The feared consequences of a bat in your hair can range from annoying to lethal and worse. Some beliefs are that your hair will snarl or turn gray or that the bat will pull it out. A similar belief found from the south of France to Canada is that if bat droppings fall in your hair, you will become mangy or even bald. While bats have mites and a variety of ectoparasitic insects, lice have never been found on bats. Other consequences of a bat getting in your hair are thought to be bad luck or insanity.
French folklore maintains that a bat in a woman's hair presages a disastrous love affair.
Regional beliefs in the United States describe several other serious consequences. In Ohio, one woman predicts that if a bat flies off with a strand of a person's hair and puts it in a tree, the tree will die, and then so will the person. Missouri folklore relates that a bat in your hair leads to insanity. Another Ohio legend cautions that if a bat only just flies over the head of a child, the parents must make a concoction of oils and coffee mixed with some of the child's hair and clothing. Otherwise, the child will stop growing.