keep your hair on

keep your hair on
or, keep (one's) hair on

Meaning

• to request someone to stay calm and not get annoyed
• to ask to maintain cool and decorum
• to ask to not over react on a situation

Example Sentences

1. The general kept his hair on during the meeting this time.
2. I always tell my clients to keep their hair on when you are sitting in court.
3. My mother would always keep her hair on when she would argue with my father.
4. The teacher needs to keep his hair on when in class.
5. The guide was not able to keep his hair on when one of the passengers lost their ring somewhere and demanded to revisit all of the places to try and find it.
6. You have to keep your hair on when you are talking with such important clients else we will lose a lot of business.
7. Can you just keep your hair on when we meet them?

Origin

The origin could be an exaggeration of people “blowing up” in anger and over-reacting, which would lead for a toupee to fall off. This somewhat hilarious explanation also syncs with the fact that people who are over-reacting tend to lose more things during a confrontation, which includes their hair.

Synonym | Variant

• keep your shirt on