new thread
Hello everyone,
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a 32 year old man with long hair. (I detest the label "Longhair"; we don't call women with short hair "Shorthairs" do we?) Anyway, my hair is about mid-back, approximately 3 and half inches past my shoulders. (Sorry I don't have a pic).
I work for a small company of about 80 people and I am fortunate that my hair has never been an issue. The dess code is business casual and I always keep my hair in a ponytail. The problem is when I graduate from college this spring (Computer Network Engineering). When my student loan payments kick in I am not going to be able to swing that + rent + car payments and other living expenses. Basically I am going to have to move on to bigger and better things.
My question is how accepting is the workforce at large of men with long hair? What do you men do for a living? What type of workplace do you work at? I am hoping that advancing my career is not going to require cutting my hair.
It all depends on the field you are working in. I notice that a lot of the guys in hair friendly jobs, are working in the arts, IT or some type of science. It seems that the corporate environment is the least long hair accepting. I assume you plan on working in the computer field, so you should be able to find employment somewhere, where you won't have to sacrifice your hair for a job. I'm sure you will get tips and ideas from several of the guys, they are a quite helpful bunch here. Are you in the USA? This board has members from all around the world, and where you live often has an influence on hair tolerance in the job market. Good luck on your future endeavors.
Carol
I think you will be OK as long as you avoid Banks, Lawyer offices, and companies that contract services to the corporate world.
I work for a school system and I have never had an issue with my hair. I even grow it long from one inch while working at this job. I keep my hair clean and style it neat. My styles range from a normal tail, to a segmented tail, to a braided tail.
Hope this helps!
I don't think you need even avoid lawyer's offices altogether. Quite a few defence lawyers have long hair, probably because they are civil rights types, and in patent law we are all technical people, so basically geeks, and you can get away with long hair in technical fields generally.
Banks probably are the worst place for long haired guys, but even so I once saw a hispanic male teller with a waist length ponytail.
You are right, I forgot about civil rights lawyers. :-) Same goes for patent law too. One of my former co-workers was working up in DC for awhile doing VMware server stuff for a patent office. I think I asked him if his job was long hair friendly. I remember him saying it was. LOL
Long hair on men is becoming more acceptable than in the past...Your age will work to your benefit as "older" men do not seem to be challenged or intimidated by employers as often as younger guys. We have found on this board that men in all fields are wearing thier hair long. I work as a govenment scientist.....never been an issue, other than saftey around equipment.
Good Luck, Keep us posted.
Walter White Tail
Hey there. I feel as long as it's kept nice is usually isn't an issue personally. I live in a smaller conservative town in the northwest. I work for a large 600 plus employee organization, its government type stuff. I do conputer things including web design, graphics and Marketing., I have been invited twice and have spoken at national conventions, and I am also an elected official in town. With that I am a bit oledr then you and my hair is past mid back and has been for about 6 or more years and it has not effected me. So I would go with what you have and I think a well kept appearance long hair or not and good manners and if your well spoken go alot further> Hope it all helps! Take care and good luck!
Friends,
I grest up in North Carolina, and would not have dared grow my hair long in the 40s, 50, maybe even the 60s, but I was living in NYC then, when the Beatles came to save us. A profound change has taken place in our culture.
For family reasons I returned to my native NC in 1993, and have found no institutional prejudice against long hair. This may be in part because because for many decades there were no barbers in some communities, and many men could not have afforded to go to one had there been a barber. Of course, during WW I & II, short hair was promoted as a health measure by the federal government.
I am sure there are pockets of prejudice, but in my little city of 80,000 in the far west of NC, I see no discrimination about men's hair lenght. I know lawyer, physicians, bankers, governmental employees, plumbers, electricians, teachers, clerks in small stores, and clerks in big box stores, all with long hair. I think it is just not an issue anymore. Same with pierced ears. The technician supervisor, about 40, who takes care of my heat/ac system has bi-laateral gold loops, if short hair.
If I were an employer, and an applicant arrived with dreadlocks, less than extremely clean, and a chain connecting an ear piercing with a lip piercing, I might argue that his appearance would be distracting to my customers, but I do not know what the judge would say if the applicnt brought me to court. My guess is that the applicant would win if he demonstrated that he could do the tasks specified in the job description.
But frankly, I do not think that most employers, in any field, anymore care, if a person has long hair or if men have earrings, as long as they are neat, the applicant is clean and does not emit an obvious odor, and has the qualifications for the job.
As long haired men, we must stop projecting our fear of rejection onto our employer, but apply for the job we want, dress neatly, and wear our hair in a tail, a bun, or in some form that does not flop around and become distracting.
After we get the job, our supervisor may ask if we ever let our hair loose, in which case do so. The bottom line is whether our cash register balances consistently at the end of the day, and whether customers comment to the supervisor that we have been kind and helpful, I am convinced that we now have much more freedom than we think we have, and that we should just take it, while trying to do the best jop we can.
Caledonian
that is spot on, and I commend what you've said there.
Well I work in a factory doing maintenance, and my hair is a little longer than yours and it's never been an issue, I just have to always have it tied back.
The head mechanic has hair down to his waist aswell.
Hey J-Boogie,
I work in television production. Currently we have 6 longhairs at work, including myself. Two with mid-back length braids, two with short ponytail length, and me and another guy past shoulder length.
I think most places are strict on hair policy only if you're dealing directly with people...such as a position in sales.
I would think that, being in the computer field, there wouldn't be a strict dress code.
Take care and (hopefully) keep it growin'!
Brett
Thank you all for your input. I am new to having long hair. I only stopped getting it cut a little over 2 years ago. I currently work and will be working in the IT field so I guess it shouldn't be a problem.
Before I had long hair I never really noticed others with long hair. I mean I would see them and their hair but I never gave it any thought. Now that I have long hair I do notice. I just recently bought a 2004 Chevy Impala. Before that I never noticed despite them being all around. Now I seem to see them everywhere. Only there are lot more Impalas then men with long hair.