57

I'm a male 19 year old Phd student (in a field in the exact sciences), I dyed my hair bright blue. Personally, I think it transmits a great message and is generally cool. Although, I'm not sure how well received will it be in my university, in teaching, while visiting other universities, meeting new researchers I never met before and while presenting in conferences.

Picture of the hair can be viewed here:

Questions:

What effect might dyeing your hair blue have as a PhD student?

aparente001
  • 38,999
  • 8
  • 65
  • 153
ResearchEnthusiast
  • 1,700
  • 1
  • 11
  • 19
  • 4
    Hoping that this also applies to females and other vibrant hair colors (pink, green, etc.). – Roger Fan May 30 '15 at 15:35
  • 1
    I think that this is generally more acceptable (in society, not specifically in academia) for females... – ResearchEnthusiast May 30 '15 at 15:37
  • 2
    These questions might be relevant: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19472/tattoos-in-the-workplace and http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17363/are-search-committees-biased-in-terms-of-a-candidates-looks-such-as-long-hair – user141592 May 30 '15 at 15:40
  • 2
    I have seen quite a few PhD students with different colored hair from all areas of the gender spectrum. Unless you are in a conservative field, I do not think it matters. This extends to lots of visible tattoos as well. – Shion May 30 '15 at 15:42
  • 4
    I have doubt that this question is answerable in its present form. Sure, there are people who will conciously or subconciously have a lower opinion of you and there are people who will have a higher opinion. You will also find some professors with non-natural hair colours (here is one). But without an intensive study, there is no way of telling the general impact of dyeing your hair blue. – Wrzlprmft May 30 '15 at 15:47
  • 29
    That being said, I only remember one situation in my field where somebody’s looks were commented on and that was somebody wearing a tie and a suit as a PhD student. – Wrzlprmft May 30 '15 at 15:51
  • 7
    If you act with respect and humility, then I don't think anyone will (or should) care. Sometimes, an "outgoing" sense of style can be a sign (or vector) of arrogance. Since you're worried about the impact of such a thing, I'm sure that's not you. It can even make you more memorable. (one of the top search suggestions for "nasa mohawk guy" on Google is "nasa mohawk guy girlfriend"...) – Moriarty May 30 '15 at 16:30
  • 3
    @ResearchEnthusiast The fact that you are interested in your hair is presented probably means you have a better presentation than 50% of your colleagues already .... – Calchas May 30 '15 at 16:49
  • 4
    You fail to mention the field and the country you are. Without more information there is impossible for one to produce an useful answer. – Dr Pangloss May 30 '15 at 17:16
  • 56
    What is the message being transmitted by your hair? I'm not being sarcastic, just curious. Really. – David Ketcheson May 30 '15 at 17:28
  • 1
    @DrPangloss my field is Computer Science (I'm currently in Israel but it doesn't matter that much as I'm not very worried about current colleagues and friends who know me, but about new people I'll meet). – ResearchEnthusiast May 30 '15 at 17:37
  • 4
    @DavidKetcheson just the laugh-in-the-face to the whole "nerdy square academics" stereotype which is unfortunately quite common here (especially when people here the word "math" or "computer"). Also, previous "hair-experiments" had been a great confidence boost for me, which is also good :) – ResearchEnthusiast May 30 '15 at 17:43
  • 11
    Go ahead, I think in CS you should be fine. Jason Hartline (http://www.eecs.northwestern.edu/hartline) used to have purple hair at some point in time. I am an economist. I went green after getting my first job (my thesis advisor got upset but I was OK with it because he was pushing other students in the mkt), after tenure I went purple. – Dr Pangloss May 30 '15 at 17:49
  • 31
    "Personally, I think it transmits a great message and is generally cool." This "coolness" disease just won't die, will it? :( I'm particularly curious as to which "great message" you think bright blue hair "transmits". – Lightness Races in Orbit May 30 '15 at 19:15
  • 6
    Oh, the message of "I'm laughing in your face"? Okay, nice one, I guess.... :/ – Lightness Races in Orbit May 30 '15 at 19:16
  • 5
    Go for it. I've never colored my hair, but I did spend several years with long hair. I got my first real haircut in almost a decade just after I got tenure. In my last year as an assistant prof I could literally sit on my hair (and frequently did, which is why I finally cut it). You know how many people reacted badly to my long hair? That's right: nobody. (Well, nobody that mattered, anyway.) – JeffE May 30 '15 at 19:33
  • 3
    Do you want to be treated seriously, or do you want to be treated as a joke? There are points in favor of each, I suppose. – GEdgar May 31 '15 at 00:14
  • I've seen bright red in PhD students. – ButterDog May 31 '15 at 01:11
  • 9
    I'm with @DavidKetcheson on this: what messages a bright color of hair or other appearance elements do send? Let me put it more succinctly: what professional messages do they send? IMHO, none. – Aleksandr Blekh May 31 '15 at 04:52
  • 4
    @AleksandrBlekh not a professional message, I agree, but I do find it as a relatively subtle and completely harmless to protest against social norms and stereotypes I refuse to accept. (By the way, if this is of any relevance to the discussion, I'm 19 yo). – ResearchEnthusiast May 31 '15 at 10:41
  • 13
    About half of all female CS students I know had brightly colored hair at some point. The "rebel nerd" look is kind of is a stereotype too - but it's probably confirmation bias because bright hair sticks out more. My first impression of anyone of any profession with brightly colored hair usually is that (sorry and no offense) he/she wants attention. – kapex May 31 '15 at 12:10
  • 2
    DONE~! (added pics as an answer) – ResearchEnthusiast May 31 '15 at 15:26
  • @JeffE Nobody reacted badly to your long hair, but (for the sake of completeness) how many people reacted badly to your cutting it? – Andreas Blass May 31 '15 at 22:52
  • 1
    Food for thought: what fraction of people with blue hair can be taken seriously in an academic context? Now compare that with those who have natural hair color. If you think there isn't a significant difference between the two fractions, then go ahead and dye your hair blue. But I suspect there is, so if you agree, then from a statistical standpoint you can't argue that whether or not you have natural hair color is a bad predictor of how seriously people should take you. (You can think of it as prejudice if you want, but I think of it as a Bayesian prior, and the effect is the same.) – user541686 May 31 '15 at 23:14
  • 2
    @AndreasBlass Reactions varied, but about the same number of people were disappointed vs. relieved. – JeffE Jun 01 '15 at 02:12
  • 1
    I made edits to try to clarify question; I think images of blue hair that take up two screens are not really necessary and make the question more personal than needed. I imagine links for interested suffices. I still think the actual question needs clarifying. i.e., What is the effect of having blue hair on WHAT? Hopefully the emphasis now is more on the general question of blue hair in academia as opposed to OPs particular circumstances. – Jeromy Anglim Jun 01 '15 at 06:37
  • 4
    Small tip: when you insert an image you can change its size by modifying the url. If the image is XXXXX.jpg you can use XXXXXs.jpg to have a small version or XXXXXm.jpg for a medium version. – Bakuriu Jun 01 '15 at 08:49
  • 12
    I just find the irony amusing that teenagers feel like being rebellious and original but do the same thing as everyone else at that age. – JamesRyan Jun 01 '15 at 16:09
  • 1
    I think it would look even better if you put it in a mohawk – Zarrax Jun 01 '15 at 17:12
  • 3
    BTW it's "dyed" and "dyeing". The words you used are pronounced the same, but they refer to death, not artificial coloration. :P – Mason Wheeler Jun 01 '15 at 20:47
  • @MasonWheeler sorry (it wasn't me, just a random updater). – ResearchEnthusiast Jun 01 '15 at 20:49
  • 4
    If you're planning on interviewing at IBM it could be an advantage. You know, "Big Blue"... ...oh never mind. I'll get my coat... – Digital Trauma Jun 02 '15 at 04:22
  • 5
    The effect is that your hair is blue, duh! – Carsten S Jun 02 '15 at 10:49
  • 3
    Yes, this sends a message. I'm not certain, however, that the message being received is the message you intended to send. I suppose it might be received as "Go Wolverines!", which could be cool in Ann Arbor but potentially bad in Columbus or Lansing. It might be received as "That's DOCTOR Smurf, pal!". It might be received as "I got into my grandmother's hair bluing kit - NOW what do I do?". It might be received as "If you think THIS is bad you should've seen the tattoo I passed on!". Or it might be received as "FRATERNITY INITIATION! WOO! WOO!! WOO!!!". Y'see - you just never know... :-) – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Jun 02 '15 at 11:31
  • If you are in C.S., you might want to read Ric Hehner's paper "do considered od". – Theodore Norvell Jun 06 '15 at 18:09
  • 7
    "19 year old Phd student" wow – sean Jun 08 '15 at 23:04
  • 3
    How can you be a 19 year old PhD? Did you finish your Bachelor in 1 year? Which country? – giò Feb 18 '17 at 15:10
  • Are you unusually young for your situation in your country? If so, it may be better to avoid things like unusual hair dye that make you look even younger. – Patricia Shanahan Feb 20 '17 at 17:20

11 Answers11

83

The general advice is that when you're an undergraduate student, a graduate student not yet on the job market, or when you're a tenured faculty, you can do whatever the hell you want.

The problem is that you are vulnerable when you're in the position to be hired, promoted, tenured, or retained. In those cases, having just one conservative person on the hiring/promotion/retention committee (or at the divisional, full faculty, dean or provost levels) can derail you. In those circumstances, you want to stand out in terms of your research, service, and teaching but to try to avoid or mitigate any areas of friction where and when possible.

Since hair color is easily changeable, if I were your advisor, I would recommend that you dress (and hair color) more conservatively when you go on the job market -- and when you come up for promotion/retention/tenure. I would also recommend you wear shoes at your job interview.

The benefit to risk analysis just isn't in favor of frivolity in these high stakes situations. Your departmental faculty may be 100% behind you and your sartorial style but I've seen faculty lose tenure bids at the divisional, full faculty, and provost level despite department support. I've seen grad students not get hired because they wore a t-shirt to a job interview thinking the institution was a cool, hip place. It was, just not that hip.

At all other times during your career, I think you are relatively free to do what you want within the broader norms of your particular cohort and department.

Note that while my home department is anthropology and I'm currently at a R1, I've also taught at two SLACs and have seen enough shenanigans in other departments and at divisional/university levels that my advice is not restricted to just anthropology at R1s but is intended as general advice. Ymmv.

RoboKaren
  • 40,302
  • 9
  • 105
  • 180
  • 20
    Anthropology must be a lot more conservative than computer science. I can easily imagine a member of a hiring/promotion/retention committee objecting to hiring/promoting/retaining a productive colleague because of their hair color. But I can't imagine the rest of the committee responding to that objection with anything but derisive laughter. – JeffE May 30 '15 at 19:38
  • 48
    @JeffE maybe that one conservative person doesn't mention the hair color as a reason, but makes other reasons up? – Paŭlo Ebermann May 30 '15 at 20:23
  • 51
    @JeffE Prejudice rarely manifests as obviously as that. That conservative person might not even be making up reasons, the thought could just slightly and consistently be coloring how they think about a candidate. – Roger Fan May 30 '15 at 21:10
  • 28
    To expand on @RogerFan 's comment, if a person first sees your hair and gets the impression you're immature or whatever, then when you interact with them, they'll be primed to notice reasons to confirm that impression when they might have otherwise overlooked them -- worse, confirmation bias can come into play too. –  May 30 '15 at 21:32
  • 8
    In fact, the only instances I've seen of attempts to sabotage hiring or tenure did not at all directly address the (inferable...) issue in the saboteur's mind, but, rather, something unrelated to the actual reason for attempted sabotage. In particular, there was scant room to ridicule the "grounds for objection", even while it was possible to understand that it could not have been the real reason, etc. These academics are not dummies. – paul garrett May 30 '15 at 23:26
  • +1 Because this is sad, but true. Even if it shouldn't be, you have to account for the way the world is, not the way we'd like it to be. – Zibbobz Jun 01 '15 at 18:03
  • 22
    If you're dying your hair at least in part to "transmit a message", it shouldn't be a surprise that some people you interact with will receive the message, and dislike it. – Peter Jun 01 '15 at 18:29
27

This definitely depends on environment: your research field's culture, your department's culture and your university's culture.

As someone that had a mohawk phase often during grad school, I can only speak from my time in my PhD program in mathematics (in the USA). In my experience, I would cut it off before any conference, any research visit, and the job market as it felt not right for me. I kept the mohawk when teaching. My university never complained about the hairstyle and I won teaching awards from the students. The most I heard from colleagues was that it probably made mathematics "more relatable" to the students and the occasional "you should grow a tail in the back so you're like that jedi...." On the other hand, I would feel uncomfortable with a mohawk in my new university.

In my experience, computer science and mathematics seem culturally the least focussed on appearance. Everything is contextual, though.

T K
  • 5,647
  • 2
  • 22
  • 45
  • 6
    Mohawk phase. My brain can't handle this, as all of my professors were ancient or computer science grads. – Compass Jun 01 '15 at 16:15
  • I had a mohawk sometimes as an undergrad .Undergrads were called students back then 1984 .I did NOT have this when in a PAID research position .I do not know what is right in these times .Maybe undergrad is wear anything and staff member get with code ? – Autistic May 07 '17 at 04:03
16

In some fields with significant client-facing time, colored hair (or other similar notable features like significant visible tattoos or piercings) is generally unacceptable. My knowledge of this primarily comes from clinical psychology, but I'm sure that there are other similar fields (for instance, social work). For somewhat obvious reasons, maintaining a professional and somewhat conservative appearance is important when a significant part of your degree involves doing clinical work.

In non-clinical fields, I think that this is generally okay (unless you have some particularly conservative faculty), but I will let other answers address that.

Roger Fan
  • 2,918
  • 1
  • 18
  • 24
  • I'm talking about computer science / mathematics. – ResearchEnthusiast May 30 '15 at 15:48
  • 6
    @ResearchEnthusiast Sure, but the question's scope can be broader than that. If someone googles this in a couple months (and most stackexchange sites are built for google traffic) they might not necessarily be from your field and might find this helpful. And the CS/math perspective is never underrepresented at this site. – Roger Fan May 30 '15 at 15:50
  • 13
    @ResearchEnthusiast In computer science, where it's not unusual to see acceptance of graduate students who aren't even wearing shoes, funky colored hair fits in just fine. – jakebeal May 30 '15 at 15:56
  • 1
    @jakebeal: you see graduate students like that. But do you see faculty like that? – GEdgar May 30 '15 at 17:09
  • 3
    @GEdgar: Sometimes, yes. – arc_lupus May 30 '15 at 20:53
  • 4
    @GEdgar: Yes, I see CS faculty walking around without shoes in the department building. – Phil Miller May 31 '15 at 00:06
15

At my former department Ph.D.'s were obtained by students who had dread locks, lots of tattoos, or changed their hair colour on a monthly base, and a male wearing skirts. So at least in mathematics blue hair should not be a big deal. At an early stage of your career some deviation from the norm might even be advantageous. When visiting a conference you get too much information to process in too little time, so you do not remember every single talk. But you might remember the guy with blue hair talking about Ramsey theory.

Jan-Christoph Schlage-Puchta
  • 3,819
  • 13
  • 19
15

Go for it. You won't be the only one. For instance, take a look at Lorrie Cranor, a Professor at CMU in Computer Science. Professor Cranor is an extraordinary researcher, a leader worldwide in her field (perhaps the leading researcher in her field), incredibly well respected for her many deep and seminal contributions. She has also sported blue hair from time to time.

Lorrie Cranor has blue hair

So, in my opinion -- go for it. Feel free to show a little personality. Academia is populated by people, and everyone is different. Don't be afraid to be yourself.

D.W.
  • 8,221
  • 2
  • 31
  • 57
  • 2
    I would say, Go for it -- when you become a Lorrie Cranor. Until then keep it professional and focus on your studies rather than your hair. – A.S Feb 20 '17 at 21:53
13

It could be an effective form of personal branding. I went to a conference recently where a graduate student had blue hair. She was the most memorable person there.

Anonymous Physicist
  • 98,828
  • 24
  • 203
  • 351
  • 1
    I would think that there are more important traits for personal branding than hair color or such. That is, of course, if we're talking about professional personal branding, which is implied by the OP posting the question on this site. In regard to your "most memorable" remark, I hope that you meant non-professional impression, otherwise it would be irrelevant IMHO. – Aleksandr Blekh May 31 '15 at 04:47
  • 3
    @AleksandrBlekh branding is not typically based on matters of substance. – Anonymous Physicist May 31 '15 at 19:25
  • You're right, but only partially - while product/service-focused companies' branding is mostly not based on substantial matters, I think that professional personal branding in academia is. – Aleksandr Blekh May 31 '15 at 23:04
  • I bet if you will come to the conference absolutely naked or just with nipples showing from your costume, you will be remembered as well (and way better than any girl with a blue hair). The question is: do you want to be remembered as that freak who do not understand professional norms, or a guy with the most excited and interesting talk. – Salvador Dali Jun 02 '15 at 09:17
  • 2
    @SalvadorDali the lack of creativity ("freaks") is very ironic considering your nickname. – MathAndCo Jun 02 '15 at 11:46
12

From a practical point of view, that would depend on the background color of your slides when making a presentation. Blue hair on a blue background ... a real faux-pas. Blue hair on a red background would be even worse.

ALAN WARD
  • 1,890
  • 2
  • 12
  • 17
6

I've seen at least one computer science professor at an Ivy League school dye his hair an interesting colour (green, blue, yellow). And most of my class-mates thought they were cool.

Do be careful though - some people might not take you seriously. One thing I noticed about these professors is that they were incredibly confident and incredibly smart, yet friendly at the same time.

Does look pretty slick though!

Ivy Bush
  • 61
  • 1
0

It strikes me as the type of thing which could be frowned upon in job interviews and many non-academic environments, but radical styles may be more accepted in academia. Before I quit my PhD, I knew someone in my department who dyed her hair green!

Maybe it's not the sort of thing that would create a great impression if you're very new to the department you're working with, but maybe if they already know you really well then they may just view it as a phase.

0

I can't bring any good example on hair color, but I think that brightly coloured suits might seem as odd and unprofessional as brightly coloured hair. Xavier Sala i Martin, professor of Economics, is popular for his brightly coloured and ever changing jackets, which he wears even in very professional contexts. When asked about them in interviews, Xavier Sala i Martin plainly explains that his jackets are just a marketing strategy. Therefore, Anonymous Physicist's answer about hair colour as personal branding or Jan-Christoph Schlage-Puchta's one about being remembered could be pointing to effective and not so unusual strategies.

Pere
  • 2,557
  • 17
  • 15
-4

Nice question. Though it did strike me as being somewhat out of the blue...

Smart to be asking after the fact. 19 years old and already on the Pile it Higher and Deeper track...who wouldn't get the blues! Ok I'm done.

In the academe, and the exact (as opposed to the approximate) sciences in particular, it is tacit knowledge that blue hair is a major showstopper, effectively ending one's academic tenure. Actually, security isn't really supposed to be letting you on campus (nb for those campus visits). Needless to say, job talks and conference presentations should only be done remotely (avoid using Zoot for avatar though tinyurl.com/nzo9cgo). ;)

Seriously, I would suggest the following rule of thumb: Even a genius should look presentable during formal networking or when interviewing for jobs.

If blue hair = presentable in the 21st century, then no worries. But some old school (20th century) profs might not be as "with it."

Applying the rule of thumb to your questions suggests that blue hair should be OK when (a) teaching (undergrads will assume you are cool and/or strange, grads will have enough problems of their own to notice/care); (b) meeting other researchers (unless...see rule of thumb).

To go all the way, you will also need to frequent the gym, and dress the part (despite comments to the contrary, I suggest suit and tie as daily wear). And you just might be taken for a blue chipper. Good luck!

A.S
  • 2,076
  • 1
  • 13
  • 23