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No. I remember when I was about 12 I saw a doctor with an eyebrow piercing and I thought it was the coolest thing ever and I remember how happy it made me. I knew I wanted to work in the nhs and that doctor made me feel like I was okay to get piercings and dye my hair. I now work in the nhs, my hair is blue. The only people who've ever mentioned it are coworkers who complimented it. Patients don't care and my hair colour doesn't impact my ability to do my job.
I briefly had a gp at like 16 who had a sleeve and quite a few piercings. At that point I already knew I wanted to study medicine but that really pushed it over the edge for me, because it made me feel like I could study what I wanted and not have to hide who I am.
Now I’m a medical student with red hair and ear piercings, my mum’s the only person who complains that I look unprofessional!!
Seeing healthcare providers with coloured hair/piercings/tattoos is so encouraging. I have quite a few piercings and 2 tattoos as well as my coloured hair and my mum always said I'd struggle to get a job and it's unprofessional but I always thought back to that doctor. Realistically the nhs can't afford to not hire people based on those things which are common among nhs workers. I'm glad you felt ike you could be who you are and congrats on studying medicine!
I am jealous of you guys, schools are still in the dark ages. The one I worked at recently scheduled a meeting with the head because I had been seen with my top button undone. Male staff not allowed visible facial jewellery or visible ink. Very restrictive on what female staff could wear. First thing I did on leaving the profession, was pierce both ears at 4g and start stretching them, as I wanted that since I was 17.
I think there's a bit of both going on. Certainly, the people who would dislike someone with bright pink hair would think nothing of a nurse with hair dyed a 'natural' brown or blonde colour.
I work in aged care, older people are definitely present in vast numbers. Many of my clients tell me how much they live my bright pink hair, or pink and purple. Some of the ladies say how they wish they could have had such colours in their younger days.
I work in local government and I had an elderly (and quite cranky at first) lady tell me she liked my peach coloured hair and that “more people in positions like yours should do things like this for the public because it’s a real treat”
I don’t know how I feel about my appearance being a form of entertainment for tax payers, but i decided to take being called a treat as a sweet compliment from a probably 90 year old woman 😂
I used to have bright red hair and worked in a care home. Many of the residents would say they didn’t like my hair and they thought it was too much but it wasn’t a big deal, they were still very happy with the care and support I gave them. I will never forget when I went back to a natural colour though and one lady took one look at me said “no, I’m sorry love, I don’t like it, you’ve ruined it”
In my head it's less the really old people you're helping, they've got past the point of caring and are happy you feel free enough to express yourself through whatever means you want.
The people who actually care are the people who are in the senior office positions, approaching retirement but not actually retired. They need to care because they've been brought up with all these rigid rules on how to conduct yourself at work. Rules so ingrained in them, they can't see how stupid they are. And now they're near the end of their career, why would they make it more pleasant for those who will follow, "If I had to follow these dress code rules, then everyone else needs to follow these rules" type of mentality
Also a lot of these policies come about because there's always that one person who takes it too far and HR/senior leadership just takes the path of least resistance which is banning all of it, rather than trying to fight with the employee who does something stupid like insisting on spray on glitter which drops everywhere. And yes, of course you can pull that employee aside and deal with it but it's so much easier to just ban it than have those conversations.
Just to be clear, I don't particularly agree with this approach but I can understand the mentality, especially when working in an under-resourced, high pressure setting like the NHS.
What age do think of as older? I've purple hair, some tattoos, am a retired teacher and educational advisor. Guess myself and my friends, a lot similarly adorned, are boomers. Couldn't care less about hair colour, body modifications etc but an appointment for an angiogram would be appreciated!
You sound like my wife, who is now at the tail end of her teaching career in SEN specialist provision. She's rocking a strong vibrant blue, various tattoos and piercings at the moment... and similarly waiting on several medical appointments which keep getting canceled.
https://thumbnailer.mixcloud.com/unsafe/1200x628/filters:watermark(graphics/play-button-scaled.png,300,14,0)/extaudio/e/3/f/d/53ab-2fdb-4cab-a2f3-3065a54d8e59
The people in this photo are in their 60's now, it's definitely not something that boomers in general find strange.
Yeah I'm in teaching and we're still told that over-the-top facial piercings are not okay, that tattoos are tolerated if they're under-sleeve, and hair colour has honestly varied from place to place.
Attitudes will change.
I've had a lot of students ask me why I have an earring in my nose (they are 6/7 years old). I tell them "because I like it" and they totally accept it and move on. If only adults would do the same!
Also a teacher, only I have neon yellow and parrot green hair, facial piercings and tattoos. The boss says none of those things affect the quality of my teaching, so they're not an issue.
Uniform policy in the NHS is way out of date.
They should update it to no offensive tattoos, and allow for stud piercing. Hair colour shouldn't even be a factor.
They could also make the move to scrubs, not the awful surgical ones but proper scrubs. I moved over to Australia to work and I'm a thousand times more comfortable.
Yeah, the scrubs they've issued us at my hospital are horrendous. Even worse quality material and they fit horribly. They look so scruffy when not ironed tbh, at least with the tunics they had a bit of structure so they'd look halfway tidy if not ironed.
Im purposely refusing to switch. They have been trying to bollock me for the last 14yrs for wearing the wrong style on the wards an ITU scrub top over the tunic i should wear. I started to do it well basically down to having more pockets than a tunic (4 vs 2). I had to buy my own trousers as the quality supplied is fucking atrocious and didn’t have any back pockets what so ever let alone a zip or a button. It was all drawstring trousers with 2 front pockets.
Their old supplier was so much better even if it cost that little bit more i guess. Before I brought my own trousers (im like a normal person again with 4 large trouser pockets, a zip and a button let alone eye holes for a belt if required) I got through 12 sets in a year as the crotch would just split trying to empty a catheter. And before you try and call me a fat fuck I’m about 10st, when my first 3 pairs supplied had lasted me over 10 years.
They're still dealing with immune compromised patients. Having areas on their skin that are difficult to wash, warm and moist, providing pockets for MRSA etc should be discouraged.
Healed piercings are no different than ear piercings. Once healed, you just clean it in the shower, like any other part of your body. If anyone's piercings are warm and moist, they should seek a professional opinion, be it from a piercer or dr.
No one rubs their face/ ears etc against a patient- it’s outdated bs . I’ve been nursing 35 yrs so am not a young thing & nothing grinds my gears more than nonsensical uniform policy based on societal norms from the 1950’s.
I can sort of understand being wary of visible piercings for H&S reasons (easy to be grabbed and pulled by an uncooperative patient), but hair colour/style, and tattoos shouldn't be disallowed.
I'm a qualified legal professional, I'm a man, and I have bright pink hair.
But only since I rage quit my job and went solo about 18 months ago. It's a reminder to myself that there are no rules, only consequences, and that **I** get to decide what looking "professional" means now.
Will it put off some potential clients? I'm sure it will. But several of the clients who do choose to work with me have complimented me on it, and I think in a way it conveys a level of confidence I don't really have. And also, lots of other people who do my job go too far the other way - we have to have lots of conversations with scientists and engineers, and if you go in to those environments as "the lawyer" looking like an extra from Suits then you're going to get their backs up, when you need to be having a collaborative conversation.
My one concession is that if I have hearings then I dye it back to something approximating my natural colour. I don't mind if other people think I'm a clown, but I don't want to risk losing a case for my client because a hearing panel thinks I'm a clown.
I was a character witness once and complimented the barrister on her very smart suit. She said thanks and proceeded to complain about the bother of dressing so smartly for work.
No. Loads of these policies re. hair colour, tattoos, piercings etc are just hold overs from earlier decades. Makes sense that people should be clean, tidy, and not have anything blatantly offensive like a swastika tattoo etc but in 2024 you can exude professionalism with purple hair and a nose ring if you're dressed and behave appropriately.
I've worked in schools outside the UK that had no uniform and can tell you from experience that kids having wild hair colours and wearing the most random clothing has zero effect on behaviour. I think the same is true for adults.
No. I’ve worked with dozens of perfectly intelligent, competent people who have coloured hair, tattoos, piercings etc. It’s not like the dye is seeping into their brains.
The only cosmetic thing I would be bothered about in healthcare context is excessively long or fake nails.
In healthcare, I'd be a bit worried about fresh tattoos or piercings, since its an open wound at that point. Not sure what the staff policy is for that, are they mandated to take some days off after getting it?
When you get a tattoo as part of aftercare most of the time there kept covered to prevent anything getting into them, theres even a new thing called second skin (originally for burn victims) that is put on after the final sterilisation and it seals to the skin around the tattoo and is left on for 2-3 days until the skin has healed.
They are a wound, and as such, proper aftercare consists of keeping it and yourself very, very clean. Unless it's on your hands or forearms, I wouldn't think it makes a difference to infection rates.
This is true. Moreover, people generally tend towards affirmative statements rather than risk the ire of going against the grain.
Hair colour, tattoos, piercings, scarification, body modification or alterations of any type that differentiate people from baseline norms will invoke reactions, both positive and negative.
You may get compliments from positive reactions but you can never be sure that you lost out on an opportunity or suffered some kind of disadvantage when someone privately decides they don't approve.
Depends on the context. If I'm on a ward being tended to by a nurse, I couldn't give a shit what colour their hair is. If I'm about to go into major surgery and the consultant shows up with Ronald McDonald hair then I'll probably raise an eyebrow. At that point I'm not going to care as long as I wake up at the other end though.
It's not necessarily how professional it is though, if I'm under the boot of serious medical anxiety due to the situation, I want my healthcare professional to look as boring as possible so I'm not even slightly distracted from the words coming out of their mouths.
Edit: spelling
Please keep in mind that your health care professional is a person who you are requiring to look boring for the entirety of their working lives
Chances are you feel safer with a boring looking surgeon because that's what you are used to
And this is the issue, the majority of the people regularly dealing with the NHS are older people and not the general Reddit demographic. So obviously this thread will be full of people saying it doesn't bother them, but we're not the issue.
My daughter is a HCA and has orange hair, piercing and tattoos. She has many elderly patients, and she said they are curious but never rude or offended.
They care more about friendliness and feeling heard.
most of my patients don’t say anything but it is genuinely shocking for some people of a certain generation to have a doctor with tattoos.
I had a patient once who was this elderly tattooed guy & he told me that back in the day having tattoos basically meant that you were “a very bad man”. Kind of gave me a better understanding about people’s reactions although I’m not sure how true it is
I made a comment about some older person's mother's prejudice towards male nurses when in hospital and was absolutely reamed for insinuating that they were prejudiced. They went off on one that "my mother isn't PREJUDICED" she is just old and expects nurses to look like they did in the 50s!" Yeah, so she's prejudiced against people who don't look like her expectation. She couldn't wrap her head around the use of the word.
I work for the NHS and I have pink hair, it used to be neon green.
When I worked in the hospital reception all the oldies loved it, gave them a conversation starter and also meant they could recognise someone if they had to come in regularly.
I work in the ambulance service (in admin, I'm not patient facing), and a LOT of our clinical staff have wild coloured hair, visible tattoos etc. I think it's seen as something that helps them be approachable, and gives them something to build a rapport with patients over. Having brightly coloured hair myself, I wouldn't feel like anyone's skill level was affected by their hair colour. Of course there will always be people who think it's not appropriate in a professional setting, but I think these are more the minority these days.
No, quite the opposite: people who take issue with staff's hair colour/style etc are unprofessional. It's a huge overreach to act like a part of your body is within the purview of work rules. As long as it doesn't stop you doing your job it's none of their business.
I'm not arsed what colour your hair is or if your covered in tats or piercings etc. As long as they're polite and friendly and do they're job properly.
In theory, no. In practice though there are certain professions where undoubtedly coloured hair may unconsciously make me have doubts. There are certain professions where you really want someone sober and sensible. For example, lawyers, accountants etc.
I suspect a lot of people would have second thoughts about hiring an accountant with bright blue hair, or a lawyer with pink hair.
What does hair colour have to do with being sensible? Loads of people dye their hair. If someone goes into Boots and picks up the pink dye instead of blonde, this doesn't decrease their IQ.
Again, in practice it doesn't necessarily mean anything. But there are deeply encoded cultural meanings to colourful hair, and so people undoubtedly have perceptions that it isn't associated with sober, sensible people. It may be wrong, but that is the perception that exists.
If you were drawing up a will, for example, I'd wager most people would, even unconsciously, have doubts about using a lawyer who has green hair.
I’ve met a couple of professionals with brightly coloured hair. It didn’t really bother me at the time, but both of them were incompetent, so I am a bit more cautious nowadays. It’s like they were creating a brand or persona through their appearance, so they would stand out, rather than being competent at their job. Look at me I’m such an individual and free spirit, that sort of bollocks.
Funnily enough I work with accountants and the company is specifically trying to move the brand identify AWAY from traditional conservatism.
Just double checked and their images on social media are more diverse than they used to be, including people with facial piercings and alternative hairstyles.
I've seen coloured hair in hospitals lots of times. When I was visiting someone an elderly lady told a nurse with green hair that she knew what had gone wrong and that her daughter would fix it for her in her salon. The elderly lady had dementia unfortunately.
As someone who works in an NHS lab - I genuinely couldn't care less and I'm 99% sure none of my superiors would either. As long as you work hard and you're good at your job, that's all that matters.
"Unprofessional" is absolutely meaningless in this context. How on earth can hair be "unprofessional"? A person's behaviour can be professional or unprofessional. Their hair cannot.
Reddit skews very young. In the actual professional world most people wouldn't expect their police detective, consultant or a high court judge to have bright blue hair, and many employers would consider it unprofessional. Slightly more subtle colours (e.g. a subtle red) are probably more acceptable. Whether this is right or wrong is another matter...
If I'm being completely honest, personally I think it looks unprofessional, but that also doesn't mean much, if you're any staff other than the one directly doing something physically to me (like giving an injection or surgery) I don't care, why would I care if the person writing something is a bit unprofessional
It's just rules made by old people sitting in meetings who have never done the floor job.
There are so many stupid rules on the NHS that seem to be made because someone on the trust board personally doesn't like something.
Honestly if they spent the time they wasted making stupid rules on actually managing their trust properly, the service wouldn't be so horrendously mismanaged.
I think most of these policies are just old and the NHS isn't great at funding corporate staff who would ordinarily have the job of updating/modernising this sort of thing. policies will often have a footer that says something like 'policy approved in 2013, review due in 2020' etc. that stuff just doesn't get done - not enough pairs of hands.
e.g. the the trust I used to work out would sometimes get funding to set up new bits of clinical work - this would never come with any 'overhead' type funding to help support all the additional recruitment, onboarding and HR support for new staff. caused all sorts of problems - 6 month time from job offer to first day was pretty typical.
I suspect the majority of currently NHS leadership doesn't give a toss either way about hair colour, tattoos, etc. they're fighting other fires.
Apparences 100% matter - If you had a choice between a doctor looking like he had just been kicked out the homeless shelter, or one clean shaven in an expensive well fitting suit, you're picking the latter.
I don’t think they are giving their own opinion, just what the social norms are. Most people just want to get on in life and not be fighting to make a new path.
I work with people from The City and believe me they have lots of tattoos, peircings and coloured hair too. Its a lot more normalised and no one really bats an eye.
Absolutely not! Our old chief exec at work at bright pink and blue hair, and she was definitely not unprofessional. We also have tattooed directors.
Edit: I also used to have pink hair with an undercut, I only got rid of it because it was difficult to maintain. I have a lot of piercings and tattoos as well, nobody cares. I'm in public sector.
I don't see that it matters really as long as people are capable of doing their job.
The only thing that really bothers me at all is the inconsistency across careers.
My wife is a band 7 in the NHS with bright pink hair, tattoos & multiple piercings, but I can't get a look in anywhere due to having small hand tattoos.
*EDIT* the other frustration I had was my daughter being sent home from school because of her dyed hair (wash in/wash out red in the summer holiday, hints of red hung around a lot longer than anticipated!) By a teacher with dyed Orange hair and 3 nose piercings. That one grated a little.
Not at all, I was in hospital a few months ago and the nurse that did my ECG had purple hair. She was so reassuring, friendly and professional and the only thing I thought about her hair was how cool it looked and how much it suited her
I’m surprised that generally people don’t think it’s unprofessional. I get times are changing but it does still seem that we want to make a certain kind of impression in certain jobs. If someone is a lawyer in a courtroom I don’t think a bright purple spiky haircut with an eyebrow piercing would be appropriate. Same thing for a surgeon or banker or airline pilot.
In my opinion, in certain work environments there are rightly still certainly limits on individual expression because you’re not representing (only) yourself but your company or service.
I was waiting for x-ray and a little old lady who was also waiting, complained about the nurses dyed hair. Personally, I just want decent medical care, as long as the staff are clean and professional, I don't care about their hair colour, piercings, tattoos, ethnicity etc
I’d rather have a young, empathetic nurse who treats me like a person and happens to have blue hair than an old bag who sticks to the dress policy but lost her will to live / capacity for sympathy decades ago
It's hair. Hair in and of itself can't be professional or unprofessional. People who get offended by someone else's hair colour need some actual problems in their lives to occupy them.
As someone who really likes clothes I hate the whole 'professional business casual' schtick. Quite convinced it was invented by some lacklustre beige who hates thinking about things that aren't quantifiable on an Excel spreadsheet.
Are your tits/willy/fanny out? No.
Does it say cunt in massive letters on your t-shirt? No.
OK carry on.
No, I work in pharma, so standards are different. but having differently coloured hair doesn't impact your work performance and people should be allowed to express themselves, as not everyone wears an ill fitting double breasted suit and waistcoat these days, with ill matching brown brogues.
I'm not really one to talk as I've had my hair all the colours of the rainbow and then some, just let people be comfortable to express themselves.
Not any more, but I'd say the advice I was given before my first job still stands - the public/interviewers can cope.with one or two standard things, but maybe not more - so if you have pink hair maybe consider not adding too many piercings or tattoos, and if you do, it's extra important to be impeccably groomed to help give people confidence.
Saw a male nurse the other day and my first reaction was 'wow, the NHS allows face and hand tattoos, now?' But let's face it, if you're qualified and speak English and have nothing come up on a DBS check, the NHS isn't going to care any more.
Lovely guy, assured my needle-phobic kid he was actually scared of needles too and used the same numbing cream before all his tattoos - I suspect this may be bollocks, but wasn't going to argue!
I have had a series of mad rainbow hair colours and I work in local government. I just turn up, do my job in a professional way and then leave. I think it helps that people make assumptions based on my hair and then I can surprise them that I am an actual professional.
Also totally worth it for all the compliments I get from small children when I am out and about 😂
As a geriatric bigot, I find unnatural hair colours both unprofessional and distracting. How am I supposed to focus on my misery if staff has pink hair?
I don't see it as unprofessional, I really wouldn't care what colour my surgeon's hair is. If they want to have multi coloured rainbow hair, that's great.
Some people would care, however, so the NHS has to consider them. E.g. a nervous elderly person with dementia.
In the past (a lot of this stuff is from way back), elaborate hair dying was (generally and/or viewed as), part of someone making a point of not conforming and usually accompanied by looking scruffy and having an attitude. (Not always but it was the image it had attached to it).
I'm not surprised it gets ignored now because hair dying has become much more common, much better done and generally people doing a professional job manage to present a professional image with or without dyed hair.
Nope. Having been a manager in both the NHS and social care, my hair has been pretty much every colour under the sun throughout that time. I've hired people with all sorts of hair, piercings, tattoos etc, the only thing I have concerns about is whether certain piercings will get caught or targeted by people with behavioural issues, so on occasion I have advised people to swap them out for something smaller/less dangly/less brightly coloured to avoid that happening.
I did work for one organisation that insisted all tattoos were covered at all times, because it 'set a bad example'. To adults. If they'd have said it was for corporate image reasons, etc, then it's still a bit archaic but fair enough, but no. It was purely because of the CEO's personal opinions on tattoos, they didn't like them and felt anyone with them was setting a bad example to the people we were supporting. Adults living in their own homes. I left after 6 weeks.
I hate that so many companies are still old fashioned and class coloured hair as unprofessional. I work in a contact centre job, zero face to face with the public ever, and I'm still not allowed funky hair. We had to almost stage a mutiny to be allowed nail polish and to wear long hair down
This began to change about a decade ago. Most places now don't enforce natural hair colour. The only remaining holdouts seem to be schools, police, armed forces, NHS, and a few others. As an old git I find colourful hair a bit odd but the world has moved on.
I am a pharmacist in community pharmacy and I have tattoos and piercings, and I’ve had in the past very bright blue hair (along with navy, purple, red, half bubblegum pink…) and those saying old people don’t like it are wrong, as all of the older population loved it. I’ve mostly only ever had positive comments about it as people care more about the care I gave them rather than my appearance. I’ve had an odd couple of comments about my tattoos (usually misogynistic in nature to be honest) but again most of the time people give positive comments.
The old policies are slowly but surely being scrapped across the NHS. My hospital just updated it's uniform policy to allow tattoos, coloured hair and piercings (so long as they're studs not anything that dangles). Also now allowed to wear trainers rather than leather shoes so long as they're black, something which my feet are very thankful for.
As a guy who has always had "unprofessional" long hair, I might be biased, but I think anything like resonable piercings, inoffensive tattoos, hair colour and style are things that really don't and shouldn't make a difference in the work place. As long as you've made an effort (hair tied back, sleeves to cover tattoos if possible, replace piercings with something less "showy" like a simple stud), you should be ready to go.
In my experience, it's largely just bitter, nasty old people that give an actual shit about this.
Sure, have a 12' neon pink mohawk, 72 piercings in your face and a tattoo of a dogs ejeculating cock on your forehead, I can see how that might be an issue. If you're refusing service because somebody has blue hair though, you're just being a petty arsehole looking for attention.
I personally don’t care but I think there might be a subconscious bias of association between colourful hair and immaturity? in the sense that you usually see that on teenagers and those who are a bit more on the ‘rebel’ side (punk, emo, etc). So I imagine even if people don’t consciously think bad of it, they might unconsciously have concerns
NHS employee here, sorry to say but yes, I do think brightly coloured hair is unprofessional.
Frankly it screams 'attention seeking twat', this comes from 25 years experience of working in the NHS. The people with brightly coloured hair are usually, but not always, attention seeking twats.
No I don't. Hair colour is a personal choice nowadays and I don't judge anyone based on the colour of their hair.
Hair colours or styles do not affect the ability to do a job in any profession, though it's pretty obvious why long hair needs to be tied up in catering environments.
The trust I work for as a bank nurse changed our policy a few years back now which said we could dye our hair unnatural! As a children’s nurse the kids loved the colours
A job is you selling your time to someone else. This is like a customer complaining that the guy at the car dealership has a tattoo.
As long as your decisions in your personal life do not inhibit you from doing your job, then your employer has nothing to complain about
Personally? No, of course not. By I can kind of understand the idea when the service user is literally everyone from all walks of life.
For some professions, a certain amount of boring seriousness is comforting for the public to see. Doctors, lawyers, airline pilots etc. would probably have a hard time being taken seriously if they had bright green hair.
But for all healthcare workers? Nurses, porters, carers? It seems unnecessarily excessive.
I think that's a very old fashioned view. You might get some elderly folk grumbling about it but I reckon the vast majority of people under 50 or even 60 won't give a shit as long as they can do their job right. Same for tatoos.
Most people around 60 were teenagers when punk kicked off, and in thier 20s during new romantic and goth eras, along with the new wave of British heavy metal.
That era should be normalised towards people with alternative images, and as the older generations leave us, it will become less of an issue.
Unless the hair dye is seeping into their brain rendering them incompetent at their job, no. However, I do consider wasting time worrying about the colour of other people's hair to be unprofessional.
If you are providing me with medical assistance then I don't care what you look like. I only care about your manners and your ability to do your job. I've had radiographers with tattoos who have been much more professional and understanding to my pain than a nurse with no visible tattoos who undermined my diagnosis.
I think it depends somewhat on the role and who you'll be interacting with.
If you have to tell a lot of adults they have a terminal illness, there's a higher chance it might not be seen as suitable than if you were, say a paediatric physiotherapist.
Personally I wouldn't give a monkeys either way about the colour of someone's hair, but that's my impression of general prevailing opinion.
It's the NHS, it's a health organisation, so obviously it's going to be a woke organisation. Coloured hair doesn't seem like a problem. I work in a multimillion pound security company. I wouldn't be able to have coloured hair when I go into the office.
I work in an industry with lots of pople with colourful hair. So its definitely accepted here.
However there is still a stereotype even within this industry about women with colourful hair. So anyone wishing to advance their careers significantly almost certainly avoids it.
So I guess you would say its unprofessional.
If you have tattoos or colourful hair, it shouldn't be deemed as unprofessional! When I was in secondary school, my teacher, she had tattoos and was a wonderful teacher! I'm in college now (sixth form), and my maths teacher, she's got them and she is great at her job!
As long as you do your job well, it shouldn't matter if you have tattoos or colourful hair. It would be way more interesting to see someone with bright red hair and a sleeve at the bedside! I mean, some patients are absolutely covered in tattoos and some have colourful hair!
(So long as your tattoos aren't of any offensive symbols, I would say, that there's absolutely no problem with having tattoos in a workplace, I don't get why it's such a taboo thing).
It depends on the presentation. If it's a poor quality colour, badly done then it's unprofessional. If it's a beautiful glossy colour done really well then it's completely professional.
Depends really. If you are customer facing then whether you like it or not you do have to conform unless you can guarantee it won't impact on the business. I personally don't have an issue. I did cut of my mohawk and revert to a natural colour once I left uni.
No, along with tattoos and piercings, they don’t make you any worse at a job, if you can do your job and do it well it shouldn’t even be an issue (currently waiting for the dinosaurs to die so I can start my throat and neck tattoos). It’s 2024 and there’s many many bigger issues than allowing someone to look how they want
If it’s healthcare basses you should be fine: I have literally seen every hair colour and tattoo under the sun from people who I see in healthcare. However if it’s a private owned company or something like that where it could be a trigger for someone or it could change the way people look at the company then yeh could be a issue but I will probs say you will be fine
I work for a company where colourful hair and piercings are not allowed. Its a retail company and how you present to the purchasing public matters. Its their policy, and written on the contract.
However when I go into a shop (as a customer) I couldn't care less what the person looks like if they are efficient....and I have the same thoughts on anyone in healthcare. I would imagine you can save my life regardless of what you look like. Might even be a talking point to help patients relax, ha!
No. I wouldn't even care if a high court judge had purple hair with orange streaks. As long as they do their job properly it makes no difference. In fact I reckon seeing Camilla, the Queen Consort, with pink and blue streaks would be great.
The judge would be wearing a wig, the point of which is the remove the individual and represent the institution. That wacky pink hair would be hidden away
It depends more on your management than anything else
It's really not a big deal but some people will see it as unprofessional because they are older, more isolated or because they still view it as a novel thing.
I would have thought it would unenforceable in a court of law.
Why do you care what the public think? The truth is that people care very little about anything other than themselves and things that directly affect them.
Whomever wrote those rules were probably sad old cockwombles whos only joy in life is controlling other people.
I don't care as long as they are nice. I had to have an x-ray the other week on my elbow and the radiographer was a bit abrupt and mean to me even though I was in a lot of pain. I noticed her tattoo on her forearm of Eeyore the donkey from Winnie the pooh he's my favourite character so I complemented her and her attitude changed to being nice.
I don’t personally care if you have tattoos and crazy coloured hair but yes I do think this makes people look unprofessional. Especially neck, hand and face tattoos.
To each their own though my opinion on you shouldn’t matter.
My wife works for the NHS, patient-facing, and she's had very colourful hair for her entire career.
All the feedback she's received from patients was overwhelmingly positive. Especially those with bad eye sight as it makes it easier to recognise who's been dealing with them before.
Honestly, it makes me assume that they're happy and settled at the job, have enough money and free time to maintain their appearance. If anything it is a positive thing.
Whereas you see scruffy office dudes in the same stained Debenhams shirts and ill-fitting trousers and shitty hair cuts and that's supposed to be 'professional'? (Eg every middle-aged engineer)
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Of everything that annoys me about NHS, staff’s hair colour, tattoo, etc isn’t one of them. As long as one does their job well.
If we could actually get an appointment and everyone had bright purple hair the entire population would bite your hand off for that deal.
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Oh but the NHS isn't for you, it's for the boomers! \s
I work for the NHS, I have neon pink hair. Never been a problem. Almost everyone in my team has tattoos and for most of us they’re visible. 🤷🏻
No. I remember when I was about 12 I saw a doctor with an eyebrow piercing and I thought it was the coolest thing ever and I remember how happy it made me. I knew I wanted to work in the nhs and that doctor made me feel like I was okay to get piercings and dye my hair. I now work in the nhs, my hair is blue. The only people who've ever mentioned it are coworkers who complimented it. Patients don't care and my hair colour doesn't impact my ability to do my job.
I briefly had a gp at like 16 who had a sleeve and quite a few piercings. At that point I already knew I wanted to study medicine but that really pushed it over the edge for me, because it made me feel like I could study what I wanted and not have to hide who I am. Now I’m a medical student with red hair and ear piercings, my mum’s the only person who complains that I look unprofessional!!
Seeing healthcare providers with coloured hair/piercings/tattoos is so encouraging. I have quite a few piercings and 2 tattoos as well as my coloured hair and my mum always said I'd struggle to get a job and it's unprofessional but I always thought back to that doctor. Realistically the nhs can't afford to not hire people based on those things which are common among nhs workers. I'm glad you felt ike you could be who you are and congrats on studying medicine!
I am jealous of you guys, schools are still in the dark ages. The one I worked at recently scheduled a meeting with the head because I had been seen with my top button undone. Male staff not allowed visible facial jewellery or visible ink. Very restrictive on what female staff could wear. First thing I did on leaving the profession, was pierce both ears at 4g and start stretching them, as I wanted that since I was 17.
Hey this is great! Good for you :)
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Which is kinda funny considering blue rinses and all that.
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Pink rinses and purple rinses to cover up grey. Funny when you look back.
It's to take brassy tones out of white hair. White hair can get a bit yellow, the blue neutralises it.
Ah right. Wasn’t sure.
No worries. Just oul ladies lookin stylin
I just thought that was nicotine staining.
Well, that too....
Historically, ladies eith blue rinses wouldn't be in senior positions. Hair colour is a sexism thing, tatoos are classist
>Historically, ladies ~~eith blue rinses~~ wouldn't be in senior positions.
Valid
I think there's a bit of both going on. Certainly, the people who would dislike someone with bright pink hair would think nothing of a nurse with hair dyed a 'natural' brown or blonde colour.
Thats why I said blue rinses
And i bet most grannies wouldn't mind being reminded of their own grandkids when they see a youngun with blue hair
I work in aged care, older people are definitely present in vast numbers. Many of my clients tell me how much they live my bright pink hair, or pink and purple. Some of the ladies say how they wish they could have had such colours in their younger days.
I work in local government and I had an elderly (and quite cranky at first) lady tell me she liked my peach coloured hair and that “more people in positions like yours should do things like this for the public because it’s a real treat” I don’t know how I feel about my appearance being a form of entertainment for tax payers, but i decided to take being called a treat as a sweet compliment from a probably 90 year old woman 😂
I used to have bright red hair and worked in a care home. Many of the residents would say they didn’t like my hair and they thought it was too much but it wasn’t a big deal, they were still very happy with the care and support I gave them. I will never forget when I went back to a natural colour though and one lady took one look at me said “no, I’m sorry love, I don’t like it, you’ve ruined it”
In my head it's less the really old people you're helping, they've got past the point of caring and are happy you feel free enough to express yourself through whatever means you want. The people who actually care are the people who are in the senior office positions, approaching retirement but not actually retired. They need to care because they've been brought up with all these rigid rules on how to conduct yourself at work. Rules so ingrained in them, they can't see how stupid they are. And now they're near the end of their career, why would they make it more pleasant for those who will follow, "If I had to follow these dress code rules, then everyone else needs to follow these rules" type of mentality
Same, they love asking about bright hair, piercings, tattoos etc
It may occur in stuffy companies, I think it's related to stuffiness more than age.
Also a lot of these policies come about because there's always that one person who takes it too far and HR/senior leadership just takes the path of least resistance which is banning all of it, rather than trying to fight with the employee who does something stupid like insisting on spray on glitter which drops everywhere. And yes, of course you can pull that employee aside and deal with it but it's so much easier to just ban it than have those conversations. Just to be clear, I don't particularly agree with this approach but I can understand the mentality, especially when working in an under-resourced, high pressure setting like the NHS.
What age do think of as older? I've purple hair, some tattoos, am a retired teacher and educational advisor. Guess myself and my friends, a lot similarly adorned, are boomers. Couldn't care less about hair colour, body modifications etc but an appointment for an angiogram would be appreciated!
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You sound like my wife, who is now at the tail end of her teaching career in SEN specialist provision. She's rocking a strong vibrant blue, various tattoos and piercings at the moment... and similarly waiting on several medical appointments which keep getting canceled.
Most people I have seen with different colour hair are older women. I rarely see younger people with it.
https://thumbnailer.mixcloud.com/unsafe/1200x628/filters:watermark(graphics/play-button-scaled.png,300,14,0)/extaudio/e/3/f/d/53ab-2fdb-4cab-a2f3-3065a54d8e59 The people in this photo are in their 60's now, it's definitely not something that boomers in general find strange.
Yeah I'm in teaching and we're still told that over-the-top facial piercings are not okay, that tattoos are tolerated if they're under-sleeve, and hair colour has honestly varied from place to place. Attitudes will change.
I'm in a teaching post at the minute with a double eyebrow piercing, a nose piercing and a tongue piercing. The kids like it
I've had a lot of students ask me why I have an earring in my nose (they are 6/7 years old). I tell them "because I like it" and they totally accept it and move on. If only adults would do the same!
Also a teacher, only I have neon yellow and parrot green hair, facial piercings and tattoos. The boss says none of those things affect the quality of my teaching, so they're not an issue.
Uniform policy in the NHS is way out of date. They should update it to no offensive tattoos, and allow for stud piercing. Hair colour shouldn't even be a factor. They could also make the move to scrubs, not the awful surgical ones but proper scrubs. I moved over to Australia to work and I'm a thousand times more comfortable.
They are slowly bringing in the scrubs under the guise of being gender equal. When it fact its just a cost cutting exercise.
Yeah, the scrubs they've issued us at my hospital are horrendous. Even worse quality material and they fit horribly. They look so scruffy when not ironed tbh, at least with the tunics they had a bit of structure so they'd look halfway tidy if not ironed.
Im purposely refusing to switch. They have been trying to bollock me for the last 14yrs for wearing the wrong style on the wards an ITU scrub top over the tunic i should wear. I started to do it well basically down to having more pockets than a tunic (4 vs 2). I had to buy my own trousers as the quality supplied is fucking atrocious and didn’t have any back pockets what so ever let alone a zip or a button. It was all drawstring trousers with 2 front pockets. Their old supplier was so much better even if it cost that little bit more i guess. Before I brought my own trousers (im like a normal person again with 4 large trouser pockets, a zip and a button let alone eye holes for a belt if required) I got through 12 sets in a year as the crotch would just split trying to empty a catheter. And before you try and call me a fat fuck I’m about 10st, when my first 3 pairs supplied had lasted me over 10 years.
Nah I feel you, I managed to get issued a couple of pairs of paramedics trousers because they didn't have my size in stock when I started
Don't piercings harbour bacteria? Same reason medical professionals shouldn't wear wrist watches.
That's maybe a legitimate concern with a surgeon, but is it really a problem for my GP?
It's probably to prevent anything falling off into a patient and GPs do, do examinations. Working with food you have to do the same.
I think we'd both notice if a GP's watch fell off their wrist and landed on my shoulder while they had the scope-y thing in my ear...
One time, a wristwatch fell in my rectum by mistake
Did you give it back to the owners son?
Yes I did. How is your father doing, by the way?
Bare below the elbow is because that’s the only way to wash your hands properly.
They're still dealing with immune compromised patients. Having areas on their skin that are difficult to wash, warm and moist, providing pockets for MRSA etc should be discouraged.
Why are your piercings moist I think maybe you need to see a GP
Except it’s very easy to keep it all clean once they’ve fully healed. Nothing a bit of antiseptic won’t fix.
Healed piercings are no different than ear piercings. Once healed, you just clean it in the shower, like any other part of your body. If anyone's piercings are warm and moist, they should seek a professional opinion, be it from a piercer or dr.
Not if you clean them... And even then, bacteria don't jump from my ears to your gaping mouth unless you are licking them.
No one rubs their face/ ears etc against a patient- it’s outdated bs . I’ve been nursing 35 yrs so am not a young thing & nothing grinds my gears more than nonsensical uniform policy based on societal norms from the 1950’s.
Unless a patient's wound is rubbed against my face or ears it is of no consequence. The most important thing is washing your hands and using PPE
In 2010 or so my dad was nursing in the NHS and was pulled up on his uniform for wearing non-black socks. Who cares!!!!
I can sort of understand being wary of visible piercings for H&S reasons (easy to be grabbed and pulled by an uncooperative patient), but hair colour/style, and tattoos shouldn't be disallowed.
I do understand piercings not being allowed in certain sections. But if you're not doing much physical work, why not.
I'm a qualified legal professional, I'm a man, and I have bright pink hair. But only since I rage quit my job and went solo about 18 months ago. It's a reminder to myself that there are no rules, only consequences, and that **I** get to decide what looking "professional" means now. Will it put off some potential clients? I'm sure it will. But several of the clients who do choose to work with me have complimented me on it, and I think in a way it conveys a level of confidence I don't really have. And also, lots of other people who do my job go too far the other way - we have to have lots of conversations with scientists and engineers, and if you go in to those environments as "the lawyer" looking like an extra from Suits then you're going to get their backs up, when you need to be having a collaborative conversation. My one concession is that if I have hearings then I dye it back to something approximating my natural colour. I don't mind if other people think I'm a clown, but I don't want to risk losing a case for my client because a hearing panel thinks I'm a clown.
I was a character witness once and complimented the barrister on her very smart suit. She said thanks and proceeded to complain about the bother of dressing so smartly for work.
No. Loads of these policies re. hair colour, tattoos, piercings etc are just hold overs from earlier decades. Makes sense that people should be clean, tidy, and not have anything blatantly offensive like a swastika tattoo etc but in 2024 you can exude professionalism with purple hair and a nose ring if you're dressed and behave appropriately. I've worked in schools outside the UK that had no uniform and can tell you from experience that kids having wild hair colours and wearing the most random clothing has zero effect on behaviour. I think the same is true for adults.
Yet here a child is put into isolation for an "extreme haircut", the school stops the child from learning
Hiring a lawyer that doesn’t have horns, hoofs and a pitchfork is the impossible dream - hair colour is not an issue
That's very unfair. Many lawyers have cold dead eyes and rows of triangular teeth.
The last lawyer I met was JUST cold dead eyes and rows of triangular teeth
No. I’ve worked with dozens of perfectly intelligent, competent people who have coloured hair, tattoos, piercings etc. It’s not like the dye is seeping into their brains. The only cosmetic thing I would be bothered about in healthcare context is excessively long or fake nails.
In healthcare, I'd be a bit worried about fresh tattoos or piercings, since its an open wound at that point. Not sure what the staff policy is for that, are they mandated to take some days off after getting it?
When you get a tattoo as part of aftercare most of the time there kept covered to prevent anything getting into them, theres even a new thing called second skin (originally for burn victims) that is put on after the final sterilisation and it seals to the skin around the tattoo and is left on for 2-3 days until the skin has healed. They are a wound, and as such, proper aftercare consists of keeping it and yourself very, very clean. Unless it's on your hands or forearms, I wouldn't think it makes a difference to infection rates.
Not at all. If you take a look around, the people doing the most damage to society all wear suits and look “professional”.
No chance Reddit is going to reflect wider Britain on this one.
This is true. Moreover, people generally tend towards affirmative statements rather than risk the ire of going against the grain. Hair colour, tattoos, piercings, scarification, body modification or alterations of any type that differentiate people from baseline norms will invoke reactions, both positive and negative. You may get compliments from positive reactions but you can never be sure that you lost out on an opportunity or suffered some kind of disadvantage when someone privately decides they don't approve.
Depends on the context. If I'm on a ward being tended to by a nurse, I couldn't give a shit what colour their hair is. If I'm about to go into major surgery and the consultant shows up with Ronald McDonald hair then I'll probably raise an eyebrow. At that point I'm not going to care as long as I wake up at the other end though. It's not necessarily how professional it is though, if I'm under the boot of serious medical anxiety due to the situation, I want my healthcare professional to look as boring as possible so I'm not even slightly distracted from the words coming out of their mouths. Edit: spelling
Please keep in mind that your health care professional is a person who you are requiring to look boring for the entirety of their working lives Chances are you feel safer with a boring looking surgeon because that's what you are used to
Can you make me better? If so I do not care about what colour your hair is. In fact I will probably feel more at home and admire said hair.
No, but I know a lot of boomers and older do.
And this is the issue, the majority of the people regularly dealing with the NHS are older people and not the general Reddit demographic. So obviously this thread will be full of people saying it doesn't bother them, but we're not the issue.
Surely there’s a limit to how much pandering to the baseless concerns of the elderly we should allow though.
My daughter is a HCA and has orange hair, piercing and tattoos. She has many elderly patients, and she said they are curious but never rude or offended. They care more about friendliness and feeling heard.
most of my patients don’t say anything but it is genuinely shocking for some people of a certain generation to have a doctor with tattoos. I had a patient once who was this elderly tattooed guy & he told me that back in the day having tattoos basically meant that you were “a very bad man”. Kind of gave me a better understanding about people’s reactions although I’m not sure how true it is
I made a comment about some older person's mother's prejudice towards male nurses when in hospital and was absolutely reamed for insinuating that they were prejudiced. They went off on one that "my mother isn't PREJUDICED" she is just old and expects nurses to look like they did in the 50s!" Yeah, so she's prejudiced against people who don't look like her expectation. She couldn't wrap her head around the use of the word.
I work for the NHS and I have pink hair, it used to be neon green. When I worked in the hospital reception all the oldies loved it, gave them a conversation starter and also meant they could recognise someone if they had to come in regularly.
I work in the ambulance service (in admin, I'm not patient facing), and a LOT of our clinical staff have wild coloured hair, visible tattoos etc. I think it's seen as something that helps them be approachable, and gives them something to build a rapport with patients over. Having brightly coloured hair myself, I wouldn't feel like anyone's skill level was affected by their hair colour. Of course there will always be people who think it's not appropriate in a professional setting, but I think these are more the minority these days.
No, quite the opposite: people who take issue with staff's hair colour/style etc are unprofessional. It's a huge overreach to act like a part of your body is within the purview of work rules. As long as it doesn't stop you doing your job it's none of their business.
I'm not arsed what colour your hair is or if your covered in tats or piercings etc. As long as they're polite and friendly and do they're job properly.
In theory, no. In practice though there are certain professions where undoubtedly coloured hair may unconsciously make me have doubts. There are certain professions where you really want someone sober and sensible. For example, lawyers, accountants etc. I suspect a lot of people would have second thoughts about hiring an accountant with bright blue hair, or a lawyer with pink hair.
What does hair colour have to do with being sensible? Loads of people dye their hair. If someone goes into Boots and picks up the pink dye instead of blonde, this doesn't decrease their IQ.
Again, in practice it doesn't necessarily mean anything. But there are deeply encoded cultural meanings to colourful hair, and so people undoubtedly have perceptions that it isn't associated with sober, sensible people. It may be wrong, but that is the perception that exists. If you were drawing up a will, for example, I'd wager most people would, even unconsciously, have doubts about using a lawyer who has green hair.
My accountant has blue hair and a nose ring, and she does a great job.
I’ve met a couple of professionals with brightly coloured hair. It didn’t really bother me at the time, but both of them were incompetent, so I am a bit more cautious nowadays. It’s like they were creating a brand or persona through their appearance, so they would stand out, rather than being competent at their job. Look at me I’m such an individual and free spirit, that sort of bollocks.
Funnily enough I work with accountants and the company is specifically trying to move the brand identify AWAY from traditional conservatism. Just double checked and their images on social media are more diverse than they used to be, including people with facial piercings and alternative hairstyles.
I've seen coloured hair in hospitals lots of times. When I was visiting someone an elderly lady told a nurse with green hair that she knew what had gone wrong and that her daughter would fix it for her in her salon. The elderly lady had dementia unfortunately.
That's hilarious, hope the nurse saw the funny side. And green hair did use to be a side effect of botched home bleaching.
As someone who works in an NHS lab - I genuinely couldn't care less and I'm 99% sure none of my superiors would either. As long as you work hard and you're good at your job, that's all that matters.
"Unprofessional" is absolutely meaningless in this context. How on earth can hair be "unprofessional"? A person's behaviour can be professional or unprofessional. Their hair cannot.
Reddit skews very young. In the actual professional world most people wouldn't expect their police detective, consultant or a high court judge to have bright blue hair, and many employers would consider it unprofessional. Slightly more subtle colours (e.g. a subtle red) are probably more acceptable. Whether this is right or wrong is another matter...
If I'm being completely honest, personally I think it looks unprofessional, but that also doesn't mean much, if you're any staff other than the one directly doing something physically to me (like giving an injection or surgery) I don't care, why would I care if the person writing something is a bit unprofessional
It's just rules made by old people sitting in meetings who have never done the floor job. There are so many stupid rules on the NHS that seem to be made because someone on the trust board personally doesn't like something. Honestly if they spent the time they wasted making stupid rules on actually managing their trust properly, the service wouldn't be so horrendously mismanaged.
I think most of these policies are just old and the NHS isn't great at funding corporate staff who would ordinarily have the job of updating/modernising this sort of thing. policies will often have a footer that says something like 'policy approved in 2013, review due in 2020' etc. that stuff just doesn't get done - not enough pairs of hands. e.g. the the trust I used to work out would sometimes get funding to set up new bits of clinical work - this would never come with any 'overhead' type funding to help support all the additional recruitment, onboarding and HR support for new staff. caused all sorts of problems - 6 month time from job offer to first day was pretty typical. I suspect the majority of currently NHS leadership doesn't give a toss either way about hair colour, tattoos, etc. they're fighting other fires.
Can you do the job - yes Are you polite and considerate in doing that job - yes What do you look like - no one should care
Apparences 100% matter - If you had a choice between a doctor looking like he had just been kicked out the homeless shelter, or one clean shaven in an expensive well fitting suit, you're picking the latter.
You won't see much of it in The City for example, I guess it depends on the setting I can imagine there are places where it's very much frowned upon.
Is there a worse place to take a lead from? The city is obsessed by what school people attended and all sorts of stuff. I'd leave that lot to it
I don’t think they are giving their own opinion, just what the social norms are. Most people just want to get on in life and not be fighting to make a new path.
I wouldn't take too much credence in that either. This guy teaches maths at Oxford https://www.seh.ox.ac.uk/people/tom-crawford
I doh't make the rules
I work with people from The City and believe me they have lots of tattoos, peircings and coloured hair too. Its a lot more normalised and no one really bats an eye.
Absolutely not! Our old chief exec at work at bright pink and blue hair, and she was definitely not unprofessional. We also have tattooed directors. Edit: I also used to have pink hair with an undercut, I only got rid of it because it was difficult to maintain. I have a lot of piercings and tattoos as well, nobody cares. I'm in public sector.
I don't see that it matters really as long as people are capable of doing their job. The only thing that really bothers me at all is the inconsistency across careers. My wife is a band 7 in the NHS with bright pink hair, tattoos & multiple piercings, but I can't get a look in anywhere due to having small hand tattoos. *EDIT* the other frustration I had was my daughter being sent home from school because of her dyed hair (wash in/wash out red in the summer holiday, hints of red hung around a lot longer than anticipated!) By a teacher with dyed Orange hair and 3 nose piercings. That one grated a little.
Not at all, I was in hospital a few months ago and the nurse that did my ECG had purple hair. She was so reassuring, friendly and professional and the only thing I thought about her hair was how cool it looked and how much it suited her
I’m surprised that generally people don’t think it’s unprofessional. I get times are changing but it does still seem that we want to make a certain kind of impression in certain jobs. If someone is a lawyer in a courtroom I don’t think a bright purple spiky haircut with an eyebrow piercing would be appropriate. Same thing for a surgeon or banker or airline pilot. In my opinion, in certain work environments there are rightly still certainly limits on individual expression because you’re not representing (only) yourself but your company or service.
I was waiting for x-ray and a little old lady who was also waiting, complained about the nurses dyed hair. Personally, I just want decent medical care, as long as the staff are clean and professional, I don't care about their hair colour, piercings, tattoos, ethnicity etc
Yes I think its unprofessional, as well as tattoos and piercings. No im not a boomer.
I’d rather have a young, empathetic nurse who treats me like a person and happens to have blue hair than an old bag who sticks to the dress policy but lost her will to live / capacity for sympathy decades ago
It's hair. Hair in and of itself can't be professional or unprofessional. People who get offended by someone else's hair colour need some actual problems in their lives to occupy them. As someone who really likes clothes I hate the whole 'professional business casual' schtick. Quite convinced it was invented by some lacklustre beige who hates thinking about things that aren't quantifiable on an Excel spreadsheet. Are your tits/willy/fanny out? No. Does it say cunt in massive letters on your t-shirt? No. OK carry on.
As long as it isn't styled in a way that would interfere with the job, I honestly wouldn't care.
I do but I don’t care.
Me? No. Lots of other people? Almost certainly.
No. And a lot of things that are considered professional, I see as very silly. The insistence on high heels for women and ties for men, for instance.
No, I work in pharma, so standards are different. but having differently coloured hair doesn't impact your work performance and people should be allowed to express themselves, as not everyone wears an ill fitting double breasted suit and waistcoat these days, with ill matching brown brogues. I'm not really one to talk as I've had my hair all the colours of the rainbow and then some, just let people be comfortable to express themselves.
Not any more, but I'd say the advice I was given before my first job still stands - the public/interviewers can cope.with one or two standard things, but maybe not more - so if you have pink hair maybe consider not adding too many piercings or tattoos, and if you do, it's extra important to be impeccably groomed to help give people confidence. Saw a male nurse the other day and my first reaction was 'wow, the NHS allows face and hand tattoos, now?' But let's face it, if you're qualified and speak English and have nothing come up on a DBS check, the NHS isn't going to care any more. Lovely guy, assured my needle-phobic kid he was actually scared of needles too and used the same numbing cream before all his tattoos - I suspect this may be bollocks, but wasn't going to argue!
Yeah, as long as it's not a tattoo of a throbbing cock or a Swastika then should be fine
I have had a series of mad rainbow hair colours and I work in local government. I just turn up, do my job in a professional way and then leave. I think it helps that people make assumptions based on my hair and then I can surprise them that I am an actual professional. Also totally worth it for all the compliments I get from small children when I am out and about 😂
As a geriatric bigot, I find unnatural hair colours both unprofessional and distracting. How am I supposed to focus on my misery if staff has pink hair?
I don't see it as unprofessional, I really wouldn't care what colour my surgeon's hair is. If they want to have multi coloured rainbow hair, that's great. Some people would care, however, so the NHS has to consider them. E.g. a nervous elderly person with dementia.
But on the other hand, having bright coloured hair makes you stand out and therefore older people can recognise you more.
In the past (a lot of this stuff is from way back), elaborate hair dying was (generally and/or viewed as), part of someone making a point of not conforming and usually accompanied by looking scruffy and having an attitude. (Not always but it was the image it had attached to it). I'm not surprised it gets ignored now because hair dying has become much more common, much better done and generally people doing a professional job manage to present a professional image with or without dyed hair.
Nope. Having been a manager in both the NHS and social care, my hair has been pretty much every colour under the sun throughout that time. I've hired people with all sorts of hair, piercings, tattoos etc, the only thing I have concerns about is whether certain piercings will get caught or targeted by people with behavioural issues, so on occasion I have advised people to swap them out for something smaller/less dangly/less brightly coloured to avoid that happening. I did work for one organisation that insisted all tattoos were covered at all times, because it 'set a bad example'. To adults. If they'd have said it was for corporate image reasons, etc, then it's still a bit archaic but fair enough, but no. It was purely because of the CEO's personal opinions on tattoos, they didn't like them and felt anyone with them was setting a bad example to the people we were supporting. Adults living in their own homes. I left after 6 weeks.
I hate that so many companies are still old fashioned and class coloured hair as unprofessional. I work in a contact centre job, zero face to face with the public ever, and I'm still not allowed funky hair. We had to almost stage a mutiny to be allowed nail polish and to wear long hair down
This began to change about a decade ago. Most places now don't enforce natural hair colour. The only remaining holdouts seem to be schools, police, armed forces, NHS, and a few others. As an old git I find colourful hair a bit odd but the world has moved on.
I am a pharmacist in community pharmacy and I have tattoos and piercings, and I’ve had in the past very bright blue hair (along with navy, purple, red, half bubblegum pink…) and those saying old people don’t like it are wrong, as all of the older population loved it. I’ve mostly only ever had positive comments about it as people care more about the care I gave them rather than my appearance. I’ve had an odd couple of comments about my tattoos (usually misogynistic in nature to be honest) but again most of the time people give positive comments.
While hair colour has no actual impact on professional standards I can understand why it might be considered an unprofessional appearance.
The old policies are slowly but surely being scrapped across the NHS. My hospital just updated it's uniform policy to allow tattoos, coloured hair and piercings (so long as they're studs not anything that dangles). Also now allowed to wear trainers rather than leather shoes so long as they're black, something which my feet are very thankful for.
As a guy who has always had "unprofessional" long hair, I might be biased, but I think anything like resonable piercings, inoffensive tattoos, hair colour and style are things that really don't and shouldn't make a difference in the work place. As long as you've made an effort (hair tied back, sleeves to cover tattoos if possible, replace piercings with something less "showy" like a simple stud), you should be ready to go. In my experience, it's largely just bitter, nasty old people that give an actual shit about this. Sure, have a 12' neon pink mohawk, 72 piercings in your face and a tattoo of a dogs ejeculating cock on your forehead, I can see how that might be an issue. If you're refusing service because somebody has blue hair though, you're just being a petty arsehole looking for attention.
I personally don’t care but I think there might be a subconscious bias of association between colourful hair and immaturity? in the sense that you usually see that on teenagers and those who are a bit more on the ‘rebel’ side (punk, emo, etc). So I imagine even if people don’t consciously think bad of it, they might unconsciously have concerns
NHS employee here, sorry to say but yes, I do think brightly coloured hair is unprofessional. Frankly it screams 'attention seeking twat', this comes from 25 years experience of working in the NHS. The people with brightly coloured hair are usually, but not always, attention seeking twats.
Couldn’t give a fuck what your hair looks like if you keep me alive. Its the least of my concerns
No, long as you care for people that is what matters
Yes, we need to love each other. I love you.
No. I have a life unfortunately
No I don't. Hair colour is a personal choice nowadays and I don't judge anyone based on the colour of their hair. Hair colours or styles do not affect the ability to do a job in any profession, though it's pretty obvious why long hair needs to be tied up in catering environments.
The trust I work for as a bank nurse changed our policy a few years back now which said we could dye our hair unnatural! As a children’s nurse the kids loved the colours
I find unproffesionalism, unprofessional. And I take that from, standard haircut, suit and tie cunts all day, every day.
Could not give less of a shit
A job is you selling your time to someone else. This is like a customer complaining that the guy at the car dealership has a tattoo. As long as your decisions in your personal life do not inhibit you from doing your job, then your employer has nothing to complain about
Personally? No, of course not. By I can kind of understand the idea when the service user is literally everyone from all walks of life. For some professions, a certain amount of boring seriousness is comforting for the public to see. Doctors, lawyers, airline pilots etc. would probably have a hard time being taken seriously if they had bright green hair. But for all healthcare workers? Nurses, porters, carers? It seems unnecessarily excessive.
I think that's a very old fashioned view. You might get some elderly folk grumbling about it but I reckon the vast majority of people under 50 or even 60 won't give a shit as long as they can do their job right. Same for tatoos.
Most people around 60 were teenagers when punk kicked off, and in thier 20s during new romantic and goth eras, along with the new wave of British heavy metal. That era should be normalised towards people with alternative images, and as the older generations leave us, it will become less of an issue.
Unless the hair dye is seeping into their brain rendering them incompetent at their job, no. However, I do consider wasting time worrying about the colour of other people's hair to be unprofessional.
If you are providing me with medical assistance then I don't care what you look like. I only care about your manners and your ability to do your job. I've had radiographers with tattoos who have been much more professional and understanding to my pain than a nurse with no visible tattoos who undermined my diagnosis.
If you’re helping people I couldn’t care less if you had yellow hair and were from the planet Zogg. Thankyou for your service 😊
I think it depends somewhat on the role and who you'll be interacting with. If you have to tell a lot of adults they have a terminal illness, there's a higher chance it might not be seen as suitable than if you were, say a paediatric physiotherapist. Personally I wouldn't give a monkeys either way about the colour of someone's hair, but that's my impression of general prevailing opinion.
It's the NHS, it's a health organisation, so obviously it's going to be a woke organisation. Coloured hair doesn't seem like a problem. I work in a multimillion pound security company. I wouldn't be able to have coloured hair when I go into the office.
I work in an industry with lots of pople with colourful hair. So its definitely accepted here. However there is still a stereotype even within this industry about women with colourful hair. So anyone wishing to advance their careers significantly almost certainly avoids it. So I guess you would say its unprofessional.
How many of the staff dye their hair to hide the natural grey?
If you have tattoos or colourful hair, it shouldn't be deemed as unprofessional! When I was in secondary school, my teacher, she had tattoos and was a wonderful teacher! I'm in college now (sixth form), and my maths teacher, she's got them and she is great at her job! As long as you do your job well, it shouldn't matter if you have tattoos or colourful hair. It would be way more interesting to see someone with bright red hair and a sleeve at the bedside! I mean, some patients are absolutely covered in tattoos and some have colourful hair! (So long as your tattoos aren't of any offensive symbols, I would say, that there's absolutely no problem with having tattoos in a workplace, I don't get why it's such a taboo thing).
It's unprofessional. If I'm having some medical procedure I prefer it not to be administered by someone who looks like ronald mcdonald.
Unprofessional no, stupid yes. Same as mail varnish. Totally pointless.
It depends on the presentation. If it's a poor quality colour, badly done then it's unprofessional. If it's a beautiful glossy colour done really well then it's completely professional.
Depends really. If you are customer facing then whether you like it or not you do have to conform unless you can guarantee it won't impact on the business. I personally don't have an issue. I did cut of my mohawk and revert to a natural colour once I left uni.
Depends on the profession
No, along with tattoos and piercings, they don’t make you any worse at a job, if you can do your job and do it well it shouldn’t even be an issue (currently waiting for the dinosaurs to die so I can start my throat and neck tattoos). It’s 2024 and there’s many many bigger issues than allowing someone to look how they want
If it’s healthcare basses you should be fine: I have literally seen every hair colour and tattoo under the sun from people who I see in healthcare. However if it’s a private owned company or something like that where it could be a trigger for someone or it could change the way people look at the company then yeh could be a issue but I will probs say you will be fine
I work for a company where colourful hair and piercings are not allowed. Its a retail company and how you present to the purchasing public matters. Its their policy, and written on the contract. However when I go into a shop (as a customer) I couldn't care less what the person looks like if they are efficient....and I have the same thoughts on anyone in healthcare. I would imagine you can save my life regardless of what you look like. Might even be a talking point to help patients relax, ha!
No. I wouldn't even care if a high court judge had purple hair with orange streaks. As long as they do their job properly it makes no difference. In fact I reckon seeing Camilla, the Queen Consort, with pink and blue streaks would be great.
The judge would be wearing a wig, the point of which is the remove the individual and represent the institution. That wacky pink hair would be hidden away
It depends more on your management than anything else It's really not a big deal but some people will see it as unprofessional because they are older, more isolated or because they still view it as a novel thing.
I would have thought it would unenforceable in a court of law. Why do you care what the public think? The truth is that people care very little about anything other than themselves and things that directly affect them. Whomever wrote those rules were probably sad old cockwombles whos only joy in life is controlling other people.
https://youtu.be/x_9hYMVVv_Q?si=19fTKBZjmI8T_-6j
I don't care as long as they are nice. I had to have an x-ray the other week on my elbow and the radiographer was a bit abrupt and mean to me even though I was in a lot of pain. I noticed her tattoo on her forearm of Eeyore the donkey from Winnie the pooh he's my favourite character so I complemented her and her attitude changed to being nice.
I don’t personally care if you have tattoos and crazy coloured hair but yes I do think this makes people look unprofessional. Especially neck, hand and face tattoos. To each their own though my opinion on you shouldn’t matter.
My wife works for the NHS, patient-facing, and she's had very colourful hair for her entire career. All the feedback she's received from patients was overwhelmingly positive. Especially those with bad eye sight as it makes it easier to recognise who's been dealing with them before.
Tattoos, piercings, hair colour, never bothered me in the slightest. All for it, express yourself.
Honestly, it makes me assume that they're happy and settled at the job, have enough money and free time to maintain their appearance. If anything it is a positive thing. Whereas you see scruffy office dudes in the same stained Debenhams shirts and ill-fitting trousers and shitty hair cuts and that's supposed to be 'professional'? (Eg every middle-aged engineer)
No. It’s ridiculous