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Hi, I am new the board, however I have been reading it for about a year. I was wondering if you guys thought a long haired guy could look professional. I work in a physical therapy clinic in a healthcare setting and I want long hair like mid back. I would wear it in a ponytail or in a messy or tight bun to work. Any ideas for looking professional with it? What examples of long haired guys have u seen in your experiences? Thanks
my uncle had belt length hair and worked for makita in a hardware shop, got promoted to a better one, then got promoted to managing the entire buisness around eastern maryland, without them asking for a hair cut.
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Sun Microsystems, and he has long hair. He keeps it tied in a tight ponytail. He looks VERY professional to me. Sun Microsystems is the company that creates all those wonderful Java scripts.
Scott
(n/t)
Hello Bland99,
From what I've seen on this board, it is certainly possible for a longhaired guy to look professional. I recall a recent thread concerning a surgeon with long hair and a beard. Some users here are teachers/professors with good careers.
In your line of work, you shouldn't have any problems. I believe that science/healthcare related careers are fairly longhair-friendly. I personally work in a research lab as a biologist and am growing out my hair without any issues (from the employer, at least!). There are quite a few people that I work with that have at least shoulder-length hair; some of them are in much higher-paying positions than mine.
How long is your hair now?
Dan
Well to answer your question my hair now is around collar length so not too long yet :) I want to get it to mid back
Or examples in the medical or business world?
Bland99, Haven't seen a picture of him recently but back in the day(40 years ago) Richard Branson sported long blond locks. He is the founder and CEO of Virgin Records and Virgin Airlines and one of the richest guys on the planet.
peace, jonalbear
It is all in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I don't think hair length has all that much to do with job fitness. There may be physical limitations in terms of safety, etc, but in terms of doing the actual job? Hair is irrelevant. Others may have different opinions, and sadly some of them will be in positions of power over you.
I work as a transit operator and the SF Municipal Railway pretty much doesn't give a damn what you look like as long as you are presentable and show up to work. Given that I operate one of San Francisco's most popular and visible streetcars, if someone was going to comment on my hair, I think it would have happened long since.
This was yesterday, while we were held up by a minor issue of debris on the trackway, coincidentally, at the same time as the collision in the subway.
I think in most occupations it is your attitude and air of competence which mark you as a professional, not the length of your hair.
Be confident!
Ed G, a member of this board, is a professional, and he has hair to his knees. There are also many long-haried scientists, college professors and grad students on the"luxuriant flowing hair club for Scientists" site:
http://improbable.com/projects/hair/hair-club-top.html
I also recall seeing a very well-dressed (Asian male)real estate agent on an HGTV program with an almost waist-length ponytail. I think a lot depends on how nice your hair looks and how confident you are. Dress well, speak well, and know your subject matter.
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Yes Ed's hair is even longer than knee length. You can see a few strands reach well past his knees. Cameras don't always render images perfectly. I am an inch taller than Ed, and yet, he appears to be 1 to 2 inches taller than me in that image. One thing for sure, he has the longest hair. This photo is in the archives, but is a needle in a haystack to find. I am glad I kept a copy to avoid an hour or two of searching. This image is from a San Francisco longhair meet a couple years back. I think he is an IT professional. There are many longhairs in the IT industry. Check out a post further down about Jonathan Schwartz, who is CEO of Sun Microsystems.
Scott
Hi Scott,
The pics of the longhair meet are still on my website... rickgray.us
Haven't done much with the website but I've got some ideas for it. In the meantime, check out the pics...
--Rick
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Thank you Rick. As I said, these are buried in the archives somewhere, but are like a needle in a haystack. I bookmarked your site.
We need to have another longhair meet soon.
Scott
Joe Works is owner of B&W Trailer Hitches and is a longhair. Here is a link to the video:
NBC Nightly News story about Joe Works
Bruce
Personally I think men with longhair can look really professional. I often see longhairs working in offices or such places. Nowadays long hair are more accepted everywhere.
I did indeed see a good many long-haired guys in Italy last year. The guy who was in charge of security/crowd control at the Pantheon in Rome had long hair tied back. He kept having to go around and make people get up off of the floor who lieing on the floor to look at the ceiling. "Sollevate!"
I work as a logistics analyst for a defense contractor, and mine is down past my beltline. I generally keep it in a ponytail or braid at work, and nobody has complained.
Well, in Ken's thread regarding ponytail sightings below, I mentioned a ponytailed lab tech from years ago, and an OR charge nurse from recent surgery with red curls down to his shoulders.
For some prominant longhairs, I have previously mentioned celebrity lawyer Ron Kuby, who is 52 with silver mid-back locks that he wears in a ponytail. Here is another for you, Dr. Milton Tectonidis, chief nutritionist for the humanitarian organization, "Doctors Without Borders". He is the developer of Plumpynut, a life-saving nitritional paste given to starving, malnourished children in the Third World. I added a pic of him, he usually tails his hair. Healthcare professionals are one area where you will see longhairs, foodservice is another (I worked for around 16+ years in foodservice, and there was at least one longhaired male in the kitchen where I worked). And more and more lawyers are following in Ron Kuby's footsteps, and sporting more ponytails in the courtroom, I've even seen a few buns!