Beauty in the workplace: brightly colored hair
What beauty statements do you think are too much for the workplace, and how do you think the nature of the workplace dictates those rules? For instance, how are these standards different at a law firm or a creative advertising agency? In New York or Tampa? Or… Portland.
An employee of a Portland International Airport bookstore, Powell’s, has recently been reprimanded by the Port of Portland, which leases the space to Powell’s for having pink tresses. In a customer service environment, dress codes based on the expectations of customers are perfectly appropriate. At Hot Topic (a US chain of punk and scene fashions) one might expect to see pink hair more often than at Brooks Brothers.
But, shouldn’t it be up to Powell’s, which apparently had no problem with employee Kara Garland’s hair color? And adding to the complexity of the issue, Kara also claims to have visible tattoos and piercings on her blog about the issue. Wouldn’t those have raised similar red flags among authorities if such displays were an issue? In her blog, Kara talks about body ownership.
“I don’t really understand how it could make anyone feel uncomfortable. I feel that if someone disapproves of me for having pink hair, they won’t like me any better with a ‘natural’ color because of my visible tattoo and piercings. Or because I work for Powell’s, any number of reasons really, all based on prejudices. I strongly feel that my customer service shines through any initial bad impression of me based on old stereotypes. Bad customer service is what drives people away, not brightly colored hair.”
As someone with pink hair of her own, (that’s me in the pic!) I feel I’m a bit biased on the issue. What do you think? Tell us in the poll at the link below.
What do you think of “non-natural” hair colors in the workplace?
( polls)
Tags: bright hair, bright hair in workplace, hair, pink hair
Agree, on both points. A streak of pink hair is highly unlikely to cause offence to anyone in this day and age and it should definitely have been up to Powell’s.
Love your pink locks Andrea, I’m sure Cy and his alter ego Ling would approve!
Added to my favourites list and added to my blogroll.