I watched the movie Good Hair while flying to London, a few weeks ago. It was an interesting movie especially since I worked for Alberto-Culver, the company that owns the brands TCB and Motions.
Here’s what is weird about my work history: I recruited for a major organization that invests heavily in products that are bought & sold in the African American hair care community — and what I don’t know about black hair could fill a book.
Thankfully, Chris Rock made a movie.
There was a scene in the movie where a Gen Y student talked about her fear of being judged by potential employers based on her natural hair.
There is research out there that shows how pretty, handsome, tall, white, male, symmetrical, good-looking people have a competitive advantage in life. They get better jobs and earn more money. So let’s get back to hair. White hair. Black hair. Asian hair. Straight. Wavy. Curly. Dry. Nappy. Frizzy. Broken. Oily. All those words we use to describe our hair. Whatevah.
- Do you think you have an advantage/disadvantage in life because of your hair?
- Does it matter how hair is styled in the workplace as long as it’s not a safety hazard?
- Do you think the advantage of beauty — at work & in life — is overstated?
I’d love to know what you think.
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
I think people judge on first impressions certainly. That’s why I am not at all in favour of video CVs. At least with a face to face interview you get more than a few seconds on camera to get your true self across to an employer.
As for hair products, a little known secret, I use a product called Blue Magic, which is predominantly an Afro Caribbean/American product but which I discovered whilst in Queens, NY a few years ago when visiting a Panamanian friend of my sister’s. A single pot lasts me a couple of years and is less than five dollars! Not a lot of people know that – til now!
1. No hair, no advantage
2. Not to me, and I’ve given up caring what other people think for lent. Not Catholic, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
3. Not sure what qualifies as “overstated”. Humans are attracted to beauty, it’s in our nature.
Well, I keep my hair covered in public (it’s a personal religious thing being Muslim and all)…it’s worked both ways- obviously I’m profiled more heavily, but I’ve actually found in many instances- especially in the US, people are super nice to me and I don’t know if it’s cuz they genuinely are, if they’re overcompensating so they don’t seem discriminatory, of if they’re afraid of me! One great thing for me is i never have to worry about a bad hair day
My husband went bald because his hair was thinning badly- and people (business associates included) have responded amazingly well to that. They see he looks so much neater and ‘professional’- so I guess a change in hairstyle certainly benefited him!
I know for a while in this country men of the rastafarian group who had reeeeally long, thick dreads found it hard to get a job because most people thought it gross- i think trends are changing though.
My hair is fine, thin, and curly – which most of the time borders on frizzy unless it’s a day with absolutely perfect weather (despite trying every anti-frizz product on the market to no avail). I’ve been known to go get it blown out straight for job interviews and/or certain social events because I feel like I look more polished that way. I don’t know that it’s ever given me an actual advantage, though. A lot of my friends love my curls, but I’m the one who gets frustrated with the frizz, so I feel better with it blown out – more confident because I know I look good! So maybe it’s just a psychological trick for me… I’ve always said if I ever won the lottery that would be my silly indulgence – having someone come every morning and blow out my hair!
the world is infatuated with “pretty” and “handsome” people…why else do people watch entertainment tonight…Tmz….and read all the celebrity rags…Good looking rates whether its legal or ethical or not…Maybe the white male or even white female and their hair are a microcosm?
M
I have great hair, except for in that picture HRMinion took the other day but that’s another story. I’ll be the first to admit, I do look ‘at’ people when they come in for interviews. I look at how they are dressed, did they comb their hair, check for spinach between their teeth, etc. But then I move on and we get down to business. You can come in dressed to the nines and be a fool, the expensive suit and well kept hair wont get you hired by me. On the flip side, if you come to an interview in my office dressed in shorts, a wife beater, flip flops and a baseball cap but you knock the interview out of the park, we’ll talk about how your dressed and consider hiring you. Comes down to the interview and what you know, not so much how you are dressed.
That whole hair thing is waaaaay over rated.
@Karen – Sabah Al-Kheir, one of the many things I learned from my friend Ali.
Like it or not, looks always count. I wake up at 5am every morning in an attempt to beat the middle age office jockey belly. The 30 minute shred may kill my belly fat but I am walking like a penguin this morning, so I guess I am opting for the “skinny weirdo” look instead of the “slightly over weight desk jockey” look.
I think the real question is how do we overcome the fact that looks, politics, race, and sex do matter in the work place?
Thanks, Laurie. You just reminded me that I need to call my hair dude for an appointment!
I’m in a corporate headquarters environment. I keep my longish, vividly colored hair back in a ponytail in an attempt to minimize its…presence? obviousness? In a lame stab at corporate subtlety? Work-life balance? It’s worked all right so far.
One amazing thing about the environment i’m in…NOT ONCE has anyone made a comment about my monochromatic wardrobe. First time in my life that’s happened.
First of all, I don’t think people should be judged by how they wear their hair. But it’s a reality in the business world that sometimes one has to conform. Ouch to that. As I have mentioned before, I also work part time as a hairdresser. I hear people complain all the time about how they get teased or criticized at work about their hair. My clients tell me how so and so told them they need a hair cut. And it’s not a superior, manager or boss. It’s just some co-worker who likes to be catty. I would never think of telling someone they needed a cut or dye job, even though I am a hair dresser. It’s their hair and they should be able to do what they want with it. I can’t tell you how often the following happens: Client A gets a new haircut/color/whatever and LOVES it. They call you the next day saying how they adore the new do. A couple days later they call again and say they need it changed because friends, co-workers, and other pain in the arse people don’t like it (my take is they are jealous because this person took a chance on something different) and think they should go back to the old way. Not everyone is so easily influenced by what other people say but to those that are, change is difficult. And while a change in hair is not the end of the world it influences how these people may react to change in the future. I worry about those people who won’t stand their ground.
Here is another instance. Client B complains all the time about their hair. You try everything to make them happy and they never are. You start to wonder why they keep coming back to you. There are two reasons:
One is because they are unhappy about everything in their life at that moment and they think the one thing they can control is their hair. It’s common knowledge among hairdressers that if someone is always complaining about their hair it really isn’t their hair that they are unhappy about – it’s something in their life.
The second reason is because the hairdresser listens to them complain. I have had people make appointments way before they needed anything done just because I was the one person who really listened to them. Sometimes they have no one else to talk to and if you listen to them complain they will keep coming back, no matter what you do to their hair.
Sorry about getting off topic but I have learned a whole lot about people by doing hair and it’s helped me in my HR profession.
Interesting post….hair is such a big issue in the black and latino community and I don’t think that you could really appreciate the hair thing if you don’t understand the culture. I can speak specifically about the Latino community as I’m a Latina….hair is a BIG ISSUE for us, who has good or bad hair, who has kinky or frizzy hair or straight or curly….and let me not get into the color of hair…dios mio…we talk about going to the salon to get our hair done and it has to be by someone who knows how to handle our (Latina) hair because you cant do a quick blow dry on us because the frizz will come out, so we need someone who is patient enough to make certain that our hair is completely dry. We spend lots of time and money on our hair and we do believe its part of our character or an extension and representation of ourselves. Ever since I was a lil girl, I was approached about my hair. It was certainly a big part of who I am. I have very long, banana curls, very thick and shiny hair….the kind thats eye catching and I am constantly getting stopped on the street, shopping, while eating or dancing and even in the middle of interviews to comment on my hair….so I found this post right up my alley. I guess you can say for me that my identity is in my hair and at the very least, its something most people remember about me, even during interviews….
I think only vacuous simpletons look at something like hair and make determinations towards another’s “worth” or “value”. I feel the majority of people are judged by personality more strongly than looks after the initial “VGL or Plain Jane/John” prejudice.
I have a story— me and my brothers best friend growing up were african american— and we’d stay the night at thier house with all the different cooking smells, creams smells, etc— and I can remember being absolutely astounded at the dark, perfect little round circles on thier bathroom sink. I was like “What the hell is that??? Oh, no— it’s HAIR!! How wierd!!!” (((Obviously, I’d only seen straight hair in sinks before—))) Funniest memory I have—-
Eons ago, when I worked for at large securites office, I would have said good hair was vital to being successful. In the environment, the assistants on to the best brokers had the best hair. But then I started working with payroll records and discovered that the best bonuses/pay did not go to the prettily coiffed. I then stopped stressing over my schitzophrenic mane and focused on doing the job. As long as it’s clean, moderately neat and not too far from currently cut, it’s fine.
But I still dream about finding the *ideal* style, product etc combination that makes the “neat” part something I don’t have to re-examine every few minutes.
Everytime I read about these types of issues, I feel incredibly lucky… and a little guilty: I’m a 30ish white male with fine hair and no major problems.
That gives me an unfair advantage in the eyes of the majority of the corporate world. Call it white guilt – but whatever it is – it’s too bad. (I also recognize it’s also pretty easy for me to say it’s a problem and “too bad” when I’m the one benefiting from a general bias…)
It’s why I think some forms of Affirmative Action are needed… which is a can of worms… so I digress.
@Alconcalcia I like my friend Carmen Hudson’s idea of stripping off names, locations, etc., from resumes. I think that’s a good idea. PS – product recommendations on PRHR = awesome.
@Frank The heart wants what the heart wants, and most of us want beauty on a regular basis. Or carbs.
@Karen I can guess that the headscarf presents its own set of unique challenges. Here in America, women with headscarves are fighting battles on a daily basis.
@Amy I’m with you. I’d pay someone to blow out my hair AND spritz me with Chanel No. 5.
@Mark Exactly.
@adowling Is a wife beater the male version of a tank-top? Who interviews in that?
@Robert Hahahahhaha, yes. I’m not surprised to read this from ya.
@JohnC That is the real question. If I had an answer, I’d be a gazillionaire.
@Shelley Me, too.
@Sherry I’m a big fan of monochromatic black. New York Black. What’s wrong with one shade?
@HR Hooligan Whoa, that’s an awesome off-topic rant. I will tell you that my hair has been influenced by coworkers. And readers. Especially PRHR readers.
@LatinaHR awesome, I was looking for someone to respond strongly to this post. My BFF is Puerto Rican and she loves her hair straight — and it looks awesome — but I love her curly hair, too. It’s so amazing how subcultures are at work in America and most of us are oblivious to the issues that our coworkers face within their own personal communities.
@MattyMat Wow, that is a funny/weird memory.
@JV When I worked at Pfizer, I knew so many women who rocked a professional ponytail. Quick, simple, easy. There were other women who couldn’t grow out their hair, had curly hair, didn’t have hair, didn’t like their hair, etc. — and the issue of “hair” added 45+ minutes to their mornings. Ugh.
@sean Amen.
Full disclosure: I am a tall, fit, English-speaking, white male and my wife tells me I have nice hair and I’m handsome. I’m the stereotype of the guy with social advantages. I’m certainly not a model, but when rolling the genetic dice I did alright and I work hard to take care of myself and stay healthy.
1. Yes I do think that good looks (hair and everything else) give you an advantage but not as big as some people might think. I’ve never actively do anything to “exploit” this, but I do notice that sometimes people just seem to be a little more receptive to me than I expect. I don’t always need to push so hard to negotiate something, people tend to like/respect me a little more readily, things like that.
2. I think it depends on the job. I work in IT and if I’m meeting with a client then it’s important to look neat and professional (hair, clothes, etc). If you don’t work face to face with clients I say do whatever you like with your hair, but recognize that most people instinctively judge everyone they meet by their appearance, at least to some degree. Choice is yours.
3. I think the “beauty advantage” is real but much smaller than most people think. If you build a reputation for being a great person and doing amazing work, most people won’t care what you look like.
Do you think I made it this far on my inner beauty only? Flowing locks, baby!
While there are some objective universal standards of beauty (waist-to-hip ratio in women and symmetrical features for both men and women, for example), beauty is about 60-70% a cultural construct – we find things that we are familiar with and acculturated to attractive. That’s why it’s troubling in the workplace, because differences are at a disadvantage just by default. However, as we’re exposed to a multicultural and global society, our standards of beauty are adapting and evolving as well.
An online and telephone-based working world can’t hurt, either, at least then “first impressions” are less important, since our ideas are already formed by prior interactions.
@Laurie: A study at UBC recently found that “ethnic” last names get picked far less frequently for interviews, despite identical qualifications. #fact ! Stripping off identifiers is a stellar idea, a good way to get around the issue until our culture catches up a bit.
(My hair is frizzy and bright red. I try to wear clothes that are louder than it is, so it doesn’t get all the attention… but I fail. Luckily I’m a computer tech, so it doesn’t actually matter
A lifetime of several hairstyles later, I don’t recall any particular advantage/disadvantage, but the funniest aspect has to be the way people reacted to different cuts/colours/looks; how they automatically ascribe certain values/tastes/personalities based on that. In any case, I go conservative for interviews (ponytail/chignon).
Although those selling to very conservative markets might beg to differ, it really shouldn’t matter how hair is styled @ work as long as safety, hygiene, convenience (e.g. hairstyle so big it pokes/obstructs views) thresholds aren’t being breached.
Given how some react to looks, the advantage of beauty @ work/home doesn’t seem overstated. Flip side is the propensity of inapropriate attention that “beauty” can bring.
@Geekette No one finds my beauty distracting.
@Renee Computer techs get a wide berth to be, uhm, creative.
@salescomp LOL
@Jamie Good comment I just wonder if ‘neat & clean’ are measurable?
@Laurie How do you live in the south and not know what a wife beater is? Google it, you’ll giggle.
OMG, googled it. Knew it. Crazy. Yes, they wear them in Raleigh.
Ex-hairdresser here. Also, used to have a whole lot of shocking do’s that almost got me kicked out of my parent’s house. Now I work in the creative field and can still get away with some hair shenanigans. But I keep it professional. Hey, I’m 40, and wore out my pink hair welcome (although I held onto it dearly up until two years ago!)
They key is confidence, cleanliness, and how to put together the whole package. And where you work, of course.
Except for faux-hawks on guys. Come on, now. Let it go. You look ridiculous.
@Laurie – 30n Day Shred rocks! Did it for a year! Lost the middle aged belly. Now I just did a month’s worth of kettle bells and my pants are on the GROUND!
I am short at 5’1″ tall, I’m not seen as someone who can be successful expecially with men. I also have curly hair which tends to make me look younger. Even though I keep it short and straighten it for interviews or important meetings, other days it’s curly. These 2 factors along with being a women, seem to have a negative effect on whether men see me as someone who can be or is successful. My brother on the other hand is short although not as short as me and has curly hair but he’s very succesful. The different is that he has a great sense of humor and he knows when to use it. He’s not gregarious or anything but he’s extemely smart (billiant my mother would say) and very successful but it has to do with his humorous side. As a child growing up, he was very awkward and for years we all wondered whether he would grow out of this or not. As an adult, we are struck but how his humor has carried him through and made him very successful. He’s still a little awkward but he’s in the computer industry so everyone there seems to be. I struggle daily to gain the respect of men who are thin, tall, with average intelligence and average personalities but they are the managers in my world. It sucks! I used to be even more passionate about this and growing up with a very successful mother who is shorter than me, I realize I can overcome this stigma in society that I look more like a soccer mom than an executive therefore, I can never bee ‘seen’ in this role. I think people have an awful idea of what success really looks like and who should be successful. I am much more forgiving and open minded to people but I do want to see people fit the corporate dress code because to me, they can control how they look with clothing.
Personally, I have been recognized in airports because of my hair. It’s extremely curly and I believe it is an extensive of my brand. People remember the HR girl with the curly hair. It’s happened and its important.
Jessica
@blogging4jobs
@Kristin: Too late. A couple years ago, the European cousins enshrined faux-hawks & Mullets (*cringe*) into constitution. So be on the lookout for more of that washing up ashore.
I don’t really care how anybody looks in the workplace, but then I have been unemployed for a long time so I might have lost my perspective on the issue.
1. My hair is wavy so I can wear it curly or straight pretty easily. I prefer curly. It hasn’t grayed yet and isn’t thin. Basically it is very socially acceptable hair. I don’t know if it has conferred an advantage (I’m thinking fat outweighs nonthreatening hair in the environments I’ve worked in) but I’m sure it hasn’t hurt.
2. Not to me… of course, you run up against whatever the norms are in your workplace, and violate them at your own risk, but in an ideal world I would prefer it not matter.
3. I think the advantage of beauty *is* somewhat overstated. I think people still experience discrimination for not conforming to a certain standard, but then I am not a beauty queen myself and have worked with equally “unattractive” people so obviously they/we got jobs. And I know various “odd couples” where just based on simplistic Star Magazine calculus, there would be no way one of them should have ever had the opportunity to have sex, much less be with such an attractive person. This is so far from most people’s real-life experience though (unless they are dealing primarily with people who have thoroughly drunk the mainstream culture Kool-Aid… who are certainly out there in droves, mostly on newspaper article comment threads) that I have to conclude that the rules are not as hard and fast as we would be led to believe. (I am speaking here only about “unconventional” appearances that are within my sphere of experience… I am still a straight white able-bodied college-educated woman so I’m definitely not trying to draw any conclusion about the impact of racism, classism, homophobia, disablism, etc. on people’s actual lives because that would be super-presumptuous.
I do think, and I guess this is obvious, that we should always be criticizing and thinking about standards in the back of our heads… such as why we think certain looks (such as straight hair) are automatically more “professional” (likely answer: white people are considered the “default” and are more likely to have straight or smooth hair). Similarly, I was discussing with my friend the other day that the stigma against crying in the workplace–for better or worse–is really, at least partially, kind of a sexist construct. It’s OK if we accept and conform to these norms, but I think we really need to ask ourselves (and ask ourselves honestly) where they really come from. This stuff is not usually objective truth.
@SCG We do need to ask ourselves where this comes from. Unfortunately, we are often our own worst enemies. It comes from us in subtle, crazy, unfortunate ways.
Dang, I hate being late to the party, but have to weigh in on this! I have been rocking a relaxer since high school. This is not an easy, or cheap thing to do. For black folks in America hair is just another issue that has to be carefully navigated in order to exist inside the margins. I have worn braids, wigs and weaves. I dream of going back to my natural state, but would have to go Sinead O’Connor on you, and I’m just not going to do that. Wrote a kinda related blog post on this issue wrt skin color a few months ago. http://bit.ly/9mI6zW
Lastly, if you are recruiting a black woman to an area with few black people (like Seattle), you might want to do some research to (tactfully) connect her with other black women in the community. That way, she can comfortably ask, “where can I get my hair done?”
@Peopleshark You are not late. That’s a good recruiting tip + I’ll check out the link & retweet it.
It’s funny this topic came up – I’ve recently had a similar situation come up with regard to my own hair.
My [HR] director recently criticized me in a meeting, “when you come to work, your hair looks as if you’d just rolled out of bed.” My hair is naturally curly and every morning I spend at least 15 minutes under a diffuser with fingertips full of product, trying to tame it. I was shocked and sat there, jaw on the floor, while she continued to hint at that I straighten my hair moving forward.
I’d discussed this conversation with my hair dresser and apparently it’s a fairly common complaint that clients bring up while in the chair. I don’t plan to invest in a flat iron any time soon…and am still regretting not having a sharper tongue when it came to respond back to the boss-lady.
-Ida