To think people would have a problem with their therapist having dreadlocks?

[Buddhagirl]

I used to have dreads, I'm now a cognitive behavioural therapist. I want my dreads back but family have said it will have a negative impact on my job. I'm not sure.

How would you feel about seeing a therapist with crazy hair?

Inspired by a recent aibu post :-)

Nope, wouldn't bother me at all, providing you were professional, clean and tidy in every other respect.

For every person that would feel more comfortable with a therapist wearing smart clothes there will be another who feels more comfortable with dreads and tattoos. That's ok but a good therapeutic relationship should be able to work with that.
I've worked with so many people from such extremes of backgrounds that there is no way I could dress or look that would be 'neutral' for everyone.

I wouldn't mind at all. I like proper qualifications, cleanliness and professionalism other than that I don't mind at all.

It wouldn't bother me at all... I suppose there may be some who wouldn't like it but there will be people who would have a problem with a therapist who was suited up and looked to clean cut. You will never please everyone. We're they fairly neat, orderly dreads or did you have the matted, crusty ones?

T

I'm another one who thinks dreads on anyone other than those of afro caribbean descent look a bit as if they are trying to make a statement.

I accept that I am totally prejudiced in this matter however

Too clean cut, not to clean cut.

Sounds fine. I don't see how it would put people off unless you were doing your job with a very elderly client base in a very conservative area.

It wouldn't bother me. I actually prefer it when my T dresses down. I feel more at ease when he's all relaxed in his chair, with jeans, trainers and his Rugby top, than when he's in trousers and a shirt. I think the dreads would put me at ease, make me feel relaxed/ less clinical.

dreads wouldnt worry me as much as age.

young hippies get on my nerves. older ones are nice

I don't get how dreads are attention seeking, unprofessional, not conservative etc

I dont know the ethicity of OP.

Many conservative, straight laced people I have worked with have had dreads.

I am imagining 1.bp.blogspot.com/-DnM67i-YDz0/TlcQNk-tZRI/AAAAAAAADCY/VeyMIeHfq14/s1600/Women-With-Dreadlocks9.jpg

and not 1.bp.blogspot.com/-phfhh8HI8yw/Tk14J5X2Y4I/AAAAAAAAAGw/glOhjGOIjeY/s1600/Gothic-Style-02.jpg

I am imagining the 2nd nailak - your first picture is pretty conservative so I doubt the OP would have raised it if that were the case.

@NAILAK that's why people are saying the ethnicity of the therapist makes a BIG difference

There's no such thing as 'neutral', really, as others have pointed out. A therapist can't second-guess what will make a client feel comfortable. 'smart/casual' dress often makes me feel uncomfortable, I suspect because I feel it's unimaginative (I know that's a prejudice). A very smart suit or similar sometimes gives the impression of arrogance or 'flash'.

I don't think it is about ethnicity, a black person can have dreads that are not professional,

and a white woman can have professional dreads like this encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQipReeO865VfqXis64ii8sbcdU6-ePeRbiAaxaaQ-HKfxNKAPo

anyone who refuses to see their therapist because of dreadlocks ... needs therapy!

nailak the woman in the pic doesn't have dreds she's just twisted her hair for one night .

Wouldn't bother me in the slightest, in my experience it's par for the course for therapists to look crazier than their clients. I tend to get on better with therapists who look more down-to-earth and not necessarily perfect - someone with immaculate hair and makeup wearing a suit and heels would make me feel intimidated and inferior because they seem to have "got it all together" as it were. This is entirely my own weirdness at play, but that's why I'm the one in therapy!

I definitely think the OP's family are wrong about dressing in a corporate suit. People go therapy for all sorts of reasons but unless you want a life coach to help you be super successful and earn loads of spondulicks I'd have thought most people would find it daunting and feel inadequate for feeling such a mess inside and expected to open up to someone dressed in such a formal and feasibly ruthless manner.

If I was going to a therapist I don't think I would want them to be too distracting in appearance. A high powered suit would not make me comfortable neither would them dressing like jessica rabbit. On the other hand I wouldn't want their dress to make them come across like their own life is chaotic. That would not inspire confidence for me.

You'd think that sort of thing would be covered in therapist school.

I am fairly straightlaced, but dreads wouldn't bother me

I almost expect a therapist to be a bit "alternative" IYSWIM

I would be more about a prim and proper middle aged lady with a blue rinse, a twinset and pearls having no idea at all about the "real world"

and by the same coin, a bloke in a suit would have very little in common with me, and I wouldn't trust him to understand where I am coming from

I'd want someone I could trust and who was good at their job. Hair really wouldn't influence me!

This whole ethnicity argument is grinding my gears a little. I've seen some TERRIBLE dreads on black people, and some lovely ones. I've seen some TERRIBLE dreads on white people, and some lovely ones. Like I said before, Caucasian hair is harder to dread, but it can be done, and it can look fantastic.

I get that I'm biased, but I'm disagreeing massively with the "dreads on white people are ugly, try-hard and they're attention seeking and look shit". Maybe people haven't seen otherwise, but no need for the generalisations.

The ethnic thing is a complete red herring. The discussion about a therapist's appearance isn't.