If you had to wear your hair in a "professional" cut, which would you choose?

[Tangles]

I hate professional cuts and plan never to get one. Lately though, I've had an interesting thought. I feel like longer haircuts that are fashioned to look "professional" are actually less attractive than bob haircuts, which can be VERY flattering if done right for one's face shape.

When shoulder-APL-BSL hair is very layered, straightened, and highlighted, it just gets that sterile look to it. I can't explain... like when the ends are layered too and it's all flipped and contrived to look shaped. On the other hand, a nice bob, even as short as upper jaw/below ears length, can be simple and classic and not scream "I'm trying to be professional." (I'm not including asymmetrical or heavily stacked bobs, because those aren't professional IMO.)

So, if someone forced me to get my hair done more professionally I would get a bob that hit below the chin and had just a couple layers for shape.

Anyone agree? I guess this is just a thinly veiled rant, it's just my opinion :flower:

[Chromis]

I still think a French Twist or logroll is much more professional than loose hair. Bobs remind me more of Amelie than a CEO.

[spidermom]

To me, the bob is one of the most awful hair styles of all time, maybe because it looks so hideous on my square to round face - who knows? I went to a wedding last summer and felt like I hadn't received the memo "all women are required to bob their hair". If I reallyreallyreally wantedneeded the job, I think I'd go for pixie. Easypeasy; wash, rub with towel, push into place with gel. Done for the day! Plus I could take up snorkeling again without fighting with the face mask straps tangling in my hair.

[Delilah]

I think if I ever did go short, it would be a short layered bob with sideswept long bangs. I've had that kind of hair before and it is easy to style it sleek and with a little flip under or up to look professional, and easy to put some product in to make it chunky and messy (in a good way) if I want to look fun after work.

[Dianyla]

I would love to be able to sport an elegant French Twist a la Seven of Nine. :crush:

[pandora114]

Wedge or Pixie have always been my cuts of choice as a shortie. Now I'm gonna go long again I dunno what I want! lol

[Madame J]

I have a great hairstylist who cut my hair in what we both dubbed "the overgrown pixie," and I really loved it, especially since it was mostly functional, to get rid of all my dyed length, but also looked really cute. A coworker who rarely talks to me asked where I got my hair done because he wanted his wife to go there. Personally, I don't think it looked terribly professional, but I did have people asking if I was a new professor. If I ever felt the need to go short again, I would probably go for that.

[Carolyn]

What's the longest we can have and still be "professional"?

[Shermie Girl]

I happen to think that long hair in a beautifully styled updo is very professional looking. :D

However, if I had no choice but to have shorter hair? I would have a bob or a pageboy. I can wear either style very well and as I would have them on the longer side, I would still have the option of ponytails and French twists. :D

[JCFantasy23]

I think long can look very professional up, but then again I'm biased toward long hair. If I cut my hair short, I'd do the bob type with wispy layers

[feralnature]

I have had all sorts of short hairstyles from bobs to stacked bobs, wedges, pixies, flat tops, buzz cuts, punk cuts, everything. I have the kind of face shape that looks good with short hair so if I HAD to cut my hair I would go with something super short and color it.

[viking_quest]

I'd go back to my pixie. Layers look ridiculous on me, one-length looks awkward, and bobs never look right. Plus, the pixie is so much easier to manage.

[Themyst]

I just can't do it. I'm not the kind of woman who can even think of cutting my hair to be 'professional'. If I was forced to maintain some kind of 'professional' look, I'd simply bun my hair. Neatly. Because then I could still take it down at night and behave 'unprofessionally'.:eyebrows:

[nastasska]

I'd go for 1940s Style Glamour

http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=67504&apnum=307436&DestType=7&Referrer%20=http://www.gingerrogers.com/shopping/products.html

[EvaSimone]

I would get a layered shoulder length style with ear length side swept bangs.

[Aditi]

I don't like short hair at all. But if i want a professional haircut in long hair then i will again go for the haircut which is in my signature.

[Deimos]

A strict bun is more professional-looking then a pixie if you ask me.

[Amoretti]

I'd get a chin length bob. It would be shorter at the nape and with an assymetric sideswept fringe/bangs. I'd also colour it dark brown for the sharp, sexy look. :D

[MerryKat]

My hair is wild when anything shorter than BSL, so if I had to cut it would be an ulta short pixie where I could allow my hair to form a cap of curls (quick to wash, dry and not much styling needed).

[sandigirl]

I would get it angled from my chin to chest and about 6" shorter. I am SO tired of drying hair but I will never cut it short. Not even when I'm old.

[rhubarbarin]

With curly hair, I think longer and up looks tons more professional than shorter. With short hair I look like Shirley Temple or a surfer dude..

I suppose if I were truly interested in looking professional I would have a blunt straightened bob. I like bobs, I hate layered and razored hair.

[ClareDee]

A bob like the one Amoretti described. When it's sharp and well maintained, it looks great imo.

Short cuts (around chin length, to just above shoulder) do suit me, maybe more than long hair. Occasionally I get a little inner crisis where I think maybe I need to go back to the bob, but I'm determined enough to get to BSL and see what it's like.

Anyway, I'd have to really want the job, and I'm not 'driven' enough to really want a certain job. So I can't see myself altering my appearance for one. I'll agree to wear unstained clothes and that's about it :p

[amaiaisabella]

I would definitely go for a chin-length bob as my waves are all pretty and tousled at that length. For some reason, I lose them as my hair gets longer (to shoulder-length) but they have reappeared at APL :) Should I get a teaching job upon graduation, I'll wear my hair in a bun or french twist, or cut my hair at that point.

[DMARTINEZ]

Shoulder skimming layered bob.


Deb

[Ella Menneau P.]

I'd get a job where "professional" referred to my skills and my ability to perform the work, not my chosen hair style. I'd rather "be" professional than "look" professional.

I'll stop before this turns into a rant!:D

[nienna42]

My hair either has to be long enough to bun/braid or pixie short. Any length between just turns into a giant, frizzy poof. I'd like to see the stylist that could manage a chin-length bob on me. :rollin:

ETA: A good-looking chin-length bob, that is. Obviously anyone could hack my hair off at my chin.

[mugglemomof3]

This might apply here. If I ever decide to chop my hair, I'd love to try one of those "reverse wedge" cuts like that one Spice Girl wears or a chin-length bob with severely blunt-cut bangs, and try a super dark brown color!

[LittleOrca]

I wouln't cut my hair to be professional. I have several buns, twists, and other looks that I use when I need to look more "grown up" than loose long hair permits me to. I cut my hair for no one! :)

[Tangles]

I'm not saying our long hair is unprofessional :P I'm saying that of the conventionally professional haircuts, a bob is the only one I'd want because it's classic and clean but can still be styled to look sexy.

[Tangles]

I'd get a chin length bob. It would be shorter at the nape and with an assymetric sideswept fringe/bangs. I'd also colour it dark brown for the sharp, sexy look. :D

Same, minus the bangs, or maybe I'd get wispy bangs. Honestly, playing around with it would be sooooooo fun. Too bad I'm not doing it, even though this humidity is really doing a number on my hair right now.

[ladylibra]

I hate professional cuts and plan never to get one. Lately though, I've had an interesting thought. I feel like longer haircuts that are fashioned to look "professional" are actually less attractive than bob haircuts, which can be VERY flattering if done right for one's face shape.

When shoulder-APL-BSL hair is very layered, straightened, and highlighted, it just gets that sterile look to it. I can't explain... like when the ends are layered too and it's all flipped and contrived to look shaped. On the other hand, a nice bob, even as short as upper jaw/below ears length, can be simple and classic and not scream "I'm trying to be professional." (I'm not including asymmetrical or heavily stacked bobs, because those aren't professional IMO.)

So, if someone forced me to get my hair done more professionally I would get a bob that hit below the chin and had just a couple layers for shape.

Anyone agree? I guess this is just a thinly veiled rant, it's just my opinion :flower:

I agree! I love me a cute bob! ;)

Although I've personally noticed that "professionalism" has gone out the window these days. People don't even seem to try to dress or style their hair professionally these days. :confused:

I love how I look with a faux bob too... where I tuck my hair under and pin it so it "looks" like a bob:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c256/LadyLibra1982/IMG00228-20090325-2031-1.jpg

[wintersun99]

I would do a style like this... Actually, I should have my hair grown into a style like this by this time next year, probably. Though I want my hair long, I've never disliked the general "bob" style, so long as it fits the person and the hair type. For straighties, this style works well. It also grows out well. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's the same style I've had for years and years and years. I'd like to get past the SL bob, someday. :D

http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww97/wintersun99/Hair%20Styles/Celebrity_372.jpg

[atlantaz3]

When I cut off all the fried bleached hair, I had a style similar to Reba. When it was growing out and I clipped too long bangs out of my face with tiny clips I liked it. It may not have been professional but I used to get a lot of compliments in the office. To go against popular vote I like an asymmetrical bob with the back shorter than the sides - but gradual not a drastic short back length with bangs. The dh said he hated my hair that was that it just hung on the sides of my face.

[jessie58]

Yikes, short hair on me looks like I'm wearing a tumbleweed. I think I would like it either in a pixie (less ammo to build a frizzball with) or short and curly, swept back on the forehead and tucked back behind the ear with a lovely clip.

[mira-chan]

Short hair would never look professional on me unless serious chemicals were involved. Something I can tie is.

A pixie would look like this (http://blog.syracuse.com/shelflife/2008/03/einstein2.jpg) wit my hair. Not a good look. :nono:

[Deborah]

Long hair is NOT unprofessional looking! I think nothing looks more professional than a woman with long hair swept up into a stylish, not overly ornate updo. Think Grace Kelly. She always looked elegant, with simple, minimally-styled updos.

There is NEVER a need for a bob or pixie! :)

[crystal_89]

If I had to do professional I would just keep my hair long and wear it in a tidy updo and have face-framing layers and a side fringe and do most of my straightening and tormenting to those bits on a daily basis. Which, is actually what I do now...

[enfys]

Thank goodness I want to be in a jeans-and-t-shirt design profession.

If I couldn't have long hair I'd have to have short short boy hair, and hope my ears didn't make it unprofessional. A pixie would be fine, but I hate bobs purely because they're overdone now. Four, five years ago I'd have said a 60s sleek bob.

[Chromis]

Short hair would never look professional on me unless serious chemicals were involved. Something I can tie is.

A pixie would look like this (http://blog.syracuse.com/shelflife/2008/03/einstein2.jpg) wit my hair. Not a good look. :nono:

That's about how short hair *did* look on me when I was growing it out after surgery. With a lot of gel and mousse the best I could manage was getting it to look more like Harry Potter instead. Not professional.

[Autumnberry]

It is creepy that some "professional" jobs require short hair for either men or women. It is so unnatural. If societies through the ages could see this, they would respond with a big "yuck." I guess I'd go for the pageboy style in this case.

[Babyfine]

A shoulder-swinging bob/with straight across bangs.
Is also still long enough to be put up in a twist to look even more professional.
An elegant French Twist or bun can nalso look very professional

[autumnsakura]

I guess for short hair (at least for me), I'd pick a bob just a little longer than chin length. I wore my hair like this for several years, and it looked great with my face. Other than that, I guess a well styled updo for long hair, with nice neutral hair toys (natural wood color or tortoiseshell, etc.). Personally, I look dreadful with hair between top of shoulder length and about APL, so anything shorter or longer would be fine for a "professional" look. For work, I prefer women who wear their hair up. Not that there's anything wrong with wearing your hair down, but I think it looks sleeker and more put together if it's up.

[Tangles]

Personally, I look dreadful with hair between top of shoulder length and about APL.

I feel the same way. Because I have a somewhat long face, my hair needs to be either short enough to "lift" it, or long enough to balance it out.

Again, my OP was hypothetical :) I don't think there's any job that requires short hair, though there may be some jobs involving heavy duty machinery that require it be shoulder length or shorter for safety reasons, I dunno. In general, I don't think anyone could call you unprofessional if you put your hair up properly, even though they might secretly frown upon having long hair. :D Btw, my hair is the longest I've seen at my work yet, not to brag but I thought I'd self compliment as I've been having some pretty foul hair days lately :o

[Thinthondiel]

I don't know if this would be considered very "professional" now, since hairdressers don't cut hair this way anymore (except vintage hairdressers, I guess), but what I'd want is a Middy (or actually a Middy Plus; a longer version). The Middy was a popular haircut in the 40's/50's, and was meant to be curled (e.g. pincurled or put in rollers).

Actually, I'm somewhat conflicted between wanting to get a Middy and wanting to grow my hair longer. Before I found this community, I was starting to get into 40's/50's hair, makeup and fashion, and I wanted to get a Middy haircut (but I was somewhat reluctant, because I don't know if I'll find a hairdresser who can do that style). But now, after having found LHC, and seeing so much lovely, long hair, I kinda want to grow my hair until it's at least waist length.

I wish it were possible to "un-cut" hair, so that I could cut my hair into a Middy and then immediately get my old length again when I got tired of it.