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Work and formal

Neat styles for offices and ceremonies. 27 hairstyles on EveryHairstyle so far.

Work and formal occasions call for neat, controlled hair: a smooth chignon or French twist, a tidy bob, a short barber's cut with a side parting. Some jobs carry their own hair: the wigs of British barristers and judges, the covered hair of food workers, the regulation cuts of police and pilots. What counts as professional hair has been questioned, especially where rules have excluded natural Black hairstyles.

Formal styles

The chignon and the French twist have been standard formal and office styles for women since the 1950s, along with the bob and the low ponytail. Men's formal hair has usually meant a regular haircut or an Ivy League, parted and combed. In Britain, barristers and judges have worn horsehair wigs since the late 17th century; since 2008 they have been dropped in most civil cases but remain in criminal courts.

What is professional?

Workplace rules on hair have often treated afros, braids and locs as untidy. Studies and campaigns in the United States and Britain have described this as discrimination, and the CROWN Act and similar policies now protect natural hairstyles in many American states, while British employers and schools have adopted similar codes. Supporters of dress codes argue for consistency; critics say the codes reflect narrow ideas of how hair should look.

Famous work and formal hairstyles

ChignonA smooth formal knot

French twistThe office roll of the 1950s and 1960s

Shingle bobA neat, low-maintenance cut

Regular haircutThe standard business cut

Ivy League haircutA parted short cut

WigWorn by British barristers and judges

Further reading

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Ponytail: Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, source
Wig: David Ring, CC0, source
French twist: SWinxy, CC BY 4.0, source
Regular haircut: JParker9, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Ivy League haircut: U.S. Navy photo by Chief Journalist Robert Benson, Public domain, source
Shingle bob: Evolvingthinker, CC BY 2.0, source

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