Andrew Carlson wonders why so many people in the business world still make negative assumptions about long-haired men.
Living in Southern California for the past few years, there are phrases that are different here than in any other part of the country. When I learned the term “business casual”, that meant a nice pair of jeans, a button-up long sleeved shirt, and a sport coat.When I moved out to Los Angeles, “business casual” meant ripped jeans (that can also be bleached) and a button up shirt with short sleeves. It also meant that the hair was usually long with shades even though they were in a lounge at 9pm.
When I was working in the film industry, I was working 6 days in a row, clocking about 16 hours/day on average. The other 8 were for sending out emails to the crew for the next days shoot, taking a shower, and quickly heading to bed to get back up in 4 hours to do it all over again. Although you have everything you need on a film set (breakfast, lunch, dinner, 2nd meal, snacks, beverages, interesting conversations, etc), they never really allow time outside to take care of yourself. This is especially true when you are trying to break into the industry, so the 1 day off per week I worked on commercial shoots.
With that being said, I never cut my hair. I was working on a film for roughly 6 months and just didn’t have the time to get my hair cut. When I decided that I wanted more out of my life than just grinding in the film industry day in and day out, I was at a loss of what to do.
People wouldn’t hire me because I was a potential flight risk of taking off (according to my resume working in over 5 states over the past 3 years). Sales jobs wouldn’t take me in because I don’t fit the “mold” that the company stands by. So why is it that long hair is still not acceptable in the business world?
Are we still so naive to believe that every single person with long hair is a slacker? Someone that doesn’t want to educate themselves because they are artists? What does long hair have to do with any of it?
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When I finally cut my hair, I instantly gained more respect in the business community. My entrepreneurial ventures basically worked themselves out. I was instantly getting comments like, “You are truly starting to look like a millionaire”, or “You look so professional now!”
Let’s make the shift to figure out whom someone is as a person instead of judging them based on their choice of the length of their hair.
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Wait a minute, isn’t one of the world’s wealthiest/most respected man a dude with long hair? Sir Richard Branson was far from the man he is today back in his 20’s. He was a high school drop out, horrible math skills, dabbled in numerous get-rich-quick-schemes that he failed at, had long hair, was arrested twice, and spent a night in jail. Sounds fun, right? Pssst, here’s a secret… he still has long hair.
The perceptions of long haired males are based on evidence from the past, but that doesn’t mean that one can’t get passed those perceptions. You’ll just have to work incredibly hard at it. Let’s think about it, though. on the flip side.
How many politicians and business people who have short hair dabble in shady business deals, sexual scandals, have a “rebel” attitude, and even end up in jail? Why do we continue to do business with people with short hair? Because they seem more professional by the way they look?
Listen, every one has the right to hire whoever they want by the way someone looks. I understand the fact that short hair on males may be widely accepted as a business professional standard, but let’s make the shift to figure out whom someone is as a person instead of judging them based on their choice of the length of their hair.
But the question still stands, why did I personally cut my hair? Was it because I wanted an easier “in” in the business world? No. It hit the point where it was too long, too hot, and too much work to deal with. Even Keith Urban cut his shorter because he needed a break from the extra work that long hair entails.
If one thing is for certain, long hair doesn’t mean someone is lazy. Try giving someone with poor work ethic long hair. It definitely wouldn’t look like Jared Leto’s [30 Seconds to Mars] hair. That mane is perfect!
My question to you is why is long hair still unacceptable in the business world? Whether it’s sales, business ventures, or any other kind of corporate entity?
—Photo rileyroxx/Flickr
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Society accepts homosexuality as ‘no big deal’…I personally do not care to know if a man likes to perform sodomy on another man…it’s their business…but they are hell bent (pun intended) to make certain that people are aware that they are ” G A Y” – but hey Corporate America HR Dumb Asses – Yes I said it…wake up. The straight guy with the long hair probably has some kind of amazing God gifted creative talent that is not sodomization (that you all so kindly approve of) – further more I don’t know one long hair guy who goes around… Read more »
I hope Eric is ok now
I seem to remember this is even more ingrained in the culture than simply in the realm of business. only something like 7% of women, when polled, will say they consider long hair on men to be an attractive feature.. It’s only slightly above the 1-2% who consider “bald men” attractive.. For whatever reason, in the last 150 years that this really became a thing, and I’ve never quite figured out exactly why, considering if you go back 200 years you see almost every man sporting long hair, or a wig to emulate it.. I’m sure it’s a very complex… Read more »
And try to get a job as a chef with long hair. For some reason it is ok for women to have long hair in the kitchen. They just put it up under a hat. Long hair on a man? No way. Unless of course you are on TV and then, well, then all the rules go out the window anyway.
Since the age of 9 I dreamed to have long hair even I’m fat, because Emperor Cusco is once my favorite Disney cartoon character in Emperor’s New Groove. And then the Jamaican braid style that also use by some whites and Asians, but this hairstyle will take 2 years wearing a cloth wrap on the head without wetting the hair. And now I graduated high school, helping in my family business, we don’t have hair regulations and we have 5 employees are only men, 2 of them once lengthen their hair. My father always say to me to have an… Read more »
My comment disappeared before I even hit “Post Comment”. It wasn’t long and contained nothing Inappropriate. Any reason in particular?
It’s not you, the page will refresh periodically, and if you get caught in the middle of a long post it may be lost. I suggest for longer posts to use Notepad or such to draft it and then copy it. Not just because of this, but also because there are times when you click submit and ‘something goes wrong’ – this goes for any website, it’s very frustrating.
I am pretty sure my boss is biased TOWARDS long-haired men. The last three hires, including myself, have been men with shoulder length hair or longer. Granted, he is a long-haired Frenchman himself, and I work as a software engineer. It was really nice to be able to rub that in my uncles face because he kept telling me I would never get hired without cutting my hair.