Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA? Forum

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Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:38 pm

If a few people would look down their nose, I don't really care. I'm just concerned about if we're talking a no-offer level offense. My hair is getting pretty long (~1 inch off my head) and I'm thinking about just letting it go. I'd do a shorter version of this come december, but let it keep growing to roughly shoulder length.

A couple of white men in the first office (V20, non-NY office) had decently long hair that went to about their jaw, but they kept it tucked behind their ears and were the exception. All the black men I saw had fades, fwiw.

For the other office I'm working at (V20 NY), the hairstyles were much more all over the place. Lots of jaw length hair, women who shave their heads, but I again only saw fades among the black men. I worked there before and one associate to whom I mentioned the style said they didn't think it would turn a great number of heads.

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heavoldgotjuice

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Re: Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by heavoldgotjuice » Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:50 pm

If your hair is one inch right now, I doubt you would have hair similar to that picture by next summer. You would likely have little twisted dreads which is a bad look anywhere (albeit a necessary stage in development).

That being said, I doubt that hairstyle you've shown would be an insta-ding, but your hair will likely not look like that in 9 months, so the mini dreads would likely exist and, given their nature, would have a higher likelihood of ding-hood

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Re: Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:57 pm

To dodge that whole phase, I'd go with loc extensions once I get to a couple inches, then remove them when my own hair is long enough. I've seen some good real hair extensions so I'm not too concerned they'd look shabby.

TooOld4This

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Re: Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by TooOld4This » Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:04 pm

If you are going to groom yourself to stand out, you should be prepared to be a rock star in other respects too. Same goes for women who wear red suits or dramatic makeup, guys who have full sleeves visible or have beards, etc. There is a uniform to BigLaw. If you break the mold, you invite attention to all aspects of yourself. Personally, I would wait until I had an offer in hand before collecting style points, but I was the cautious type.

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Re: Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Aug 31, 2014 8:21 pm

I'd wait until I'd already proven my competence before rolling in looking like that. Ditto to white guys who want to have shoulder-length hair.

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enibs

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Re: Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by enibs » Mon Sep 01, 2014 12:53 am

On the off chance that you're being serious, the answer to your question is yes.

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rickgrimes69

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Re: Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by rickgrimes69 » Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:38 am

The best SA outfit is the one nobody notices.

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DELG

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Re: Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by DELG » Mon Sep 01, 2014 5:08 am

I have a hard time imagining this would lead to no-offer at any v20.

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Re: Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:55 am

http://www.nixonpeabody.com/tarae_l_howell

He was like this in law school. He is doing fine.

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09042014

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Re: Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by 09042014 » Mon Sep 01, 2014 10:15 am

Black guys get more leeway. White guys with jaw length hair. Yuck.

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Re: Would this hairstyle be a complete non-starter for SA?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Sep 01, 2014 11:42 am

Should be fine. I would keep the hair up, as in the first photo, and the hair a bit neater than the photos, like the below, but definitely not an issue one way or another. (Initially thought this was for interviews--definitely don't need to neaten up for the SA.)

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