Long hair and the workplace (looking for advice)

[SEEGERMANY]

Back on topic, if the topic starter is going into a marketing/sales position, you're in for a long, tough haul with long hair. The last salesman that had long hair and entered my office, he sat there flipping his mop from one side to the other, brusing it out of his eyes, and even ate a Snicker during his sales pitch. Guess how much I bought from him?

[jgcable]

I have an old pic of my old band when I weighed 126 and had hair down to my ass, an earing and spandex!! I keep it at work. I tell my clients and business associates that back in those days... creativity was more important than money to me. Its pretty easy to have that creedo when you are living at home with your parents.
Assuming you graduated college and want to get your foot in the door in corporate America you need to ask yourself some questions.
The big questions you need to ask yourself are...
1. When you look at your paycheck did your band sign it? NOPE
2. Do material things matter to you? For instance.. do you want a nice car?, want to live in a nice house?, do you like or want the finer things in life? If the answers are no... what the frig did you go to college for??
3. Are you one of the unfortunate ones that doesn't have a rich family, a trust fund or a kick ass family business to get into?
4. If you are committed to music... what the frig are you doing in bumfuk Idaho? (thats just an example) Get your ass to NY or LA!!! That is the mistake that most of us made. We didn't pack up the van and SPLIT.
I should have lived in LA when I was 20.

These are just some examples of questions. There is nothing wrong with cutting your hair and establishing yourself in corporate America.
You can get a nice short style that will work at the office and on the stage. Long hair isn't mandatory on stage anymore. A kick ass attitude and good chops are.

[YetAnotherOne]

There's no question that long hair will limit your options in the professional world but the relevant question is whether the opportunities you'll foreclose by not cutting your hair are opportunities you'd actually want to pursue. That is to say, would you be comfortable in an organization that judged you by your appearance to the extent that they'd not hire you solely because of your appearance? It's a brutally competitve world out there, personally I wouldn't impose this sort of handicap on myself but that's just me.

[YetAnotherOne]

There's no question that long hair will limit your options in the professional world but the relevant question is whether the opportunities you'll foreclose by not cutting your hair are opportunities you'd actually want to pursue. That is to say, would you be comfortable in an organization that judged you by your appearance to the extent that they'd not hire you solely because of your appearance? It's a brutally competitve world out there, personally I wouldn't impose this sort of handicap on myself but that's just me.

[charvelguy]

those are very valid points John.. but .. I have grown into having long hair..
I didn't bend much in my twenties, and while I went through the same considerations this young man is doing now..I decided I would wear it longer after I have gotten into a job were it seemed acceptable. I've since changed jobs many times since then much to my rents dismay. Maybe I have blinders on, but I am not deaf and dumb..well.. I know I am not stupid.. definitely stubborn. I know long hairs do get treated differently behind closed doors or even in person.. but I think many of us who still pursue a long hair look perfer to have it worn that way and we don't think anything of it anymore than a person their ethnic origin or religious beliefs. I have either become tuned out or somewhat desensitized. My girlfriends says..once you do it, you'll see that people will instantly start treating you differently. She used to be little miss Goth girl.

[Adam]

I'm 25 with long-ish hair, guaged plugs in my ears, and visible tattoos and I rock the cubicle full time. Nobody gives me any shit, and I work in the ultra-stuffy stick-up-the-arse pharmaceutical field.

I'm a snappy fuckin' dresser, though. Maybe that helps.

[SEEGERMANY]

Rocking the cubicle, huh?

[Top Jimmy B]

The only employer I have worked for who was ok with long hair was my father. He had a pharmacist working for him with hair down the middle of his back and full sleeve tattoos. I was only a kid when he worked for my father but I do remember him telling my mother that there was no denying the guys brain or abilities.

My current employers have a very strict policy regarding hair length but they seem to be flexible when it comes to how bad someone can smell on the job.

[charvelguy]

... try fleas. Oh I could tell ya a story about someone I used to work with.. rather tragic actually.. his house was condemned because the city found tunnels within paper, garbage and junk stacked floor to ceiling. The tunnels got him from room to room. There was dead cats floating in the basements standing water and in the freezer, yes, they were dead and they were frozen. I used to work with this guy.. about 3 ft away from him in fact quite often.. just wreaked of cat piss and sweat. I think he took a shower about once a week, or ten days.. maybe less.

The company never really did anything about enforcing their hygiene policy or the complaints.. except move people around...but, the scent was soo acrid.. you literally had to breathe through your mouth when directly around him. One day some fleas jumped off his clothing and a female employee screamed... that was it.. they had to address it.
Guy was very intelligent, and usually quite nice but apparently a little whacked from service in Vietnam. The city had the water shut off to his house for years.. they thought nobody had lived there and were caring for the grounds on a condemned property. He was at work every morning... usually quite early and was considered a valued employee.
Eventually, the city or state caught onto this, which was publicized in the newspaper and this is how I came to know the 'fill in the blanks' after the fact.
I know he finally got some help, which is good. Country owes him that at least. He had to pay for the state some fines for caring for his property and some other fines. I think they were trying to bring him up on animal abuse charges.. but they may have changed that.

I'm pretty sure my hair was longer than his...
but try to explain that one at an interview as a reason to why you left a job.

[Adam]

Rocking the cubicle, huh?

Yeah, well, as much as any cubicle can be "rocked," anyway. I'm an IT contractor.. I don't usually have any trouble finding work (tech writer).

Besides, everyone knows it's the engineers you have to watch out for. They're all mentally imbalanced!