Does hairloss effect your career?

[Autumn Sundown]

I never thought it would, but it seems to be brought up occasionally on hairloss sites. I'm still in school, but my dad is bald and he's done insanely well for himself for someone who barely passed high school and never went to college.

I asked him what he thought about the subject and he said no one really cares how much hair you have on your head as long as you're clean and well dressed. He's a very smart and well spoken man and that becomes obvious within a few minutes of meeting him, which makes me think it's the lack of confidence and not the hairloss itself that possible employers pick up on.

What do you think? I mean, most men lose hair to some degree, it's not like bosses are caught off guard by it. It would be a stretch to think anyone would consider a bald man any less intelligent than a hairy one.

EDIT: I was thinking about some of the teachers around my school. In the history department alone one teacher is 29 and a NW5, another is 32 and a NW5 and one is in his 40's and a NW7. There's also a 28 year old teacher who is a NW3. They seem to be doing okay despite their hairloss.

 

[GeminiX]

In almost all careers hairloss will have no effect whatsoever; if you're a model though then it might.

What might have in impact would be mood / personality changes etc. which can be caused by low self esteem. There are several posters on here who say they feel their lives are ruined becase of how hairloss has made them feel about themselves.

 

[Autumn Sundown]

In almost all careers hairloss will have no effect whatsoever; if you're a model though then it might.

What might have in impact would be mood / personality changes etc. which can be caused by low self esteem. There are several posters on here who say they feel their lives are ruined becase of how hairloss has made them feel about themselves.

That's what I thought, thank you for reassuring me. :]

 

[mpbsux20]

Before I had any hairloss,I could have a decent hair cut and look good but right now,I cant comb it backward or forward.I am forced to keep it long in the front to cover my severely receded temples.If I have a bad hair day,I look awful. :thumbdown2:

I used to be a lot more confident when I looked at myself in the mirror.This has made me develop a low self-esteem and I have just come out of a major depression which I had ever since I performed miserably in high school.

 

[cuebald]

Hairloss will only work against you in the jobs market if you are applying for jobs testing shampoo.
I have never felt discriminated against at work because of baldness. It doesn't happen; people in the interview process etc don't even give hair a passing glance.

Infact I'd be willing to say it could even help you if the interviewer is bald and shares the "bald kinship" (if you've made a very good impression in the first place).


Conversely, when I had hair I went to interviews with a large head of messy, unkept black hair, it never worked against me then either. But then I work in the IT industry :mrgreen: A large number of people in IT are bald.

Women though, they ignore me like I don't even exist. Uglyness really takes its toll in that world...

 

[s.a.f]

Does hairloss effect your career? - Depends on the people you work with if they are shallow individuals then yes.
But I expect that everyone is to some degree. But then this probably also applies to ageism ect.

 

[Draco88]

I guess if you let hairloss effect your own self, then it will effect your career. But for many of us, it's hard to not let it effect our own selves.

 

[willghairfight]

I would say it effects your career if the issue effects you , because how you feel about yourself is going to show in your confidence and willing to take chances and growth. So I would say that we are going to be our biggest challenge to overcome.

But hey thats why we are here to fight so we can have both.

 

[Nene]

I would say it effects your career if the issue effects you , because how you feel about yourself is going to show in your confidence and willing to take chances and growth. So I would say that we are going to be our biggest challenge to overcome.

But hey thats why we are here to fight so we can have both.

Oh man, here we go again. I thought this thread died a year ago.

I refuse to comment. :whistle:

(BTW, IMO, yes it does affect your career negatively in a lot of occupations, not just modeling)

So long as you don't let your hair loss effect your job performance, it shouldn't be a hindrance and in fact could be a boon in some fields.

 

[toocoolforhair]

Hair loss will affect your modelling career. Anything else is all down to hard work and talent.

 

[HeHateMe23]

Hair loss made me quit my job.

I'm 21 and this wasn't a "career" for me, but it was a decent paying job for me while I'm still in school.

I was just too embarrassed to go to work, I went through a terrible shedding phase.

 

[Nashville Hairline]

dudemon, you're blue collar experiences dont suprise me...in my experience they aren't that far removed from a school or locker-room mentality..guys normally work these kinds of jobs and thats just how they speak - pick on another guy's perceived faults to make up for whatever you're feeling that day etc etc. It will always be that way.

I moved up and worked as an engineer but can still remember a co-worker asking about my 'sunroof' i.e. my baldspot, and all I could do was respond about his weight out of self-defense. I'm not proud of picking on his weight but such is life.

I dunno though, I still got the job in the first place! All recruiters are not smug NW1s and the good ones know that discrimination for jobs cannot be based on appearance and the trajectory of most careers means you wont be in a position to be hiring people by the time you are in your 40s or 50s anyway i.e. good chance the recruiter is balding himself.

So, I have no problems with the idea of getting jobs as a balding dude, its only those familiar feelings of being insecure in the workplace that make me nervous. Screw the bullies.

 

[Boondock]

Yeah, I remember all the women would always come in and flirt with those same guys giving me sh*t all day/every day about my hair. If I even dared to talk to any of them, not only would I be "scolded" by my superior (with a superiority complex) but then he'd lay into me twice as hard later when the girls were gone. It was his form of punishment for me - for being a baldy and attempting to talk to a pretty girl. If I didn't put up with it, and allow him to belittle me, he'd send me home - without pay. since I was making low wages at that time, and didn't have much experience (only 5 years then, which is nothing for a mechanic) I couldn't easily get another job. so I had to just put up with it.

Eventually, the shop lost some big contracts and work got really slow, and they started laying people off, including me. I knew I wasn't coming back, so I totally got my revenge (ahh, sweet revenge!) on that a**hole! (and then some!)

In fact, I messed that guy's sh*t up so bad (after he got off work one night - I waited for him) that he (and a couple of his cohorts) snuck into my garage at my house where i was living at the time, and they dumped metal shavings down into the carburetor in my car which cost me an engine. (That's how badly I got over on that guy...he was that pissed at me!) :dunno:

So you waited in the dark for your boss after work, then pummeled the sh*t out of him?

 

[cuebald]

I'd have done the same

 

[Boondock]

Yeah, I remember all the women would always come in and flirt with those same guys giving me sh*t all day/every day about my hair. If I even dared to talk to any of them, not only would I be "scolded" by my superior (with a superiority complex) but then he'd lay into me twice as hard later when the girls were gone. It was his form of punishment for me - for being a baldy and attempting to talk to a pretty girl. If I didn't put up with it, and allow him to belittle me, he'd send me home - without pay. since I was making low wages at that time, and didn't have much experience (only 5 years then, which is nothing for a mechanic) I couldn't easily get another job. so I had to just put up with it.

Eventually, the shop lost some big contracts and work got really slow, and they started laying people off, including me. I knew I wasn't coming back, so I totally got my revenge (ahh, sweet revenge!) on that a**hole! (and then some!)

In fact, I messed that guy's sh*t up so bad (after he got off work one night - I waited for him) that he (and a couple of his cohorts) snuck into my garage at my house where i was living at the time, and they dumped metal shavings down into the carburetor in my car which cost me an engine. (That's how badly I got over on that guy...he was that pissed at me!) :dunno:

So you waited in the dark for your boss after work, then pummeled the sh*t out of him?

No, I did it right there at the shop. It was about 6:00pm and not dark yet, and they were just closing up. I don't want to go into specifics, becuase I don't want to incriminate myself. :whistle: Let's just say I made that sucker pay for all those years of making fun of me everyday because of my hair, while I wasn't able to stand up to him for financial reasons.

I'm guessing this is the same reason you've said you can't post pics of your hair situation, due to people that are after you.

 

[Boondock]

That's some real f*cked up sh*t, dude. I've got to say your down-to-earth approach is one of the reasons why I doubt I'll ever go the hair transplant route. I guess I don't even trust the good guys in that industry, really.