new thread
I first Posted a message on the board last July, stating that I had finally decided to let my Hair grow out. Being a 30 something Professional Male, This was not an easy decision to make, (but one I am exteremly happy with) based on the fact that it is not the accepted norm for people in my career field.
Its been growing pretty well. I feel like it must really be getting long, as the other day, a stranger asked me if I were a MUSICIAN..
HAIR SUCCESS...IVE BEEN CONFUSED WITH A MUSICIAN! ( I am not) ....interesting stereotype i think! (anyway, i was warned that this would happen, made me feel like my patience for letting the hair grow was paying off.)
I read the message below from Ed with great interest...HANG IN THERE ED ! WERE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER! I'll keep the rest of you posted from time to time as my Hair continues to grow out!
exactly what profession are you in? I've been debating for a long time on letting my hair grow out. I'm a 20 year old male going to college. I finally decided to let it grow so it's getting longer, i too get a lot of negative comments about it right now....but that's to be expected during the akward phase. my main concern is in finding a job after college.....is long hair on guys looked at as being something bad in a job interview? all i really want to do is get a job in a research lab....so no customers or anything. anyway i like not having the same hair style as the rest of the world so i really want to keep it. Any suggestions?
As I mentioned in earlyer posts, what counts, is a positive attitude, and not make the interviewer see that you are self-conscious about your hair. In my college, back in 1981, people were more selfconscious about image, as compared to the 'anything goes' nineties. I remember the nasty placement officer giving me lectures about how nobody would want me with my long hair. However, paradoxically, because I had a few summer jobs involving computers, to my experience, I was one of the first to be hired.
Here in Quebec, people are pretty laied back about appearance, however, piercing is frowned upon. Long hair is seen as "conservative" because, many employers are the ones who had long hair in their youth. I tend to tie mine in a ponytail.
Interestingly, there are even some people who view suits as hippocrites, and phonies, as in bulsh*tting salesmen, wheras, the natural look, puts forwards a more friendly, easygoing personality that is pleasant in the work place.
Things that do not go well, are t-shirts with four letter words, piercing, heavy metal and anything representing aggressive trends. A mid-seventies, jeans with a dress shirt can go well with long hair, and is not seen as offensive.
Have a nice day,
Georges Huard in Montreal.
Yeah, as long as your hair's long, there's no such thing as an "awkward phase" as far as criticism is concerned. As long as there are people in the world who find long hair on men repulsive, you're always going to get someone who decides to open their mouth.
;)
I disagree. When my hair was too short to tie into a ponytail, it was at an awkward phase. Once I could tie it into a ponytail, it was less noticeable and didn't get as many negative comments.
I think your question is a very good one. The degree to which long hair on men is "tolerated" (or even liked) is dependent not only upon individuals but business. I love long hair and for many years had very long hair. At the same time, I was trying to get into a professional school and could not--even though I had good grades, etc. I got a haircut (to the collar) and got in immediately. Then I started letting my hair grow again, and I was told I had to cut it because our customers would not like it--bad image. I relented. I now am in the position of hiring/firing people (I have a professional staff of over 200 people). You know what? I now have a written policy constructed by our lawyers that prohibits long hair among our male staff. Why? I had a young man with a gorgeous mid-back ponytail who cost us several customers. The complaints were incredible--and they came to me. Should I say, "I don't want your business."? Not in today's world. It's a sacrifice I can't make. I have too many employees depending upon my management for their (and their families') livlihoods to sacrifice reputation and revenues over a ponytail. I told the guy he would either have to cut his hair or I would give him the best reference anyone could get. We have a nice place to work, and he came to work the next day with a flattop! Maybe it's not fair, but I don't know any way around it. Maybe in some other geographical region or some other business his hair would not have been a problem. It was here, and I was forced to solve it.
I guess that justifies canning Jews too, huh? Like long hair, religion is a choice....
Instead of what you said, you could have chosen a path over higher ground. You could have said, "We welcome your business, but we ask
that you keep your prejudices to yourself. We hired the man because he was the best, and that is what we feel our clients deserve. He will do a good job for you, so why take the risk to go elsewhere?"
As a customer, I tend to prefer businesses that allow a variety of hairstyles.
I've heard many claims of complaints from customers, but yours is the first I've seen that is first hand. Can you go into more detail about the nature of the complaint? What exactly were the customers complaining about?
Perhaps it's the laid back attitude here in Austin, but I hear more complaints about "suits" than about longhairs.
It is a pity that long haired men still face such prejudice 30 years after long hair on men became fashionable again after short hair became the in-thing during the Victorian era in Britain.
I recall the arguments I had with my parents who refused to let me have long hair, even during my college days in the 1970's
I also recall how all schools in Malaysia banned long hair on boys in the 1960's, and up until fairly recently, a long haired man had to cut his hair to get a job.
All that made the rights of long haired men a political cause.
I gather from some of the replies to your posting, that prejudice against long haired men is still strong in countries which profess to be free, such as the United States.
I started growing my hair when I went to Canada in 1992 and did not cut it when I returned to Malaysia in 1994.
I applied for a job as a stringer with an English language daily here and they told me to cut my hair and I politely refused and declined the job offer.
Fortunately for me, I also applied to another English language daily and they accepted me as a journalist writing for In.Tech, its information technology supplement (http://thestar.com.my/intech)with my long hair. which I tie into a pony tail.
In my line of work, I get to meet CEO's of information technology companies like IBM, Hewlett Packard, Siemens, Siemen-Nixdorf and so on and they accept me with my long hair.
You said you want to do research work. Well I see no problem with you having long hair in a job like that, especially if you live in North America.
Miko Matsumara, Sun Microsystem's Java Evangelist has waist-length hair or longer and looks like a rock star but they take him round the world to address major promotions of their Java programing language.
And hey, Sun Microsystems hired Dan Farmer who was kicked out of Silicon Graphics for publishing his Satan program on the Web. Well Farmer has long hair, ear-rings, et-al.
When I was in Monterey in September, I met a Computer Intelligence analyst who had a pony tail.
Now going back to the late 70's when I graduated in Britain, I saw some researchers with very long hair working in laboratories of one of the telecommunication switching equipment manufacturers there.
One of my classmates who had long hair got a job as an engineer with Ferranti, an electronics manufacturer in Britain.
When I met him in a disco in 1992, he still had his long hair and torn jeans but he could not tell me the nature of his work because he had signed the Official Secrets Act, which suggested he was working on a militarily sensitive project.
Basically, I don't think you should face problems getting a job as a researcher with long hair -- especially not on the west coast of North America.
As I said earlier, Malaysia has been especially difficult about men with long hair but when I got back from Canada in 1994, I found that all of a sudden, it has become well accepted, especially in the creative, advertsing and infopration technology industries.
I personally know a chief executive officer of a Malaysian company speciallising in electronic commerce applications who has a pony tail, and their policy is to allow their staff, especially those working in-house, to dress casually in Jeans and tee shirt if they like.
Basically, don't feel self conscious about it and I think you should have no problems getting a job with long hair.
Well all the best of luck.
Regards
Charles
charlem@tm.net.my