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I've been lurking here for years, I've had long hair, I've cut it short, I'm now regrowing, and I'm currently in sales (a typically very conservative profession) But anyways, on to my topic.
As I've already said, I work in sales, for a fortune 500 company. Yet they are very open to long hair and what not (hell I've got horrible looking awkward stage hair and a full beard). Granted I work for a marine supply retail store and in my experience, at least half the people in the marine industry have long hair :), even if the sales people are sterotypicaly groomed.
I live in Florida to boot, and I would have to say a minimum of 40% of my customers have long hair, most well beyond ponytails, some balding but pursuing their way of life. And it is awesome to know that people here don't care.
A little background, I grew up in South Carolina and for those of you who don't know, it's extremely conservative. I grew up there but my heart has been in FL my birthplace. Surfers and sailors abound here. I grew my hair out in college, like many people, and I loved it. My dad supported me (he wanted to grow his out as well) and my mom loved it. However the rest of the community knew me as the long haired kid from the bar, and sort of looked down upon me until they grew to know me. I even had to deal with discrimination at a Shinedown concert in Mrytle Beach... I'd never been discrimated against at a beach, people always just assumed I was a surfer, which I am (and a sailor). Moving back to FL, I cut my hair off not knowing what kind of job I would try for. If I had known I'd end up at West Marine I'd have never cut my hair. It's now in it's 8th month of regrowth from a fairly short haircut, and I have to say, I acutally get more respect from people where I am, in my field of work, with long hair, people actually seem to trust me more, they connect better I feel. It's amazing how differnt areas of the same country can have such differnt outlooks on such simple things such as hair styles. I know of well respected lawyers here that have long hair. It's really amazing to see people every day that have long hair and people not even consider judging them by it, unlike in other places I've lived...
So to all of you out there that experience problems and discrimination due to your hairstyle of choice, there are places even in the US that could care less about your looks and some even in some fields you wouldn't expect. Don't care what others think if it becomes too big of a problem there's other places where it's accepted and chances are your job exists there as well if you should decide the hassle isn't worth it. Thanks for reading
--CJ
Thanks for sharing it with the Board. You are lucky to be
in a profession where having longer hair actually works FOR you rather
than against you.
Thanks for sharing and Good Luck!
Thanks for posting this--yes, i've experienced the same thing, a subtle positive reaction from people who were neutral before, then I go to some part of the country where everyone is clueless about long hair, all the guys they see have military haircuts and suddenly I'm like this cockroach at a picnic.
Hi CJ,
I'm glad to read that you experience "hair tolerance" in Florida. That's really the way it should be anywhere. Thanks for sharing your story.
And, it's true, if they don't like you in one place, there will always be places where they do. This experience is extremely important for our younger board members.
Hans-Uwe