Hair rules at work

Hello Bobbedguy:

When you enter that type of instituition you pay a lot of money for any of those programs. You are fully prepared. In that institution they transform the candidates into an idea person for the business market.
There is a range of ages. You can have a person that just graduated from highschool and has no idea what the business sector is like and you can have people who want to change their career and will be successful in finding a new career by going to that intitution.
In the classes it is very much employer-employee conduct so everyone has to dress up as they are going to work in that specialized field. In the area where I live it is very conservative so it makes sense that the institution would strongly encourage all candidates to dress to fit right in.
Yes Bobbedguy the hair issue was brought up. They are very serious about having all their candidates succeed in their career choice and going there is very expensive and their success rate of placing their students in the specilized fields is very high and their reputation is very good. People are proud that they went to that intituition so they must know what they are doing or advising for this territory. The only point that I am making is that they have researched this territory and they are working with it.

I am starting a course at an elite secondary school. We were told to dress business like and we were told that noone will be seen around the school with spike hair or any wild colors as the business sector will not hire such candidates. I joke and said " oh well I will have to cancel my appointment next week" and of course everyone thought it was funny. Of course the instructor knew I was joking as I have long hair.

Diane from Canada

Well, their reasoning is that it's culturally unacceptable and startling for a woman to wear a buzz cut. She would be the object of humiliation instead of respect.

That same rationale applies to jewelry. Women can wear one earring of an approved type in each each ear. Men may wear none.

Ally

You see that is a perfect example of the "Hair double standard" and the freedom that women enjoy over men when it comes to appearance. The girls can grow their hair as long as they want but the guys have to stay with crew cuts. Why?

I did a year at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy before deciding that the military was not for me. The male swabs (first-year cadets) have their heads shaved almost to their scalp. The female swabs are forced to wear ear-length bobs.

After Swab Summer, the men can grow their hair /slightly/ longer. The women can grow theirs as long as they wish, but it must be worn "off the collar" using a maximum of three barrettes. No unnatural colors or "faddish" styles are allowed. And no facial hair.

Ally

I see nothing wrong with pantyhose. I have worn them and I actually like them. Besides you CHOOSE to wear them. No one is forcing you to.

it even starts as soon as the air cadets. My son came home with a diagram on exactly how they want the cadets to keep their hair and he is only 13.

You want to talk about unfair and ridiculous double standards? Let's talk about pantyhose, baby.....

Reading through these posts it seems to me that maybe women are just angry and fearful when a guy with long hair walks in the door. They look at him an almost automatically think that he is invading the female territory when it comes to hair and they think that he should cut it. I say this because it seems that in the two cases mentioned, both bosses that forced the haircut were women. Well hair is a from of self expression and as long as it is neat why can't a guy have long hair? No one ever addressed my issue about a short short haired woman applying for a job. Do you think that the boss would force her to grow her hair longer or be kicked out the door? I seriously doubt it. And what about mid length hair on guys? Is that more acceptable? I am a guy and have my bobbed just below my ears with bangs. I love the style and I think that it looks great on me. I also work in a proffessional environment and nobody has said anything about a haircut. And yes I interact with customers almost everyday. I think that there is a HUGE double standard in the corporate world that needs to be addressed. Women with very short pixie cuts and crew cuts aren't forced to grow their hair out for a job to fit the "female image" better so why should a guy be forced to get a short cut to fit the "male image"?????

I work as a cashier in a bank. We ware a corperate
uniform and have to be very smart. However, I can ware
my hair (which is very long) anyway I please (up, down,
braid etc) so long as it is well groomed. It is interesting
what you said about this man having to have his hair
cut. Not so long ago a man with quite long hair came to
work at the bank. He was told, by the then manager of
the bank, that he could keep it so long as he tied it back
in a pony tail and kept it well groomed. However, there
was a change of manager and the new one (a woman)
made him cut his hair. This, I think, is double
standards. On your point about these things being
taught to us when we are very young, I agree. Nobody
thinks twice about my having long hair, and people
have said how smart I look in the uniform even when it
is loose. However, I must say, when this man had long
hair I didn't like it and always had a secret desire to
creep up on him with a pair of scissors and cut it off!
And I think he looks better with short hair. I think the
problem is, people think I look smart with my long hair
because women are 'supposed' to have long hair and
so nobody really notices it. However, men are 'not
supposed' to have long hair and so, when one does,
people notice it and say how awful it looks. For a man
to look smart he traditionally has to have short hair,
long hair doesn't work. For a woman to look smart she
can have long hair so long as it is well groomed. This
is not what I think but what society, rightly or wrongly,
insists on.