Do you care what colour hair your midwife has?

[Purplekaz08]

I have seen on the news that a midwife is Lincoln has been told not to go to work and may lose her job because her hair is dyed red? AIBU to think this trust is out of touch with the modern world? I really would not care if a midwife or nurse had rainbow coloured hair as long as they were kind and competent?

having a breech delivery first time &vaginally I got to the stage where I didn't care who was there - which was just as well because there was a whole load of students observing - I vaguely remember it be very crowded - so hair colour crikey how many of us have tinted dyed our hair in stripes, tints streaks bleached etc so they cant use chemicals as an excuse (also straitened & permed with chemicals) they wouldn't have any nurses than!

When i started my nurse training in the 80s it was against the uniform code to dye your hair anything other than 'natural' colours.
I would have hoped by now that would have changed!
Who gives one what colour hair you have if you are good at your job?
Lets have a bit of colour in our lives for goodness sake and that includes tatoos. People can be shit at thier jobs despite being conformist to strict uniform policy. Your hair colour doesnt make a jot of difference.
Considering the mess the nhs is in due to screwing over nurses it should be keen to keep anyone who is professional and a good nurse not quibble over hair colour not piss about with 'uniform policy'.
More mindless managers getting paid far to much with no idea how patients really feel.
Seems like nurses are still expected to put up and shut up.

As someone who works in a different hospital in special measures it is always astounding how management intriducing petty rules that affect frontline staff working with mass vacancies under enormous strain rather than tackle the real issues and encourage people to work there.

I don't even remember what colour hair my midwife had and i only gave birth 7 months ago!

Stupid complaint

This midwife is a bald and bearded biker, with ear rings and tattoos. Nobody has commented, and no women, to my knowledge have declined my care on the grounds of my appearance. Very rarely because of my gender, but that is ok.

What’s left of my hair is grey and brown, by the way.

Occasionally I think about dyeing my beard, but my DD’s give me that look, and it stays au naturel...

@frequency
It is fucking disgusting that you think it is acceptable to tell a woman to 'wear a headscarve' especially considering that is exactly what a lot of sexist men (and even governments) are doing in parts of the world.

Lol,no. In labour - are they insane?no. Keys to the gas n air tank. Fuck yes.

I personally think tattoos are ok. Mine just protrude below the sleeves of my scrubs. The bigger issue with them lower down is being at work while they are healing. You are in an exposure prone job with an open wound, which really isn’t clever.

@frequency
It is fucking disgusting that you think it is acceptable to tell a woman to 'wear a headscarve' especially considering that is exactly what a lot of sexist men (and even governments) are doing in parts of the world

That's a bit OTT, isn't it? Also, it is a head scarf or a surgical cap or a wig. They're not suggesting she wear a burka or a lose her job. If their reasoning was that her hair might incite men to sin that would be disgusting but asking her to cover up something which contravenes their uniform policy is not disgusting.

I'm not saying their rule is right or logical it just seems odd to me that she is willing to risk her job when she could wear a hat as a compromise, but, as I said, I'm lazy and this feels like way too much effort for me.

I couldn’t give a flying fuck what any health professional looks like.
I don’t care about sex, race, hair colour, tattoos bla bla bla.
I am only concerned that they know what they are doing

Lovingbenidorm......exactly right every word. I am a midwife and I have worked alongside and still do with some fantastic midwives with all hair colours, tattoos full sleeves etc which does not have any influence on their professionalism at all. The vast majority of posts on here are supporting a knowledgeable and kind midwife which " the midwife with the red hair" very much sounds like to me. Absolute disgrace she is having to go through this and yes the RCM are rubbish that's why I left and joined Unison.

Maisypops she has had red hair for 30 years. She was recruited with red hair. They’ve recently changed the policy.

I worked as a nurse many years ago and hennaed my hair bright red. No one said a word.

Imissgmichael
I was commenting more generally about the 'but what difference...' type arguments as it just sounds like teens feeling hard done to.

Ultimately workplaces are free to set their dress code and expectations. My school doesn't allow us to have facial piercings. I couldnt care less on that front, but that's the rule. A friend wanted to work for an airline but because she had a neck tattoo (tiny in her hairline), they said no. Another friend has to keep her tattoo covered so can't wear short sleeved tops in the summer.

I personally couldn't care less what colour hair someone has if they do a good job.

No, I wouldnt care at all. In fact I would probably like it, as it would add some interest to my hospital stay.

The thing about nursing is that nurses don't dress in a "professional way" anyway. I mean no disrespect (I'm a HCP myself), I just mean they don't wear suits, high heels and fancy accessories. They usually wear a nurses uniform or scrubs, joggers for shoes and a practical hair style. So to me coloured hair doesn't look out of place as it may look in a boardroom of suits.

Relieved to see that most people would not be bothered about this. Also interesting that the handful of people who have stared ‘it’s just not professional’, have not been able to explain why. I dye my hair, admittedly only to make it blonder, but why on earth should the colour matter in any way? A private organisation can of course make its own rules (I can see how if a business felt that someone with rainbow hair/tattoos/piercings in a customer facing role might result in losing business- even though that’s ridiculous to me- a company is within their rights to dictate a dress code- but the NHS is not a private institution! If people are small minded enough to be offended by someone’s hair colour, that really is their problem.

Why is red unprofessional?

Thousands of women colour their hair blond or brown, is that professional?

This is bonkers.

I've had many different colours in my hair over the years. I'm well aquatinted with a bit of crazy colour.

So I wouldn't give a flying fuck what colour any health care provider has in their hair.

The midwife who delivered my son had bright pink hair, she was amazing.

Maisypops yes employers are free to set their own dress code, the trouble here is the allegation that red hair is unprofessional.

Would you accept the premis that a Teacher with red hair is unprofessional? Would the teaching unions?

Unfortunately Nursing and Midwifery hasn’t thrown off its hand maiden shackles and the unions / professional bodies are weak.

People who think that hair colour (or tattoos, or piercings) are an indicator of professionalism need to give their heads a wobble and stop being so superficial imo.

Professionalism is about conduct and competence, neither of which are dependent on having "natural" coloured hair.

And a trust in special measures should be focussing on preformance, not superficial shite like this.

I hope you don’t mind OP I’ve started a thread in FWR to discuss this from a feminist perspective.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3456979-Professionalism-in-nursing-a-feminist-perspective?watched=1

I really hoped we’d moved on from judging women on their appearance.

100% agree with Lakielady

I think it's hideous and chavvy but can't say I'd complain tbh