Wet hair at work

[FutTheShuckUp]

When working in a professional role which involves working with people do you think it looks unprofessional to turn up to work with tied up but obviously wet hair?

I am a professional (in the traditional sense). I often have damp tied back hair. I rarely wear make up/much jewellery to work. I like sleep more than complex grooming. You are welcome to judge me, I really don't care.

Honestly. Wet fucking hair? The things women use to belittle other women!! I am thankful I'm respected as a professional and not judged by my wet hair, tattoos, piercings, jeans or anything else I choose to wear to work! Ridiculous.

My DD has started going to work with wet hair, the people who she works with, some for years are amazed when her hair drys it looks like she has had a curly perm and they ask where she has had it done. She always used to straighten her hair but has now decided it is too much bother and goes for her natural curly look.

Doesn't bother me. I have long hair and, unless I'm up mega early, it's just not going to be completely dry when I leave for work. It's not dripping or anything. Like Zillion, I consider my sleep more important.

A misplaced apostrophe is unprofessional.

Losing a client's notes is unprofessional.

Taking it out on people lower down the food chain when it's your fault is unprofessional.

Telling your partner about confidential work issues is unprofessional.

Could we focus on what actually matters, please?

I wash & roughly blow dry my hair & then tie it up to go to work. By the time I get in it's mostly dry but I let it out to naturally dry as there is bothing worse than damp smelling hair. It's also in perfect waves by this time and I wouldn't keep my wet hair in a bun all day.

This is the sort of thread which castigates women who don't wear makeup to work...

I have very long, thick and curly hair. Drying it with a hair dryer can take up to half an hour and if done at a higher heat looks horrendous when dry. If I've not washed it the night before and allowed it to dry naturally and don't have an extra half hour in the morning, I go to the office with it wet.

Life happens...children, knackered alarm clocks, pulled neck muscles. All that and I live in Manchester. It rains a lot here. And the hair dryers in the office gym are god awful. I don't tie it up while wet as it would quite literally never dry!

Judge all you like!

At the end of the day, my reputation in the office is determined by how I behave and the quality of my work. Not on whether I managed to dry my hair that morning.

I suspect people who think arriving at work with damp hair is 'unprofessional' aren't very senior.

"I suspect people who think arriving at work with damp hair is 'unprofessional' aren't very senior."
Bit of a childish comment don't you think?

People seem to think this would only apply in the case of a woman. I'd raise my eyebrows a bit if a man or woman was at work with wet hair. But maybe that's just the environment I work in, which tends to be a bit "suited and booted" and formal.

Well, I'm happy to be a slattern [wet hair emoticon]

There are seriously people here who judge others on whether or not their hair is wet?

Tuppence, I also work in a very formal environment but life happens in my office just as it does yours. There are obviously occasions where there is pressure to look my best, especially if I have a meeting with someone external, but even external people get caught in the rain without a brolly!

If someone's judging my abilitity to do one thing (such as write a report, manage a project, stack a shelf) on another thing (such as my appearance), I don't think their opinion is worth mattering about. The two things are unrelated. They might use similar skills (e.g. time management, gross motor skills) but their importance and urgency is different, so you can't treat them the same.

It's like trying to judge someone's ability to bath a dog based on how well they clean a window. Both involve water and cleaning, but they are not the same!

I can think of much better things to do with 20mins every morning than waving a hairdryer around.

Anyone with the spare mental energy to be judging others based on whether their hair is wet or dry needs to find something more productive to occupy their mind. (IMHO)

When I was working as a receptionist I frequently went in with my hair still damp and plaited neatly. Tbh the only way my hair is manageable is to style it wet then leave it to dry. Not frizzy or anything, just really fine and fiddly, almost always have loose bits that won't behave.

Nobody ever said anything about it, I think it mattered more that I was good at my job.

I had to be at hospital at 7:30am last Friday morning. One of the nurses had wet hair. It was very long and thick, tied in a pony tail. I thought nothing of it, other than she would have had to have got up at about 4:30 in order for her to have dried it in time to start her shift.

I've just realised that I actually interviewed for my last job (customer facing role in a national bank) with wet hair tied up and it clearly didn't hinder my success in getting the job.

I really think that all the people saying it is unprofessional etc, really need to get a life!! There is so much more to worry about in the "professional" world.

A mixture of responses that's good. I posted this as its not something I've ever thought of but a colleague received a formal warning for this this week, manager said it gives the impression when visiting people in their homes it looks like you cba

Goodness It wouldn't bother me in the slightest if a professional visited my home with wet hair. Far preferable to lank, greasy hair.

Harsh employer.

What role has your colleague got Fut?

Bad language from the manager there! Very unprofessional!

unless your colleague is a hair model then really the manager needs to go and find real issues to worry about.

Interesting...if that issue was ever used as a (partial) reason for dismissal I reckon the employer would have a very hard job arguing that theirs was a reasonable response to having wet hair.

And FWIW, wet hair in the office wouldn't bother me. I wouldn't go to Court with wet hair, but it'd be fine in the office.