Open Thread: Great Hair Cuts

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New in Town (movie poster)A while back we got this e-mail from a reader, curious about great hair styles…
Can you do a story on work appropriate hair cuts / styles? I'm getting a hair cut soon for interview season, and I'm looking for suggestions on savvy, sophisticated, work-appropriate haircuts.
This is an excellent question, and we're curious to hear what you readers have to say. For our $.02, it seems that the greatest cut is the one that is flattering to you and requires the least upkeep as possible. For a lot of tv and film producers, however, “professional hair” has been interpreted as having stick-straight hair that hits between “shoulder-length” and “just past shoulder-length” (see, e.g., Renee Zellweger's latest movie, New In Town (poster pictured above)*. Similarly, a lot of anchors have that same length hair, but with a lot of poof (such as Maria Bartiromo). Of course, these styles look less professional when you don't have the benefits of a hair stylist on staff. What do YOU think the best hair cuts are? Which actresses or personalities do you admire as having amazing, professional-looking hair? Personally, with our wavy, newly short-ish hair, we strive for Christina Applegate's hair in “Samantha Who?” (but alas, ours is more wavy/frizzy than curly/bouncy — sigh). (Also, for our $.02, any hairstyle hitting below approaching your bra strap  is too long to be professional, unless you are Portia de Rossi in Better Off Ted, in which case it works.) * Update 8/2010: Please do not take this mention as an endorsement of the movie — I finally saw it a few months ago and, yes, let's just say I'm not endorsing it. – Kat

77 Comments

  1. Women before about 1920 wore their hair up all the time, before that no decent adult woman would go out in public with her hair down, maybe that’s where the current anti-unconfined-long-hair business started. Anyhow, making a good updo just takes practice. Day-old hair is more cooperative, so if you wash it in the evening, that will help. Basically you make a ponytail, then backcomb the tail a little make to more it pinnable, although with curly hair you might be able to skip this step. Wind the tail around the elastic, and pin the swirl in place. This is the hard part. Use LOTS of pins. Not bobby pins – you need the ones that are made of thinner wire, with a crimp along the shafts, which are, um, open, not closed, like regular bobby pins. Flyaways get stuck down by whatever product you prefer, plain old fashioned hairspray works fine. Give the swirl a good shot of spray, too. This should survive most days.

  2. I think long hair (which I define as bra strap length or longer) can be worn by any age and still look professional–a friend and partner of mine is in her 40s and until recently, had long, slightly layered, straight hair that was very professional looking and was one of her best features. I also saw a woman recently who had beautiful gray hair just past her shoulders, very professional and stylish looking (she somehow looked French).
    I agree that the ren-faire look is definitely a mistake, as is “high school hair”, basically long, all-one-length hair that just hangs there and looks like it belongs on a 16 year old. So I guess if you’re going to wear it long, it should be stylish and styled, or regularly pulled back or up for work. I definitely don’t agree that everyone has to wear a bob just to look professional (although I wear my hair in a longish version of something between a bob and a shag, maybe its just a shaggy bob, but I do that because its flattering and versatile, not just because its professional looking).

  3. Can we do a post on what hair accessories are work appropriate?

    I recently got a bad short cut and it looks much neater with a big headband, but I’m not sure about wearing a headband in the office.

    1. I’m pretty sure headbands were discussed recently. Do a search! I personally love a cute headband, but for the office can only do very thin ones, and for some reason, only in the fall / winter. Summer headbands just scream picnic to me.

  4. I have long straight hair which is several inches past my shoulders which I pull back into a mid to high ponytail or low messy bun for work; I prefer the higher pony tail–more feminine and energetic-appearing to me. Low pony looks tired to me. Personally, I think a pulled back ponytail (for straight hair) looks far classier and more attractive than most short haircuts I have seen on women. I am glad I don’t have curly hair–that’s much harder to make look professional, I think.

  5. I am 32 and have very curly hair – think tight spirals – that goes past my shoulders. I had a bob at one point and loved it but eventually gave in to the cajoling of my husband, who prefers my hair long (in return, he had to agree to keep his bushy hair short! ;)) Now, in my job as in-house counsel at a pretty conservative company, I wear my hair in a low ponytail or french twist when I know I have important meetings, otherwise I let my curls run free.

  6. Tight spirals makes it much easier to wear curly hair down, because even if it’s “big hair” it looks much neater and more professional than my wavy/loose curls (otherwise known as “Jewish Girl Hair”)

    Court (criminal) here in Prairie City, Canada, is moderately formal (suits, closed toe shoes for lawyers) and there’s only one woman I can think of who wears her curly hair loose on a regular basis. I generally straighten mine or put it in a bun for court, because my kind of curls are very hit-and-miss on drying in a neat an professional manner. Even with good products.

    I am shocked, on the other hand, by how messy some of the straight-haired women think they can be with their hair. Unbrushed, greasy looking, messy messy bun…yuck.

  7. There is a book, Curly Girl, by Lorraine Massey. My curly-haired sister-in-law swears by it, and her hair always looks good. As someone with ornery limp lame-o hair that goes in strange directions without a ton of styling, can I express some envy of you curlies (tried perms, made my hair to brittle)? When curly hair is long, or long-ish, and pinned up, I think that’s the prettiest look I’ve even seen, and plenty tidy enough for work.

  8. Thanks Diana and Coolcat for answering my question about how to make hair stay up in a bun or updo! I’ll try the Clever Clip and the U-shaped bobby pins (are those the ones you mean?).
    I’d still love to read a post on how to do a good updo that lasts the whole day. I’ve tried Frizz Ease hair spray, but by lunchtime I see bits and pieces poking out of my attempted bun, and the hairspray makes my hair feel thick and lifeless the next day – do you use hairspray again day after day?
    Viewed the Clever Clip video just now, and it seems like it works best if your hair is all the same length? (otherwise bits dont go all around the bun and stick out in the middle).
    Sorry I have so many questions – no female relatives who are professionals and no sisters, alas! :)

    1. Samantha – yes, the hair spray residue sucks, but for uncooperative hair, it seems to be the only way. I need to wash it every second day anyhow, so the build-up isn’t so bad. At least if I know it’s going into an updo I can just blow-dry it quickly and not have to style it as I dry.

  9. I do not recommend the Clever Clip unless your hair is super long and without layers. My hair is straight, about three or four inches past my shoulders with layers, and I cannot get my hair to stay up in the Clever Clip for the life of me. It also seems like my hair just slips out of it, even though my hair is not particulary thin or slippery.

  10. I think it depends more on how the hair is worn vs. the length and/or cut. Long hair can look professional or disheveled, as can any length hair.

    I used to have very long hair (bra strap and even a bit longer). However, I constantly found myself just wearing it in a pony tail, which is not the most flattering look for my face and body shape, and honestly is horribly boring after a while, at least for me. Now, I have an asymmetrical a-line bob, very similar to Rihanna’s hair (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VHs3rTT9pcU/RizN5dtCyCI/AAAAAAAAB7Q/gHqxGLhIsWw/s320/Rihanna2-1.jpg). For me, it fits my face and body shape; it is easy to maintain with either a flat iron or round brush depending on whether I want a more contemporary/edgy look or refined classic look; it looks damn good with a suit, and it makes me feel good about myself when I’m dressed for success.

    Sure, your work product is the bottom line. However, professional appearance should also be a consideration of everyone (otherwise no one would be reading this site). I think most importantly is your hair style should reflect your personality and be a component in what makes you feel confident. If you’re confident with a bun or ponytail, more power to you. If you prefer a little more of a style, do that. If you like it long, go with it.

    Just my perspective.

  11. So happy to read this thread. I am 27 and will be starting my first management position in the fall in a new office. I will be managing many workers of all ages and so I desperately want to avoid generating the attitude of ‘she’s just a kid’ and my hair is a big part of that! I have never had to worry about my appearance before in this way as I have been behind a computer for my whole career thus far.

    I have thin, slightly wavy, bra-strap hair now. Was thinking about chopping to the chin but now from this thread I know:
    1. Down and unstyled is Never OK
    2. A low Ponytail or bun is definitely OK and can be dressed up with a clip or different subtle accessories.
    3. More styled is always more professional.

    I think I will invest in some nice little hair clips/accessories to replace my regular elastics, and stick with just getting a trim before I head out! I hate styling!

  12. I think it depends on who your boss is. Hair style isn’t a huge thing on my list when I’m interviewing or reviewing, as long as it’s neat of course.

    However, your hair style can make you stand out. If you want to stand out, I would say short hair isn’t the way to go. Everyone has it now and it’s quite boring.

    To be honest, when I see a women with short hair I think she doesn’t want to put the extra time needed into long hair. That can color my thoughts on her work habits, in both a good and bad way.

    More styled isn’t the way to go either. That just tells me you care too much about fashion and how you look. That goes for both sexes.

    1. Ohfergod. Catch-22 much? Get back to me when you’re a woman. Preferably with ridiculously thick hair like mine, that when long, takes an hour and a half to wash, dry, and style.

      Short hair does not denote laziness. In fact, even some short styles can take long amounts of time to achieve, depending on the texture/manageability of the hair in question.

      Have you ever thought that maybe these women prefer the look of short hair? Hairstyles are like eyeglasses, different lengths and shapes look better on certain faces.

    2. So, no long styled hair, no short hair. Lion’s mane it is, then.

      …I think you need to reevaluate your judgment in interviewing/reviewing, as well as in general.

  13. In my case, my choise for short hair (think pixie cut) has indeed been made based on ease of styling.

    I do NOT want to spend an hour eacht morning taming my hair. It never behaves like it should, it falls thick and flat against my head and whil a lot of people like that look, it looks awefull on me, as I have a high forehead. It makes me look frumpy and old.

    My shortshort hair looks neat, styled (I use hair products on it), edgy and is always perfect, which helps to look professional.

    No, I don’t like spending a lot of time on my hair. I work 12+ hour days, am in the board of a theater company and attempt to keep a bit of a social life going, so hair is NOT my priority. Does that make me lazy? No, it tells that I chose other things but my styling brushes.

    I do make sure to wear nice clothes and put on my make-up, so I look polished.

    But to qualify people as lazy and inadequate workers because they don’t want to wake up even earlier to style their hair?

  14. I would agree with what lots of people are saying about long hair being appropriate when worn properly. I love my long hair, but I think what I’m looking for as a college student about to go on the job market are ways to do quick, easy up-dos that are appropriate for the office.

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