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View Full Version : Did I miss the memo???



kganihanova
June 14th, 2015, 02:17 PM
I went on a job interview last week and I had the longest hair in the building it seemed like. Every other woman had shoulder to apl length long bobs (same style). I felt so weird. Does anyone else have this at their workplace?

embee
June 14th, 2015, 02:36 PM
I always wear my hair in a bun, but indeed I always have the longest hair - they just can't see it and don't know. ;) I'd recommend a bun next time, in case somebody higher up is weirded out by long hair or thinks it's "unprofessional" or something..

TwilightShadow
June 14th, 2015, 02:38 PM
Yeah, I do. At both workplaces, one being a research lab (and I count everyone from the institute, not just my lab, which means at least 50 women) and the other is at a med school department (we're only about 30 there, but still, nobody else has hair longer than BSL).

ETA: I wouldn't worry about looking different from the other women. I think long hair makes you stand out in a good way. I don't remember getting compliments when I had shorter hair (or maybe they were, but few). Now I do, especially when dyeing it a more vibrant color.

LauraLongLocks
June 14th, 2015, 02:52 PM
I went on a job interview last week and I had the longest hair in the building it seemed like. Every other woman had shoulder to apl length long bobs (same style). I felt so weird. Does anyone else have this at their workplace? I don't have a job yet, but in general, I have longer hair than most people I associate with. Most women don't have hair past about APL to BSL, and the few that have longer hair keep it about waist length. I'm between hip and BCL now and by the time I apply for nursing school, it should be at classic length. I won't know how long anyone's hair is in nursing school, unless their hair is short, because hair is required to be worn up in nursing school if it is long. I still think I'll have some of the longest hair. I'll be glad to wear it up, because it seems more professional to me to wear it up, and it won't be in my way if it is up.

By the way, I see in your signature that we have the same goal length... knee. Isn't it the prettiest length?! I love knee length hair. Such a deliberate statement. Good luck in your hair journey.

Larki
June 14th, 2015, 02:55 PM
Career advice is generally to keep hair longer than shoulder length up until you have a feel for the culture and expectations of the company. If other, established employees sometimes wear long hair down, it's fine for you to do so as well. It's always safer and more professional particularly for interviews to keep hair up and out of your face (mostly so you aren't tempted to play with your hair out of nerves and so the interviewer can see your face clearly).

meteor
June 14th, 2015, 03:06 PM
I don't know anybody in real life with hair as long as mine, unfortunately. But yeah, loose hair longer than APL-BSL on myself always made me feel uncomfortable in professional environments, because it felt "big", got in my face, so I always keep my hair contained in an updo. I love having hair completely out of the way. Thank goodness for YouTube hair tutorials and the LHC, because there is no way I'd be able to learn updos without all this help! :flowers:

swearnsue
June 14th, 2015, 03:09 PM
I've noticed that a lot of places end up having a "look". Either the person that does the hiring has a preference, he or she may not even be aware of or the ladies that work together get along and through a friendship end up having similar hair. Maybe even going to the same hair salon in some instances.

Elly May
June 14th, 2015, 03:12 PM
I just started a new job at a different financial institution. During the interview process, I not only wore my hair up as I do every day, but I also wore discreet hairtoys or spin pins to keep the focus on me and not my hair. Now that I have been there two weeks and had an opportunity to observe the attire of my co-workers, I have been wearing my favorite toys (usually Jeter or dymondwood.) A couple of the other ladies have BSL hair.

browneyedsusan
June 14th, 2015, 03:19 PM
It sounds like you're in a conservative area (the geographic location, the job, the building atmosphere, whatever) --just judging from the hairstyles you saw there. If the job is important to you, pop your hair up in a bun, so you "fit in" better--as Embee suggested. The "sexy secretary" looks nice on most women, regardless of age or size. It looked good in the 40's, 70's, and still looks good, IMHO. :)

I hear you about the memo, though. Here, women are conservative. (There are a couple of loose cannons: my yoga instructor is middle-aged with a light-blue ponytail. A co-worker in her 20's has one side shaved, bleached platinum, and the rest of her SL hair is purple.) I rarely see a woman with hair as long as mine. Sometimes I see kids/teenagers with long hair, but mine is longer than some of them! Older ladies are channeling Marilyn Monroe and Jean Harlow--probably because short, curled styles were popular when they were young. Ladies my age have SL or APL hair at the longest--thank you '80's. Kids just grow it until their parents pester them to cut it. :)

Variations on the bob are multiplying like rabbits, though! Lots of long-in-front, stacked in back; assymetrical bobs, "lobs" (I think they're sloppy bobs?)

meteor
June 14th, 2015, 03:40 PM
I've noticed that a lot of places end up having a "look". Either the person that does the hiring has a preference, he or she may not even be aware of or the ladies that work together get along and through a friendship end up having similar hair. Maybe even going to the same hair salon in some instances.

I've definitely seen the same on both men and women! :) It's not like anybody makes anybody else do that, it's just that many people end up knowingly or unknowingly complying to a collective unwritten self-forming "rule" of sorts. Some fashion trends probably form in a similar way.

endlessly
June 14th, 2015, 03:41 PM
I've had the longest hair everywhere I've worked. In order to seem "professional", most women will wear their hair in very short hairstyles - shoulder-length is probably the longest I've seen worn down, otherwise, it's always up in a twist or bun for anyone with longer hair. Those of us with very long or even extremely long hair aren't seen as professional or even "clean" if we wear our hair down which is the exact reason I've always worn my hair up when in the workplace. Honestly, I hate that I'm made to feel ashamed of my hair in the workplace and that I'm not taken seriously whereas someone with shorter hair is.

afu
June 14th, 2015, 03:43 PM
We have a lot of variety in my place of work, but the professional standard is for all hair past the shoulders to be up so nobody would know mine was so long if we didn't socialise outside of work. At hip I have the longest hair, the others range from pixie to bsl



Lob = long Bob

Kiiruna
June 14th, 2015, 04:15 PM
I visited three polyclinics last week, and I was the only one who had hair over shoulders - not even long! It was a bit confusing, because a lot of people have at least apl+ hair.

Lauraes
June 15th, 2015, 12:36 AM
There's only a few other girls I've seen that have longer hair than mine (and I don't even think my hair is very long), and since this is at school, unfortunately there does seem to be some negative judging going on. Oh well, as long as I know my hair is well cared for, and I like how it looks, I don't really care.

Jynkies
June 15th, 2015, 12:46 AM
XD my friend was very happy when he realised he had the longest hair in the Physics department of the university he works at - he's a solid BSL and very proud.

I have the shortest hair of all the females in my team at work my hair is APL, a couple are TBL - I work in a non client facing Govt office.

I also have some of the shortest hair out of my friends - the longest is almost knee length - there are a couple of shorties but many are long.

YvetteVarie
June 15th, 2015, 04:01 AM
At my office, I think I have the longest hair (about APL). However, I rarely wear my hair out since I am actively growing it out. Everyone else is SL or shorter. But here, the difference is, even if you have long hair you can wear it down. The only think you have to do is make sure its straightened or the ''acceptable'' kind of curly.

Elly May
June 15th, 2015, 05:13 AM
YvetteVarie, that makes me sad, because I think natural hair is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!

embee
June 15th, 2015, 05:51 AM
In large part, wearing hair up at work can be helpful to *you* as it's not "in your work", like getting in the food or cosmetics or machinery - whatever you work with. Getting my long hair (or braid) caught in a shredder or laminator is nightmare material. :(

So a lot depends on what you're doing for work. in addition to the culture of your workspace. For me, "safe and neat" always trumped "fun and pretty" at work.

Hairkay
June 15th, 2015, 06:13 AM
All except for two have BSL/MBL hair at my main place of work. They wear it down many times and sometimes up. In my other place of work hair is shorter and again there's choice to wear it up or down. I work with children.

EdG
June 15th, 2015, 06:28 AM
Having the longest hair in the office is business as usual. Put it up in a bun and no-one will notice.
Ed

Crumpet
June 15th, 2015, 08:01 AM
I don't consider my hair long (its just past waist), but I always have the longest hair at work. My work environment is very accepting of different hairstyles. We see everything: long hair on men, super-curly natural hair, dreads, and even some interesting dye colors. Long hair, below BSL, doesn't seem to happen though. I always wear mine up in both the office and outside/dirty part of my job. I do it to protect my hair and also to keep it from distracting others from what I'm doing.

Weirdly, none of my friends has long hair. The longest may be APL. I see it in the wild but not among my close friends.

Belle Paix
June 15th, 2015, 11:04 AM
Hmmm....there isn't one woman in my office with hair that reaches BSL. Funny, I hadn't noticed before....I have a feeling that won't change either. Once my hair reaches past APL, it'll be the longest. Once I can put it up with my ficcare clips, and sticks, I'll rarely wear it down.

sumidha
June 15th, 2015, 01:21 PM
Nope! :)

When I worked as a nursing assistant many women had longer hair, I remember in specific one older woman who worked the shift before mine had a beautiful braid that was classic length. I always wondered how she managed to keep it from getting gross during work...

lunalocks
June 15th, 2015, 03:23 PM
I am on a certain committee at work and noticed one day that even though we are all women in our 40's or 50's, every one of the other women has a bob and has colored their hair. Not that I have a lot of gray but I don't intend to ever dye it. And by far I have the longest hair of any of the 100's of nurses I work with. But no one knows it as my hair is always up up up.

door72067
June 15th, 2015, 06:09 PM
I am the only person in the entire building (10 offices, roughly 30 people, all told) with hair longer than barely touching shoulder (I am BSL, on my way to waist)

a lot of the woman have pixies or similar...but I never think about it day to day, really

Wusel
June 16th, 2015, 01:38 AM
I'm a special education teacher and work with developmentally challenged kids and teens so it's absolutely impossible for me to wear my hair down. Even when it was shorter (chin+ and shoulder+) I had to put it up. We have for example kids who love to cut everything with scissors... I don't want any strands or my braid to be cut off one day while I explain 101 or something :D.
I have my hair up always but many SE teachers wear pixies or max chin length hair. The ones with very long hair down or in a braid or ponytail are social workers or very young teachers/student teachers who don't realize yet that it's problematic to have something long and hairy swinging behind your back :D. Most of them do the big chop around 40.
It's quite a problem for me to grow my hair out very long. I don't know what I'll do when it's waist. My kids already notice that it's getting longer and it's a huge stimulus for many of them to touch it... we'll see.
I'm quite sure I'll end up wearing a bandana at work all the time :D

Edit: When it was waist 4 years ago I was working in a regular school so, I didn't have this problem.

Kendrix
June 18th, 2015, 07:04 AM
I don't have a job yet, but in general, I have longer hair than most people I associate with. Most women don't have hair past about APL to BSL, and the few that have longer hair keep it about waist length. I'm between hip and BCL now and by the time I apply for nursing school, it should be at classic length. I won't know how long anyone's hair is in nursing school, unless their hair is short, because hair is required to be worn up in nursing school if it is long. I still think I'll have some of the longest hair. I'll be glad to wear it up, because it seems more professional to me to wear it up, and it won't be in my way if it is up.

By the way, I see in your signature that we have the same goal length... knee. Isn't it the prettiest length?! I love knee length hair. Such a deliberate statement. Good luck in your hair journey.

I work in a nursing home. Most of the nurses and cna's keep their hair short. There are a few women with longer hair, but no one longer than mine. I am not a nurse, but I imagine that not everyone knows how to manage hair at longer lengths and keep it short because they don't know what to do with it. And in a facility like mine, loose hair is just not a good idea.

at the diner where I wait tables on weekends, one girl is at BCL like me. She is also a hairdresser lol. Always wears a top knot held with a jaw clip. Another girl is at waist and always says she'd never have enough hair to do what I do (crown braid). She has finer hair and less of it, but she totally can.

LauraLongLocks
June 18th, 2015, 08:30 AM
I'm thinking CNA work and eventually being an RN and later a CNM, I will definitely wear my hair up all the time at work. I'm going to take my CNA classes this fall and fully expect to wear it up all the time. But that's cool, because I know a lot of great ways to style my hair, plus I have a lot of hair accessories to choose from. I won't ever get bored.

longsword
June 18th, 2015, 11:23 AM
I have the longest hair at my work at around between hip and tailbone length. I of course wear it up all the time due to being in a manufacturing environment. The 2 other ladies have their hair at shoulder length and the guys all keep theirs very short.
Generally in my area its rare to see long hair.