stray hair; loose hair
Refers to individual strands of hair that have come loose from a hairstyle or updo, often seen as untidy or needing to be tucked back.
There are stray hairs coming out of the ponytail.
ほつれ毛を耳にかける。
I tuck the loose hair behind my ear.
Alternate kanji spelling using 解; less common.
Compound of ほつれ (from verb ほつれる 'to come loose, to fray') and 毛 (け, 'hair'). The reading ほつれげ reflects rendaku voicing of け to げ.