Board Thread:Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time/@comment-25571438-20150320134815/@comment-5079138-20150326133513

My guess of why using a Dandelion counts as losing a plant is because of a limitation in the game's scripting. Probably the "hair" thing is listed as a separate, non-usable plant in the game's internal data so when the hair is used, the game counts as losing a plant.