Headless lounge

The headless lounge, also known as a fursuit lounge, is a room set aside for fursuiters and their fursuit handlers at a convention or other event, furry or not. It is often a quality standard for conventions to have at least one headless lounge.

Other private areas such as hotel rooms, restroom stalls and certain party rooms can be used for a similar purpose.

Purpose and function
The headless lounge is a space designated for fursuiters and cosplayers, separate from public areas of the venue, to give a reprieve from crowds or a cumbersome costume. Generally only people in costume or their handlers are allowed inside the headless lounge. Any non-costumed individuals not accompanied by a performer are turned away at the door. At large conventions, such as Anthrocon 2017, handlers might also be disallowed during periods of high activity, to keep the lounge from becoming over-crowded.

Because the lounges are closed off, they provide a place of greater privacy for those who do not want to be seen without their mask, whether to preserve a degree of anonymity, or to remain in character and avoid "breaking the magic", without risking their health from overheating. In a similar vein, photography is typically not permitted within the lounge.

In addition to taking a break, the lounge may be a place that performers can make minor repairs to their costume, take prescribed medication, or eat snacks.

Room set-up
Ideally, a fursuit lounge is a large, open room such as a ballroom, clearly marked to aid those with low-visibility costumes in finding it. Beyond the entrance, the lounge may have partitions blocking the view of the lounge from passers-by. Inside are tables and chairs, generally lined along the walls to provide maximum open space. Large electric fans are used to circulate air and air conditioning may be turned up to help cool off attendees. The Eurofurence fursuit lounge contains a drying rack, to which about 60 fursuits can be hung to be dried by a turbo fan.

Water and sometimes snacks are usually provided as a courtesy of the convention.

In some cases, repair tools will be at hand (e.g. sewing kits, hot glue guns, Velcro, duct tape, etc), for emergency repairs. Febreeze is also a popular item.

Staff members attending the lounge sometimes play music.

In other fandoms
Conventions for other genre, medium, or speculative fiction fandoms often have rooms with similar functions. For example, Anime Expo has a "Cosplay Repair Center", in which items such as sewing kits, tape, hairspray, and bobby pins may be borrowed to repair or maintain a costume. Anime St. Louis has an area similar to a headless lounge called a "Cosplatality Lounge".