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My question is how high can a long-haired man go in his job. Can he manage to reach a Chief executive officer position. How high can he get with long hair? Or is long-hair limited to lower salary jobs and positions within a company?
Richard Branson runs Virgin and he does not have particularly short hair, but then again he owns the company. I think that it depends on the business and what the situation is. For example in the music or fashion or art business long hair on guys is much more accepted (because of the individual expression and creativity that is allowed). However, in other areas of industry and commerce I am less sure and think it is probably a holding point although attitudes may be changing but very slowly.
My tip is to get to CEO and then grow your hair :-)
But seriously, I did see a point made on another site earlier from a guy that has just had the same cut as Gillian Anderson. The point he made was a comment from his boss, that she did not object to the length of his hair (which he thought had been causing a problem) but it was the untidiness or lack of style that she felt looked unkempt and could set a bad image. By going for the bob cut he did not really shorten his hair, but just smartened his image up and had a more definite style. I think the post made my Cath on this site also made a similar point. Perhaps there is some point in this comment - if you go long, go neat!
The company for which I work would never allow a man with hair past his collar to do anything in management. In fact, most guys would be kept "behind the scenes."
On the other hand, I'm on the Board of Directors of another corporation (which has a very socially liberal female CEO), and the Chief Financial Officer has hair to his shoulders. He's about a 45 year old man. Frankly, I think his hair needs work--not cutting, just some style; but he has gotten high in the company for his knowledge and skills (which are outstanding) and his hair has not kept him back.
I think this situation is unusual. It's probably more common in some businesses than others--but I still think long hair is almost always discriminated against. That has always been my experience.