Hi!
I’m a senior in high school and I’m really tempted to shave half of my head. I have long hair, so I could cover it up if I really needed to. Would this hamper my chances of getting internships and the like?
Define tempted. Shaving half your head seems a little drastic for someone with long hair – is this just a sudden urge or is this something you’ve wanted to do for a while?
I would love to shave half of my head – or even my whole head, look up Natalie Portman when she had it buzzed. GORGEOUS.
If covering it up is easy with the rest of your hair, I say go for it.
Depends on where you are seeking internships. If you are seeking internships at an employer with conservative dress and grooming standards, or something customer facing to conservative customers, unusual hair styles can be a problem. But that may be less of or not an issue in some other types of situations.
Of course, hair eventually grows back, so if you encounter this problem, it is not as permanent as it would be with a tattoo.
Side to side or front to back?
@jym626 Basically it would look like my profile picture except instead of just braiding that side of my head it would be shaved. Probably even a little less drastic because it wouldn’t go back as far and I’d part it further down so I could cover it easily.
@preamble1776 I’ve been thinking about it for awhile but only recently started seriously considering it. I would probably wait at least two weeks before I actually did it, but this was one of my major reservations.
If you plan on applying to internships that might have a more conservative background, it could be a problem. It would be great if people weren’t judged on appearances, but unfortunately they are.
Are you Brittany Spears? Watch the umbrella.
@GA2012MOM Britney Spears shaved her hair completely off because she was sick of people touching it. I’m very carefully considering whether I should cut off some of my hair and asking if there could be any repercussions in the future. Not exactly comparable.
Sorry, it was a joke.
@GA2012MOM No worries, it’s hard to detect tone on these forums.
Run it by your parents.
High school graduation is coming up, and your mom is going to want to treasure those pictures forever.
Why go so drastic… why not just go supershort or even color you hair? Both make a statement, but not in quite so drastic a fashion as a shaved head.
A shaved head says “chemo” to me. A partially shaved head would indicate that you had surgery of some sort.
Generally speaking, professional jobs/internships will require dress/style that is more conservative.
Some companies, however, may not care, and some may actually like or prefer individual style. As with most things in life, it just depends.
My personal opinion: unless you’re going into an artistic field, I think having an extreme haircut will hamper your competitiveness.
didn’t britany spears shave her head because she was going a wee bit crazy?
@slights32 - I don’t think the Britney Spears comparison here is apt - OP is talking about a specific hairstyle, that, while certainly unique, isn’t “crazy” – I’ve seen girls shave a section of their hair off. Its just a style. The issue is whether or not such a hairstyle (like a mohawk, or green streaks, etc) would be a hindrance in terms of interviews for jobs/internships.
@preamble1776 the Britney Spears comparison had already been made in the thread. And I do think that being looked at as crazy is definitely a hindrance for most job prospects. Though, I have seen someone pull it off and look amazing. She worked at an alternative store though.
Like other posters have said, it really depends on what fields you want to go into. Some fields will care more than others. I work in healthcare, and having unusual hair styles (including unnatural hair colors) or other things like atypical piercings (of the tongue or multiple ear piercings) or even black nail polish have reactions ranging from frowned upon to against the rules. I don’t work with anyone who who has had a hairstyle like this, but I have worked with students who have changed their appearances for the institution–including taking out nose and tongue piercings, covering tattoos, refraining from painting their nails certain colors, and dying their hair back to a natural color.
So it really depends. If this is a concern of yours, then I would air on the side of not doing it. People can judge you on all sorts of things, and there’s not a lot of reason to give a potential employer another reason not to hire you. On the other hand, as a freshman, it’s likely that you won’t be doing many internships in the very beginning anyway (just because you don’t have very much experience or coursework yet) so by the time you’re seriously pursuing these things your hair may have grown back. But keep in mind that if you want to volunteer or work in settings like a hospital or the like, there may be a certain dress code (including comments about hairstyles and such) that you have to abide by.