r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Top-Evidence-2807 • Jun 09 '23
Body hair makes a great layer of protection against mosquitoes Video
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u/WaitUuseRedditYorSad Jun 09 '23
Then why do they keep biting my balls?
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u/paperclipestate Jun 09 '23
They are attracted to the smell
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u/LabRatsAteMyHomework Interested Jun 09 '23
You'll never have a 12 inch dick but rest assured it will always smell like a foot
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u/LaLandaDiEreboru Jun 09 '23
they're thirsty females attracted by your hormones what did you expect
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u/Redneckalligator Jun 09 '23
single moms too
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u/llllPsychoCircus Jun 09 '23
TIL single moms arenāt thirsty females. this whole time i thought they were the epitome of such
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u/EvilSashimi Jun 09 '23
Why ARE they biting your balls? Do you go outside naked?
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u/ubiforumssuck Jun 09 '23
Can confirm this works, havnt had a mosquito bite above my ankle line on my legs in years!! I get 5-10 everyday below that fucking line though!
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u/sixtyandaquarter Jun 09 '23
Can deny it as a universal defense. I have hairy arms chest & legs but I'm still walking around drowning myself in repellent else I'm gonna look like someone can play connect the dots on my arms legs & stomach. Got bit so many times a few years ago I now have an allergy.
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u/ubiforumssuck Jun 09 '23
oh im lathered up the second i get home from work, i just have really hairy legs so i dont get bothered there but everything is else gets bombarded by those fuckers. Funny thing is, my legs have like an inch of fluff and my arms still have the same amount of hair they did when i like 7. š¤·āāļø
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Jun 09 '23
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u/FlickoftheTongue Jun 09 '23 edited Jun 09 '23
Ergo, mosquitos are afraid of hairless people.
I didn't realize the solution to 'squitos was to use a whole body depillary.
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Jun 09 '23
They prolly be like, "This dude has cancer. I don't want none of that disgusting blood tainted by chemotherapy."
These guys may be a lot smarter than they pretend to be.
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u/FrostyAd651 Jun 09 '23
These guys may be a lot smarter than they pretend to be.
The mosquitos, or people with cancer?
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u/ericstern Jun 09 '23
Its a big problem with mosquito community, we need more education and awareness for mosquitoes so that they understand that someone with alopecia isn't contagious or anything like that, they are just a normal person with a rare trait that affects their hair.
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Jun 09 '23
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u/metnavman Jun 09 '23
Awwww, look who learned something new at their first day of Summer school. How precious!
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u/ProShortKingAction Jun 09 '23
It's definitely going to depend on region. I spent a while in Alaska and fuck those mosquitos are big. No thickness of hair is stopping them
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Jun 09 '23
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u/BRAX7ON Jun 09 '23
Mosquitoes where Iām from will bite you through your shirt man. Hair does nothing.
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u/SimpleNovelty Jun 09 '23
That's because your shirt is pressing down the body hair. Clearly you need to go shirtless so your hair can puff out enough to stop them from reaching.
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u/homak666 Jun 09 '23
Quite interesting, cuz once I lived in an apartment complex that had a huge mosquito problem (still puzzled where they came from, basement of the building was bone dry), I developed semi-immunity to their bites. They would hurt and itch for a few hours and then be gone almost completely. Then I moved to a different region and my immunity is much less impressive with local mosquitos for some reason.
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u/throwawaysalways1 Jun 09 '23
For some reason mosquitoes seem to love feet and ankles
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u/TheBirminghamBear Jun 09 '23
The smell.
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u/Ceroy Jun 09 '23 edited Jun 09 '23
Mosquitos are attracted to heat, not scent.
Edit: I stand corrected, heat and scent is correct. Ankles and feet are because heat escapes from the feet!
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u/Severe_Ad_8621 Jun 09 '23
Thinner skin. Lot of heat coming off. Vain is normally closer to the surface.
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u/thedoomdevice Jun 09 '23
This some bullshit. While it works occasionally the mosquitoes in my yard are big enough they just bring a comb and make eye contact.
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u/ubiforumssuck Jun 09 '23
š¤£š Thats how they are downtown where i work by the Mississippi River, damn things are monsters and so big they have tiger stripe patterns on them. .
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u/StrykerSeven Jun 09 '23
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus
These mf'ers? Yeah they're really nasty. Glad they don't survive winter in my neck of the woods yet.
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u/pmabz Jun 09 '23
They're not as big as in Texas, or even the USA, but Scottish midgies come at you with battery powered Wahl clippers
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u/JRose608 Jun 09 '23
The summer I was really into drinking gin cocktails I was only bit maybe once lol
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u/charlestonchaw Jun 09 '23
well the tonic water for gin and tonics were popular with british colonizers in malaria stricken areas because the quinine in the tonic is a powerful anti parasitic that kills the malaria parasite and prevents it from growing! itās a huge reason the british weāre able to do effectively colonize and subjugate people in tropical regions where previously malaria had been a big barrier. British east india company created and popularized the cocktail for military in the 1700s for this exact reason. Gin and tonics were part of the daily rations. So thereās something to this!
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u/sleepytoday Jun 09 '23
You get 5-10 mosquito bites a day! Do you live in a swamp?
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u/H8246 Jun 09 '23
As a european, even the thought of 1 per day makes me extremely uncomfortable.
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u/sleepytoday Jun 09 '23
Thatās why I asked. Iām english and I donāt think Iāve been bitten by a mosquito more than 5-10 times in my life! Or, if I have been bitten I didnāt notice.
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u/H8246 Jun 09 '23
Yeah I've been bitten a couple times, I could not handle 5 of them a day.
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u/xhephaestusx Interested Jun 09 '23
Lol don't come to America then, they're basically ubiquitous, not uncommon to have 10 or so in an occasion, depending on your specific genetics (and hairiness apparently)
But do come, huge swaths of it are actually gorgeous
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u/cactus_deepthroater Jun 09 '23
In the summer, if I go outside for just a few minutes, I'll walk inside and find at least a couple of bites. But if I am out their for an hour or more, I have at least 10.
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u/ThrowawaySpareParts Jun 09 '23
You could go old school and wear taller socks
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u/Alstair07 Jun 09 '23
Especially hungry mosquitos might decide your body heat warm socks are a viable target
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u/sipCoding_smokeMath Jun 09 '23
I'm hairy as fuck and I get bit like crazy. This some fake news(I have hairy ass arms and legs and literally have mosquito bites on them right now)
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u/Mandragon28 Jun 09 '23
You sir, are still not hairy enough. Lol
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u/sipCoding_smokeMath Jun 09 '23
I'm Portuguese. Anyone who's seen a Portuguese man's chest, arms, or legs knows exactly what im talking about. We are all hairy
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u/odraciRRicardo Jun 09 '23
I'm Portuguese and can't grow a moustache. I'm a disgrace to my people
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u/abbadon420 Jun 09 '23
No mustache?! You might as well call yourself a Spaniard. Now get out of my sight, baby butt! (/s)
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u/Kaparik09 Jun 09 '23
Am Portuguese, can confirm
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u/sandwichcandy Jun 09 '23
Are you a mosquito magnet too, or is the other Portuguese person uniquely delicious?
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u/Kaparik09 Jun 09 '23
Oh 100%, still have PTSD from waking up during hot summer nights from a "zzzzZZZZzzz" sound next to my hear, having to jump from bed to turn on the light to see if I could spot and kill the fucker.
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u/Yunatan77 Jun 09 '23
Where I from you just immediately slap your ear in that scenario. I have killed a lot of mosquitos like that.
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u/PissDistefano Jun 09 '23
Keep this up and Reddit will punish you for being racist against yourself. lol
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u/nsaisspying Jun 09 '23
That's a very good point. He is being a racist against himself.
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u/JuneSeba Jun 09 '23
Stop washing your body hair with conditioner. I know its sexy and silky, but you're causing a debuff to your mosquito defense.
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u/MARKLAR5 Jun 09 '23
Maybe your body hair is softer and less wiry? Maybe your mosquitoes lift? Is the hair shorter or less dense?
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u/LordDongler Jun 09 '23 edited Jun 09 '23
I'm a Texan, and while we have a lot of mosquitoes, they aren't all that big. I've been to Manitoba, however, and their mosquitoes are practically big enough to be the state bird. I'm defended, mostly, in Texas, but in Manitoba, they'd casually bite me right through my jeans, which is something that had never happened to me up until then. I'm just saying that it isn't just the stiffness of the body hair that's relevant, but also the prowess of the mosquitoe. If it's basically a creature you'd see in a horror movie or read about in a xianxia novel, body hair probably isn't going to stop it
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u/Achtelnote Jun 09 '23
Probably need longer hair like the guy in vid, dude doesn't have high hair density but has longer hair
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u/Ugottatrysomeofthis Jun 09 '23
I loathe mosquitoes with all my soul
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Jun 09 '23
Might be the most hated living organism on the player. I think there is overall more fear of snakes/spiders, but mosquitoes seem like they might be the most hated.
Unless you count viruses as living organisms, which I personally don't.
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u/PenguinBP Jun 09 '23
arenāt they also the most deadly? i recall reading something some time ago that stated mosquitoes have killed many people over a long time.
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u/druman22 Jun 09 '23
Yeah, they supposedly cause 700k+ deaths a year. They carry viruses, bacteria and such then spread it to Humans which leads to deaths.
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u/AngryCommieKender Jun 09 '23
I will happily take vitamin B12 and be immune to mosquitoes the rest of my life, in exchange for never even smelling, much less seeing, another bedbug ever again.
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u/No-Plastic-7715 Jun 09 '23
SAME
Like I love most types of bugs, and I even find vampires pretty cool despite the parasitic nature. But mosquitoes can leave forever, I was always the target in groups while they were around.
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u/kommodig Jun 09 '23
This evolution and we are shaving our body?!
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u/Porkchopp33 Jun 09 '23
Another Italian saved by body hair š®š¹š®š¹š®š¹
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Jun 09 '23
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u/TeapotTempest Jun 09 '23
This is a spam bot account thatās copied part of this older comment from further down in this thread: https://reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/14562d4/_/jnjdny9/?context=1
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u/whoopsitisathrowaway Jun 09 '23
Been hairy AF since age 14. This post is a complete lie if my experience is any evidence. So tired of these blood sucking bastards making every summer so miserable. Can science prove that theyāre a nuisance and should be eliminated completely yet please? Lol
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u/MaritMonkey Jun 09 '23
Even if you're not hairy enough to act as a barrier, the hairs still do a great job of signaling that there's a bug on you.
Shaved legs suck at detecting mosquitos. :(
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u/swisstraeng Jun 09 '23
I aināt shaving mine and wonāt force girls to either.
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u/hoptownky Jun 09 '23
Evolution is causing humans to become less hairy than our ancestors as the need isnāt what it once was. Very few women who shave their legs would have enough hair to really be very effective, and I donāt think many people worry about crotch and underarm mosquito bites due to clothing.
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u/forever87 Jun 09 '23
i wish i got hairless legs like my Mom and my best friend. we're all filipino so i'm jelly they both got smooth legs
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u/Itchy-Speed-9240 Jun 09 '23
I mean if the women are shaving their legs it obviously wouldnāt be effective, since they shaved the hair off.
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u/Free-oppossums Jun 09 '23
I have very fine body hair. Where do I get this body hair you speak of?
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Jun 09 '23
Italy š®š¹
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u/musicals4life Jun 09 '23
My Irish ancestors really did me dirty. Fine body hair, ghoulish pale skin, sunlight sensitive eyes.
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u/Free-oppossums Jun 09 '23
Yup. Wearing long sleeves in Summer. Being asked by every doctor ever if skin cancer runs in my family. (NO)
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u/AnakinRagnarsson66 Jun 09 '23
Oral Minoxidil. It thickens your head hair as well as making your entire body sprout hair
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u/ThrowawaySpareParts Jun 09 '23
Well, this is the first time I've ever wished I were hairy. I'm a woman, but mosquitoes seem to think I'm the best tasting thing around. I was outside at 6 pm for 10 minutes earlier this week and I'm covered in bites.
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u/DuncanStrohnd Jun 09 '23
I have a theory about this.
I used to have moderate body hair, and got the odd mosquito bite here and there.
Almost 20 years ago, I developed alopecia and lost all of my hair. I get zero mosquito bites ever since.
Iāve actually wondered if the mosquitoes need a few hairs to push against to force their proboscis into my skin. I think simply gripping my skin with their legs is not enough leverage to do the job.
Just a theory with no research behind it.
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u/Pixel131211 Jun 09 '23
Mosquito's don't need any leverage to push their proboscis through your skin. Their proboscis is actually pretty advanced and has 6 needles inside of it. 2 of which are literally tiny little saws which it uses to saw through your skin to get in there, and then 2 other needles are used to hold your skin open. It doesn't push a needle through you, but rather cuts into you and then inserts a needle after.
Mosquito's are advanced little creatures. It's kind of amazing.
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u/Sykes92 Jun 09 '23
They're nice enough to hit with you some anesthetic, unlike biting flies that just go for it š.
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u/Luppa90 Jun 09 '23
The anesthetic is actually what makes a mosquito bite so itchy, I'd rather they didn't have it and it only hurt once
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u/thebaconator136 Jun 09 '23
They're only missing the 7th needle to sew you back up.
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u/painthawg_goose Jun 09 '23
I realize this is cliche but this is like a double or triple reverse uno card. Mosquitoes canāt bite you through a mat of hair. Mosquitoes canāt hold on to anything with enough leverage to bite you if you have zero hair. There must be an optimal amount of body hair for traction but not impeding the biting. Huh.
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u/Adept-Painting8565 Jun 09 '23
Definitely an interesting thought. I saw a video of an ant ābitingā someone close up recently, and the bite is actually just to stabilise them so they can use their stinger. Certainly put things into a new perspective!
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u/SaverMFG Jun 09 '23
Have had alopecia for the majority of my life, always got bit. So don't think the lack of hair is preventing anything otherwise kids wouldn't be bit.
But recently did read an article on WebMD That said the soap you use can attract mosquitoes. Maybe your shampoo or body wash before was attacting them.
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u/dogfighthero Jun 09 '23
I've always wondered why denizens of India have such a strong disposition for body hair growth, when their climate is sweltering hot. You'd think natural selection would quickly weed out something that obstructs effective heat dissipation.
Now I understand why.
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u/MrBootylove Jun 09 '23
As a hairy man I don't think body hair offers enough protection from mosquitos for this to make sense. Not only do I still get bit all the damn time, but mosquitoes will also go after animals with much more/thicker fur than even the hairiest human.
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u/fufucuddlypoo Jun 09 '23
I have the same arm hair as the dude in this vid, canāt say itās āgreatā protection. Can say one huge drawback is that bugs gets stuck in my arm/leg hair all the fucking time. My excessive body hair is like a Venus flytrap for the persistent buggers.
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u/Sassafrass17 Jun 09 '23
As a woman, the only place I have that much hair is on top of my head. Every other spot on me is a delicacy spot for a mosquito.
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u/UpperCardiologist523 Jun 09 '23
Robin Williams's arms probably never got bitten by mosquitos.
I remember seeing the video where he befriends the gorilla (Bobo?) and they have almost equally hairy arms.
He is missed. And so many things reminds me of him. Of all the ones we've lost.
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u/Frenchie728 Jun 09 '23
Hairy frenchie here. Can confirm the more hair you have the less bites you get*
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u/fryamtheeggguy Jun 09 '23
Robin Williams probably never knew the itchy agony of a mosquito bite...
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u/Raokairo Jun 09 '23
So then how do animals get mosquito bites? This is some bullshit thatās just a singular dumbass mosquito.
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u/VeritasAgape Jun 09 '23
In some parts of the world with p. falci. malaria this protection is quite important.
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u/Local_cheeseburger Jun 09 '23
SO THATāS THE REASON WHY DADS CAN BE OUTSIDE WITHOUT SIDE EFFECTS.
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Jun 09 '23
I thought I was watching a weird bird land on a tree. My vision is super blurry in the morning lol
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u/Blindeafmuten Jun 09 '23
If you also had a spider hanging around that hair it would be even better.