I normally make a pony tail while eating (or at least brush then back over my shoulders and into my shirt to hold them there)
I also have very strong hair, I recommend those silicon hair ties which look like sealing rings, they hold everything. If they break, just get thicker ones
What I have difficulty with, is when some wayward knotted cluster I've inadvertently consumed, tries to jump ship the next day in the restroom, while having managed to braid itself on one end into my derrière hair, while the other side of it is still chilling somewhere up in my small intestine.
I've have long hair for about 35 years now. I guess mine is wavy too (?) although when it's humid I'll get some tight pipe curls. Just tie it back out of the way. Best hair bands I've found are made of pantyhose material, they don't snag or wrap up in your hair. They do come in different sizes so if you have thick hair you can get a larger band.
Regardless, no matter what you do you'll always eventually get some hair in your food.
Most girls I see with big curly (or other textured) hair use wraps or bonnets of some kind, usually silk. It does usually have a snug elastic band around the forehead, backs of the ears, and nape of the neck, but the top that holds the actual hair is usually looser and flowy. Another option is to contain the hair in a silk scarf wrapped in some sort of elaborate layered wrap system that you can either look up on YouTube or possibly go learn from a black or other curl / texture specializing hairdresser. If you're looking for something more masculine, black men usually call it a do-rag, or you could get a bonnet that is in a darker more subdued color and side profile.
In either case you would have to accept that big textured hair does demand somewhat counter-cultural styles just for practical reasons; there's a lot of stigma around them, at least in the states. I work in an institutional setting in a predominately black area and one of the more twisted bits of US irony is that we institutionalize black and other non-white people more often, then don't stock the hair products they need, then send them to court looking a fucking mess.
We had a really really beautiful success / recovery story this week after I had an utterly hellish experience with the same patient the previous week and I was reflecting that I really live for those moments because it can be otherwise difficult to justify my role in this system, and I work in the kinder mental health half now, not the completely fucked correctional end. Sorry for the tangent, I've had some pretty big emotional highs and lows of late.
But, yeah, back in my younger days when I let it stay loose when I wasn't at work, and now when I'm feeling all sexy, it can get in the way of things.
Less now, what with the balding, but still.
Tbh though, the only time I ran into heavy infiltration while eating was when there was a lot of air movement. Since neither my Jr high or high school was air conditioned, that was pretty much all warm days, and the cold days where they needed air flow. Those ceiling fans could move.
I have fairly straight hair once it's past shoulder length, so that might help. It's super fine though, so it doesn't take much to get it moving.
My beard doesn't get in the way at all. My mustache, however, when I let it reach soup strainer length and don't use wax or balm, sandwiches are a laugh :)
For the last three years I've let my hair grow out and donate it once its about 15in long. My hair is probably 2c if I let it air dry. It was annoying but I learnt to live with it by tying the sides of my hair back and tucking my crown's hair underneath the tie. Some strands will sneak out eventually but it's manageable.
However, what I have not found a solution for is my moustache. I like to have my moustache grown out, Tsar Nicholas style, but eating anything is a chore. Sandwiches, burgers, and pizze mean I'm munching on my own stache and pulling some hair out, soups and stews mean I'll be patting dry the contours of my mouth down to my chin. The only things I can eat comfortably are things I can skewer with a fork. Really puts on a damper on my hair game since I have to trim it a lot for it not to be a bother.
I find a tiny pair of scissors to be very useful. I trim back only one part of my facial hair, the 'hitler mustache' area. It can be done quickly and easily and with care, few would notice there was anything trimmed at all. For me, it makes a world of difference when eating. I wont try to convince you further, I know Ii'm set in my ways, just wanting to say that there is an alternative to lip hair inhalation.
RE soups and stews: Leave it. Let it dry. You never know when you might need an emergency ration. Soak it in a bowl of water for a light snack or a mid-afternoon burst of energy.
Lol, that's what I tell my friends when they inquire about sustenance storage in my beard.
RE: the centre stache thing, yeah. The bit isn't a problem because that part I do trim meticulously. The sides are though, but those achieve the look. The problem is those hairs don't grow outwards in an imperial fashion, but inwards. Think the guy with the beret from myth busters.
Ew, no. I don't use my hair as a filter. Saliva smells gross when it dries, I can't imagine hair with dried spit smells good. I don't understand what you mean when you say you can't push it back, I literally just push my hair to either side of my face so it doesn't go in my mouth when I eat. I can't imagine a hair type that's impossible to avoid chewing on.