hair discrimination

haiducii said:

Well, it depends upon the company. if you go for an interview where is casual dressing and people are more relaxed or an academic environment, yes, long hair will be ok. If you go for an interview where the dress code is suits and ties, your hair will possible not help you. This is not an issue of what you like; it's about what makes you likeable. Especially since you are stuck in an employer's market, you must make yourself desirable on their terms. C'est la vie!

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:agree::agree::agree::agree:

Jesus had long hair and that didn't stop him from becoming succesful

brmstn69 said:

You all seem to be missing the point here. Hair discrimination IS sexual discrimination. No employer would ever dare to tell a woman they must have short hair, so why is it OK to dictate short hair for men?

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Precisely. And if they dictated short hair for women, that would be unacceptable too.

The only reason an employer should be able to tell you how to wear your hair is if it impacts on the job. One example might be if you are working around moving machinery, which would make long hair dangerous and require either that it be cut or else fastened securely. It might be an issue in say the police force, where long hair provides something for an antagonist to grip by in the case of a physical altercation. Another example would be where the image is part of the job, for example if you were a model or actor, where you would more or less expect to wear what the directors says, and to have your hair short or long as required for the part.

Any other job, and I don't see why it's any of the employer's business.

Most employees in America are "at will" employees. Employers don't need to state a reason to hire or fire.
There are some limited protections about certain types of discrimination (race, age, gender), but even those exceptions are very hard to prove.
There is no protection for long hair.

There's no doubt about it - it is much more difficult to be yourself than to follow everyone else, if being yourself means wearing your hair an unfashionable length, having sexual desires that are different from what society expects, following an unpopular religion, or following no religion at all if you are surrounded by people whose lives are dominated by a particular religion. Much easier to just go with the flow. But think: at the end of your life, if you have the opportunity to reflect on your time spent living on this planet, will you look back proudly and say "I did what I was told"?

jeansGuyOZ said:

There's no doubt about it - it is much more difficult to be yourself than to follow everyone else, if being yourself means wearing your hair an unfashionable length, having sexual desires that are different from what society expects, following an unpopular religion, or following no religion at all if you are surrounded by people whose lives are dominated by a particular religion. Much easier to just go with the flow. But think: at the end of your life, if you have the opportunity to reflect on your time spent living on this planet, will you look back proudly and say "I did what I was told"?

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Better to say "I did what I was told" than to say "I didn't what I was told and now I'm dying poor and at the edge of the society"?

You can be yourself in your spare time. At your workplace you have yourself to assimilate to the terms of your boss and employer. Nothing more nothing less! As I have said before: during your time at your workplace you can wear your long hair as a pony tail - and everything will be OK (to my mind!).

I'm 29, so you can see I'm not an old crock, but I'm since a long time as well an employer with some employees. And beside of the professional qualification I'll emphasize a decent, confidence-inspiring personal appearance. Which means decent clothes, haircut and most of all friendliness and courtesy. All these things toghether will make it possible that I can pay my employees their salaries.

Not our "being yourself" is running my office - but my customers are doing that! And if these customers don't feel good because I will be myself at first - very soon the flow of money will stop. And then? What then shall I ask myself?
I have to fire my employees (for which I have a responsibility!!!) only because I wanted to be myself and didn't what I was told?

Please see it from this point of view. So it is in my office, so it is in the most offices here in Germany and I think too in Australia, USA or wherever!

If you think long hair on males of European descent is a problem, try entering the corporate world with dreadlocks. Let's face it, the standards for workplace appearance hasn't evolved much since the sixties and most of those standards stem from European views of beauty and professionalism..

Listen to Nigel.


If you aren't willing to give everything (including your hair) to achieve your goals, why even dream?