Free-form dreadlocks

In all reality, free form dreadlocks aren't necessarily considered a professional haircut. What's more important to you...med school or expressing yourself through your hair?

I've seen docs with cleaner dreadlocks and they just tie em back into a ponytailish thing. Looks more professional. Kinda like this

http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ds-photo/getty/article/171/125/92825334_XS.jpg

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altamont850 said:

I understand your view, but if you've been a physician for some time, could you ever get away with free form dreadlocks? Is the medical community truly a conservative field (i.e. homogeneity is the ideal)?

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There's several sides to this question:

1.) How do your patients feel about this?

If you're in a specialty where you patients don't choose you, you'd have a better chance of getting away with it.

2.) How do your employers feel about this?

Kind of like tattoos, it will be employer dependent.

The biggest question is why would you knowingly put yourself at a disadvantage? You can cut your hair however you want but it significantly decreases your ability to bitch about something if you think your hair was the reason you weren't able to get something.

As an aside, I've never seen a med student, resident, or attending with free form dreadlocks. That alone should answer your question.

altamont850 said:

I understand your view, but if you've been a physician for some time, could you ever get away with free form dreadlocks? Is the medical community truly a conservative field (i.e. homogeneity is the ideal)?

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I had a dentist who had dreadlocks but it wasn't free form.

If you're ever gonna do it I say wait till residency and try it out there. I think you'd be making a huge mistake by not cutting it time for interviews. Some people out there are just too closed minded. And even if they're on the fence about how they feel about it, they may lean towards being biased against you when they think about how other people will feel about it down the line. Yeah it's a huge hassle to grow it back but a clean cut will improve your chances over what some people may see as grossly sloppy appearance.

JacobMcCandles said:

There's several sides to this questions:

1.) How do your patients feel about this?

If you're in a specialty where you patients don't choose you, you'd have a better chance of getting away with it.

2.) How do your employers feel about this?

Kind of like tattoos, it will be employer dependent.

The biggest question is why would you knowingly put yourself at a disadvantage? You can cut your hair however you want but it significantly decreases your ability to bitch about something if you think your hair was the reason you weren't able to get something.

As an aside, I've never seen a med student, resident, or attending with free for dreadlocks. That alone should answer your question.

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I don't think i've ever seen anyone in a professional setting with dread locks.

altamont850 said:

Yeah, I could see myself doing that but the drawback is that dreads like these require bimonthly re-twisting (incorporating new growth and tightening the dread). I always thought that free form dreads were more masculine in that you just need to keep you hair clean.

Would anyone recommend free-forming for the next two years (undergrad) and then getting the chop?

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Yea chop right before your school's committee interview

altamont850 said:

I understand your view, but if you've been a physician for some time, could you ever get away with free form dreadlocks? Is the medical community truly a conservative field (i.e. homogeneity is the ideal)?

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at that stage, what the patients think of you will be equally as (if not more) important as what the medical establishment thinks of you. Not even the AA community views free form dreads as an acceptable hair style for professionals, so I think you're out of luck. I'd even advise against growing them in undergrad, peoples impression of you will be an important part of your application (LORs) so cutting them before interviews won't do the trick.

this is all regarding free form dreads, I think regular well maintained dreads are fine.

Tie them back, dress professionally, and speak well

One of our otolaryngology attendings has dreadlocks. I think he pulls it off.

Just don't have that nasty, clumpy, I haven't washed my hair in a month look, and I think you could be ok.

I have seen individuals at interviews with dreadlocks, no big deal. I also know of a ms2 at Columbia who has dreadlocks. It's no big deal. One of the adcom's at Columbia has addressed this by saying that for males they need to tie it back.

Honestly, anyone who states otherwise is completely off.

As a guy, it would be tough for you to get away with dreadlocks, period, even if they were the most neat and perfectly aligned locs that anyone has ever seen. So as a fellow dreadhead, I hate to inform you that freeform dreadlocks are and probably always will be career suicide in the medical profession. However, you could probably get away with very neat locs once you're an attending, but free-form? No.

i think it'll be ok as long as it's executed cleanly and presentably. perhaps certain schools will ding you for that, but then again would you want to go to such a school to start with?

Seriously, even if 95% of the people here say it's okay, why leave even one stone unturned. Your goal is to give yourself the best chance of acceptance and all it takes is that one person interviewing you to judge you harshly bc of the dreads. Just my two cents...

OP, this question has come up before, time and time again.
It's always in the form of gauges, dreadlocks, hair dying, tattoos, body mods, wearing polyester fabrics for suits, etc

JUST SAY NO!

Irish Football said:

Seriously, even if 95% of the people here say it's okay, why leave even one stone unturned. Your goal is to give yourself the best chance of acceptance and all it takes is that one person interviewing you to judge you harshly bc of the dreads. Just my two cents...

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if having dreads something the op feels strongly about, he should roll with it. one's goal should be finding a school where one belongs, and if you need to fake it to make it, well...

Is wearing a conservative suit to an interview, when in reality I would rather wear a more stylish/modern one considered "faking it?" Because that's what most of us do from what I hear.

Irish Football said:

Is wearing a conservative suit to an interview, when in reality I would rather wear a more stylish/modern one considered "faking it?" Because that's what most of us do from what I hear.

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it's a matter of magnitude, the more apt comparison would be wearing a suit vs. jeans (this is to highlight the difference, not to suggest dreads are like wearing jeans)

and dude, it's ok to wear modern suits at a med school interview

Also, just because your interviewer may reject you with dreads doesn't mean that everyone else at the school feels the same way. Don't view it as "faking it" for the school, but rather view it as "faking it" for the one interviewer who frowns upon dreads.

RogueUnicorn said:

and dude, it's ok to wear modern suits at a med school interview

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Maybe, (and i meant stylish in the sense of non-conservative) but I've heard enough people say otherwise, so like I said, I'd rather go with the "leave no stone left unturned" approach.

Irish Football said:

Also, just because your interviewer may reject you with dreads doesn't mean that everyone else at the school feels the same way. Don't view it as "faking it" for the school, but rather view it as "faking it" for the one interviewer who frowns upon dreads.

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my experience (which to be fair is limited to my experience) is that most interviewers reflect the culture of a school

Irish Football said:

Maybe, (and i meant stylish in the sense of non-conservative) but I've heard enough people say otherwise, so like I said, I'd rather go with the "leave no stone left unturned" approach.

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that's ok, but again it's an issue of magnitude. putting on a more conservative suit is a much smaller difference than what is being discussed here

RogueUnicorn said:

my experience (which to be fair is limited to my experience) is that most interviewers reflect the culture of a school

that's ok, but again it's an issue of magnitude. putting on a more conservative suit is a much smaller difference than what is being discussed here

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Whatever, OP can do what he wants. He came on here for advice and I've given mine.

I think LZ Granderson pulls off professional dreads. They don't look freeform, though.

altamont850 said:

I understand your view, but if you've been a physician for some time, could you ever get away with free form dreadlocks? Is the medical community truly a conservative field (i.e. homogeneity is the ideal)?

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This would be covered under the dress code policy of a hospital. I myself have specifically seen regulations against dreadlocks. It's not considered professional at all.

it sucks but you probably need to get the boring haircut... my hair certainly would not be the boringness that it currently is if i could do whatever i wanted, but hey you gotta do what you gotta do...

someone mentioned columbia... i could see the more well-known ultra-liberal (particularly, ivy league) schools being more open to individual expression... but you better have some damn good stats if those are all you're looking at

As the father of a 16yr old with dreads my thoughts are this:

Dreads: go for it, they can look great and express your personality

Free-form: not if you want to do medicine.

As for when, post-residency once you have a job or established practice then go free-form, otherwise stick to something a bit more mainstream.

It is just like someone referred to tattoos. I have several but not a single one that can be seen while dressed in professional attire. If you want tats, go for it--heck cover your whole torso, but if you put them on your neck/hands/face you won't get into medical school.

altamont850 said:

I'm an African American male and I've recently decided to grow free-form locks for the remainder of my undergraduate career. If and when I have a med school interview, would I be at a marked disadvantage (this is not merely for aesthetics but rather for conviction)? If I were encourage to cut my locks, does anyone think I could grow them again in residency without harsh resistant?

e.g. of freeform locks:

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/V5yzK2mN2AA/0.jpg

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Dude. No. Just No.

I also have very strange hair, which I will cut lightly before I get a shot at interviews.

Manicured dreads yes. Free formed no. Have fun while you can but be prepared for the chop before interviews.

Btw, im an AA female on my second set, twisting really isn't that big of a deal... I do mine and they take longer than most because mine are a lil different.

Get rid of them. They look really dirty and unprofessional, and your adcom is probably going to be older, conservative, and probably white. Best not to upset Dr. grandpa joe

altamont850 said:

I understand your view, but if you've been a physician for some time, could you ever get away with free form dreadlocks? Is the medical community truly a conservative field (i.e. homogeneity is the ideal)?

Click to expand...

Just chop them off before your interview. Better safe than sorry.

Doesn't matter, just make sure you look professional during your interviews. If you can't figure out a way, then you might have to cut them off, but you can probably just grow them back after you get accepted somewhere.

bigDee said:

I don't think i've ever seen anyone in a professional setting with dread locks.

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Football haha. In all seriousness, i think it would be cool to tie them back

I worked at one of the best hospitals in the country. We have a pretty big haitian population and I've seen some care providers (not sure if MD) with dreads. They looked professional and had them long and tied back.

They were not free form. They were well maintained etc.

If you want dreads, then cool go for it. Make sure they're well kept and can be pulled back to a pony tail.

macho07 said:

I have seen individuals at interviews with dreadlocks, no big deal. I also know of a ms2 at Columbia who has dreadlocks. It's no big deal. One of the adcom's at Columbia has addressed this by saying that for males they need to tie it back.

Honestly, anyone who states otherwise is completely off.

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I just think specifically free form dreadlocks are the issue here, not regular neat dread locks. I don't think freeform can be tied back.

Recently, my mom was at the hospital and one of the attending doctors had exactly the hair style you describe: free-formed dread locks. My impression was that many patients were a bit confused by this: professional? Dread locks? My mom was totally fine, but I did feel the doctor had to get going, past that first impression, and start talking to establish a certain level of trust and know he was super intelligent. So, that's the thing. you'll probably have to work a bit harder to be sure people don't simply judge you on your hair style.

OTOH, I wonder what most people thought of Einstein when they first met him.

Lucky Louie said:

Recently, my mom was at the hospital and one of the attending doctors had exactly the hair style you describe: free-formed dread locks. My impression was that many patients were a bit confused by this: professional? Dread locks? My mom was totally fine, but I did feel the doctor had to get going, past that first impression, and start talking to establish a certain level of trust and know he was super intelligent. So, that's the thing. you'll probably have to work a bit harder to be sure people don't simply judge you on your hair style.

OTOH, I wonder what most people thought of Einstein when they first met him.

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I think it is safe to say Einsteins reputation preceded him, so people already knew who he was before the saw his hair. OP is going to be one applicant in a sea of conservatively coiffed applicants.

I am a black girl with untreated afro hair which I usually keep in braids or as an afro. In a professional setting, I either wear my braids in a pony tail or I make my afro as tidy as possible.

OP, play it safe. If your free form locks are gonna look like anything in that picture, I vote no.

Don't do it unless you look like this.

TipToad said:

Don't do it unless you look like this.

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Haha... I love this pic of Lauryn, but her free-form locs didn't look like this in person. Her hair has definitely been Photoshopped in this pic.

Do it when you become an attending and/or have your own practice

altamont850 said:

I'm an African American male and I've recently decided to grow free-form locks for the remainder of my undergraduate career. If and when I have a med school interview, would I be at a marked disadvantage (this is not merely for aesthetics but rather for conviction)? If I were encourage to cut my locks, does anyone think I could grow them again in residency without harsh resistant?

e.g. of freeform locks:

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/V5yzK2mN2AA/0.jpg

Click to expand...

Do it all interviewers love free form dreads.

I really don't think it would be a problem in an interview. I think the key question about your appearance going into an interview (for anything, not just med school) is whether it looks like you put some effort into being a little more clean-cut than your normal everyday self. This is just a way of showing some respect for the importance of the occasion. As long as you can do something that makes you feel and look "cleaned up" -- shower, shave, put on a nice suit, pull your hair back, etc. -- I don't think it matters whether you have dreads or a crew cut.

I worked for almost two years as a congressional staffer in DC -- a work environment with one of the most conservative dress codes anywhere. A guy in another congressman's office down the hall had long free-form dreads -- usually pulled back while at work. I never thought he looked anything less than professional.

I wonder if an afro hairstyle is also not professional.

lol this thread is funny. As long as you don't interview in Mississippi or something, you'll be fine with dreadlocks.

Just wear a nice suit and have a strong application. No one cares about your hair cut

AshPreMed said:

I wonder if an afro hairstyle is also not professional.

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Well being that an afro is the natural state of sub-saharan African hair, I don't think it would qualify as a "style", imo. I would even dare to say that that would be borderline discrimination if an employer tried to force a black woman to straighten her hair because they don't think it's "professional."

Giggles88 said:

Well being that an afro is the natural state of sub-saharan African hair, I don't think it would qualify as a "style", imo. I would even dare to say that that would be borderline discrimination if an employer tried to force a black woman to straighten her hair because they don't think it's "professional."

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Oh no they don't "force" but the pressure is ridiculous. I've just adjusted my attitude to "I'm too damn old to care whether you think I should slop my hair with "creamy crack". If that's the pressure I continuously got? I wouldn't belong there.