Not being taken srsly @ work - shd I cut my hair?

[Allwelcone]

Is having long blond hair not professional? Had some off/ odd behaviours and comments from colleagues recently e.g from a slightly older women "you'll be fine, one look at you and they'll be putty in your hands" and another volunteer wanting to put photos of me and him on his insta and over-praising my professionalism as if he was surprised.
I dress professionally at times. My colleagues are a mix of older and younger.

Thing is I look shit when I tie my hair back. Should i get it cut? I am 49.
How to navigate the sexism thing?

I work for a charity if relevant.

You can navigate this sexism thing by refusing to participate in it. Cut your hair if you want to, don't cut it if you don't. If the colleague pipes up again, you say "how do you mean" and watch them squirm.

Don't be daft. It's hair, not bonking on the desk.

Ignore the comments. Keep your hair if you like it!

Absolutely question them back about what they mean and make them squirm. This isnt on. Speak to your manager about the comments

I've had long fair hair all my life and never had this.
It's your colleagues who are being unprofessional, not you.

Don’t change your appearance to stop people being sexist.

It doesn’t do you or any woman any favours.

Instead use the retorts and actions suggested here to stop these sexist and deeply inappropriate comments.

Thanks everyone. @roseunder thebsame colleague also called me 'glamorous' when I was wearing a bog standard outfit.

On a visit yesterday with a volunteer a silent ambulance went by but blared it's siren at me which the older volunteer said was on purpose. I thought it undermined my authority.

You're being silly.

Some people are twats, and they'll still be twats even if you shaved your head.

I wouldn’t want to work for an employer who needed me to change my appearance (other than eg if I was dressed in dirty clothes or in beachwear in a job that wasn’t beach-related!) I assume though that you don’t use textspeak (such as in your thread title) at work as that would be unprofessional and I would judge a colleague who did that?

Long hair will always turn heads, ifs it’s nicely groomed, even men with a beautiful shiny long bonce will get looks and comments. (Might turn heads for the wrong reasons if it looks like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards!) a full head of well groomed hair will probably have people commenting you look glamorous. If it’s blonde, there can be stereotypes there.

Do not cut your hair if you like it just to stop comments. You need to stand up for yourself with a simple and polite response like what has been said above. If it’s clean and not scruffy looking you don’t need to change a thing.

I don’t think it’s your hair that’s the issue…

This is odd. Odd behaviour and odd that you think you should cut it. I mean, I’m in northern Europe where the majority look like this, but I don’t believe people make comments about your hair as much as you think tbh.

Is it because you are slightly older (not saying you are old!) with long hair? But even that would be weird.

Why do you think it’s your hair that’s the issue?

Nothing you’ve said has been anything to do with your hair…

How to navigate the sexism thing?

As a 49-year old professional I’m sure you will be able to navigate it!

(I could easily handle it in my late teens/early twenties as a Scandinavian in the UK. So could my friends.)

Exactly. I can take what this has to with your hair.

And to me, there's nothing unprofessional about what's said at all. The surprise at you being professional, maybe, but what does this surprise actually entail? Being complimented isn't sexist.

I genuinely have no idea what you're going on about.

Me neither 😂

I dress professionally at times.

So at times you dress unprofessionally? What does that tend to look like?

Long blonde hair is unlikely to be seen as unprofessional / a reason not to be taken seriously. So if people are viewing you like that, there might be something else driving their opinion.

I think you see the world through a you shaped lens.
An ambulance did not put its sirens on because of you!!
I've had long curly red hair all my life, I have a professional job. I am taken seriously because I am good at it.

You also don't write like a 49 year old, it's still the school holidays isn't it.

I'd suppose that you not writing srsly @ work might be the cause of you not being taken seriously at work.

I'm calling bs here

I am well over 10 years older than you, and one or two female colleagues have said it's lovely I don't have any grey yet and am still my natural colour as they have chosen to colour their whole head due to the grey or they have gone ahead and let the grey take preference.
I have also never ever tied my hair back, as i feel pony tails are for children.

The volunteer is just being a male creep and prob has a different line for different ladies, but is his instagram part of work ? or is that just totally unprofessional...

Yes, and it wasn’t even a clever or funny one either.

Thanks for all the sincere replies. I used the short cut text speak so all the title would show in the first line.
I'm not very high up professionally despite having an msc in a related area as I took a lot of time off for kids and also prefer to work frontline/hands on, for charities rather than corporate.
I guess I was having a crisis of confidence, I've had a rough couple of years career wise.

Re the ambulance, maybe the siren was coincodental, it's just what the older volunteer said, however it made me jump and I had to begin the meeting a bit unsettled.
It was in a very remote miss Marple type village anyway which added to the old fashioned feeling.