Hello!
This might be a stupid question but I was wondering if edgy hairstyles have the same negative stigma as tattoos. I am an 18 year old girl with four years of work experience (cashier/food services) and I have been in private schools for 14 years so I do not lack in work experience and communication. I really want a side shave to symbolize my freedom and “rebirth” but I’m afraid that it will affect my college career (computer science major). I was wondering what employers think right off the back. (No I do not have tattoos, piercings, or crazy colored hair)
I think you can go ahead and do that since you are a freshman. Likely you won’t really have serious internship until after Jr year. I think that some places won’t care but others will. You don’t want to be unapproachable looking. If it is more fashion than punkish it may be a little easier. All in all, I would grow it out a bit for job hunting. I don’t think it is worth ruling out employers for your first job.
It depends on the place. Coffee shops for instance are much less judgmental from experience but unfortunately other places may expect you to fulfill what they consider to be a “more professional” profile. You should be fine as a college freshman, but several others have commented that unfortunately discrimination still exists in the work place under what they deem to be acceptable. People that I have known to be most affected have been African American women who may not be hired because of their more “wild” hairstyles, yet are hired after they straighten their hair. Hopefully those attitudes and generalizations will be gone by the time you graduate college, but I wanted to let you know they still exist.
Some employers won’t care. Others will. There are likely regional and industry differences – an east coast bank is probably more likely to care about hairstyle and other appearance related things than a west coast startup computer company.
I would treat edgy hairstyles the same way I would treat edgy clothes. At an interview w a conservative industry, I wouldn’t wear a shirt that read “born to rebel”.
I don’t see it as discrimination…it is just “what is appropriate for the job”? If you are in sales, and sellin pharma, you will be going to doctors offices, so no. If you will be programming at google, maybe yes. Investment banking? No. Fashion metchandising? Yes.
But for an interview, go conservative until you see the culture around you. Once you are there, you will know what will fly and what won’t.
For now, shave away! Personally, I wouldn’t. It takes too long to grow back! What about pink? 
I think it looks tacky as all get out, in my line of work (local government) it would be unacceptable. Not all workplaces are like this, but ones that will give you stable careers won’t like that odd quirky haircut.
If you are referring to your college career as your classes and university life, nope no one will care. If you are referring to part time jobs during college, it will probably be no different than your interview process for the jobs you held during high school.
For your professional career, it may matter depending on what types of companies you are applying to. If you are looking to be a developer or computer engineer, it really doesn’t make a difference as long as you are able to showcase your skills. I work at a large tech company and there are many people on our product team that have crazy colored hair and edgy haircuts. I however am on client facing analytics, so you won’t see that on the business team.
If it comes down to it, would your hair be long enough to part it the other way and cover it up?
OP is a computer science major. Sure, she could someday end up looking for a job at an investment bank, but if that’s the case she has plenty of time to grow her hair out.
My experience in IT, especially the more cutting-edge web firms and agencies, is that facial piercings, tattoos, and unusual hair are not at all uncommon. And at least hair grows out - I’m expecting an epidemic in plastic surgery someday when all the people with gauges start to have regrets…
I know TV =/= real life but in Silicon Valley there’s a scene where they’re interviewing a bunch of computer science/engineer people and their two best applicants was a chick with a side shave and dyed hair and a guy with a bunch of piercings, tattoos, and really odd unique hair.
Real life example - Bobak Ferdowski, better known as Mohawk Guy from the NASA Mars Rover mission…
I’m in the same situation- Very short hair (undercut) and a nose ring. Jobs at traditional, conservative, corporate types of companies might be put in jeopardy by the haircut, but jobs in more liberal professions or atmospheres probably wouldn’t care too much. It could even come down to what the person interviewing you thinks.