have to go see an eye doctor and get contact lenses, for example (requires multiple appointments and a daily care regimen, not to mention the risk of eye infections), or pay another $150 or $200 for prescription lens inserts so they can use it without glasses.

There is no reason to act like every VR headset should have to cater to every single hairstyle.

Likewise, people who put hair gel in their hair get their hair messed up when they wear headphones.

They just didn't care to make the effort to include anybody except the presumed audience.

Or maybe they had a design that is optimum for most people and creates problems for some % that you fall into. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

If they changed it in the way you are demanding, there would probably be some other % of the users who would be upset by it.

OP must proceed by altering her DNA SEQUENCE (+Magnetic RESONANCE ) to fully enjoy the identified product . This thread may now be closed. Th'ankh YU.