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Shaving Woe: Thoughts
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Shaving Woe
 

By: David Rader II on January 03, 2010 @ 12:23 AM

In most civilized cultures I'm aware of, from the time a person is young they are taught not to lie, not to judge others by their appearance, and many other good morals.

It appears that there is a massive social stigma with body hair. It's so bad that men and women literally loose confidence in themselves if they don't shave. Men think they're doing something wrong by not shaving their face and women think they're doing something wrong by not shaving their legs.

We need to stop judging people by their appearance.

There has been a lack of awareness so deep that entire cultures have been engulfed in this desire to "better" themselves by removing what is literally a part of themselves, their hair. This is a body modification practiced by a huge majority of people who generally speaking, believe they "should not judge others by their appearances." Perhaps if we nullify our own partaking of this body modification, we will help slow or even stop the propagation of this cultural ritual contributing to the discrimination of entire societies.

It us an utter fact that those who do not shave are blatantly discriminated against. Nearly every place I have worked, when I have grown a beard I have been discriminated against. Many companies openly state they look for a "clean" look - I do not suggest being unclean, but hair does not have to be so if it is lightly groomed. Women are laughed at who do not shave their legs. More and more the cultural norm is to have as much hair removed as possible with the exception of the head. Does having more and more hair removed really make a person better? Of course not.

Those with less hair are more often in more appealing positions in life for many reasons. A few reasons that stand out are number one, most people shave in this times, two, those few who don't shave are kept on the outer circle simply for their physical differences - as much as a black or white man is kept out of a black or white crowd- perhaps more-so. It is an undertoned discrimination without the credit it deserves. Cultural discrimination like this undermines the morals and values of the culture and when the discrimination is so deeply buried that few recognize or notice it, than those peoples are being degraded without even their own knowledge of it. Nearly everyone has been told not to discriminate people based on their looks, we have no good excuse.

I am now in a familiar position- where I have let my #beard grow and work for a company where I feel I may potentially damage the companies image by not shaving. However, I feel I may be worse off for myself and the company by #shaving and sacrificing something I #believe in. Should I #shave as usual? Or should I let it get to the length my path of life provides? (which isn't very long considering fire hazards and machinery hazards, but still long enough to cause stares).

Although I understand the discrimination from companies to maintain a certain image which society expects, I do not agree with its origins in most cases and thus its existence.


Tags: believe moral 


Comments:
#1 nova-san January 11, 2010 @ 9:37 AM
You are right: most people do discriminate against people with a lot of body hair. I suppose it goes with the notion that too much hair is a sign of bad hygiene. Hair attracts dust and dirt.

A lot of people equate bad hygiene with bad work ethics. If someone appears to not care about their personal appearance, then the thought is generally that that person will not care about their job. It's wrong thinking, but I suppose it's just the way society is.

#2 Meta January 15, 2010 @ 6:40 AM
I totally agree with you. I'm 37; For almost all of my 20s, I was clean shaved and had short hair - at most, I had a neatly trimmed goatee (that seems to be acceptable in business these days). I always had good jobs - an IT manager, a systems analyst, etc.

Now in my 30s I've stopped reaching for the corporate carrot so much and gotten into Buddhism, etc. I'm rocking a nice beard and should length hair. I keep myself just as well groomed and well dressed, but the jobs I get now are not as "professional" I guess you'd say. Maybe an IT guys, but no, not the manager of IT! Even though I have lots of experience.

Johnny Depp can get away with it, but then movie stars and music celebrities are supposed to look extreme. The rest of us are supposed to be boring, clean-cut worker bees that just follow orders. That's messed up. I'd grow that beard if you want to, and if it's something you feel comfortable in and like the look. Hell, I get way more interest from the ladies now that I have more hair... businesses just tend to be conservative and assume you do drugs if you look like Depp or one of the Beatles. Screw them though, there are always jobs with more open-minded people running them, where you'd probably be happier anyway. Less bullsh!t, less having to put up a starched front all the time.

Good luck :)







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