I'm getting my 1 year certificate in Welding, and have dreads.

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I was wondering about peoples opinions on dreadlocks in the welding industry, hard to weld with dreadlocks? Difficult to get a job having dreadlocks?Thanks for the information.
Reply:Key word here is safety! I've seen kids run off for having an ear ring.Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:I dunno.My  hair is only 1/2" tall so it won't catch on fire or get all wound up in spinning machinery......zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Welcome to Welding Web, I have short hair, and use a baseball cap to cover my neck so....Millermatic 200Miller Spectrum 2050
Reply:Your looking at careers and worried it will affect your hair style?
Reply:Long hair and physical work should never be in the same sentence.Just a couple welders, big hammers, grinders, and torches.Work will free you.Men in dirty jeans built this country, while men in clean suits have destroyed it. Trump/Carson 2016-2024
Reply:I wouldn't worry about others opinions. It won't take long welding, you will want to take the razor to your head. I do fairly heavy fab, building tanks. Lots of grinding and welding thick steal with flux core. SO naturally lots of dust. Those dreads seem like a great place for it all to get trapped and eventually make it into your eyes. Or catch on fire or get caught in a grinder etc etc. I set my shirt on fire a few weeks ago While Grinding… Basically What we are trying to say is it is a safety thing more than anything and it might hinder you from getting a job.- Christian M.C3 Welding & Fabrication - CNC Plasma Cutting-Mobile Welding-Custom welding and fabwww.c3welding.com
Reply:I run across guys fairly often who have serious dreads. Like down to the bottom of their back. IMO, it's just asking for trouble.Some guys tie them up and tuck them in their shirt. I saw a guy recently who put a stocking or something over his dread pony tail and then basically folded it up and tied it. I noticed it because it seems like a good idea to me.Some guys just let them hang out, not tied up or anything.  It's typically a pretty good indication of someone who doesn't do much.IW Local 580 NY, NY
Reply:You are gonna look funny with chunks of those dreads burned off. No matter how good of a job of using our PPE,welders always manage to to catch an errant spark somewhere. Then add grinding, burning, air arcing and what ever else welder get involved in and your hair will start to feel like rug that the dog crapped on. So if your hair is that important then apply for a bag boy job.
Reply:Long hair is not a great limitation if dealt with properly.  I worked with many Sikhs and in the locker room they would take off their regular turban and make up a tight wrap that would fit under their hard hat.  The facial hair had to be trimmed so that a mask would make a tight seal.  There were lots of guys with goatee styles to get the mask to work.
Reply:Some shops won't allow it or even facial hair if you have to wear a respirator. I was at a 3M training session and I think they said that no respirator will seal properly unless you are clean shaven. Hair burns, so do nylon ball caps and/or the nylon headband. I always wear a welders cap and I just shake my head when I see so many guys never wear anything on their head. Nylon ball caps are even worse than nothing. Like I said, hair burns! Having dreadlocks certainly isn't going to help you get a welding job and with a lot of people out of work, may put the nail in the coffin of having a career in welding.
Reply:Thanks for all of the replies and opinions on the matter.
Reply:Originally Posted by AKweldshopLong hair and physical work should never be in the same sentence.
Reply:He's also a foreman with a proven record. Just starting out is a totally different scenario. You also don't have much chance of catching on fire working with concrete.
Reply:If I was the guy looking to hire a qualified welder, and a guy with dreads and a guy with shaved head showed up both equally qualified and both passed my skills tests, and both had clean drug test and background checks and both appeared able to show up every day ready to work and fit in...Then I would select the guy with shaved head.Why?  Because he ain't worried about his looks, and will most likely express himself thru his ability to produce what I'm in the business producing, rather than how he looks when doing it.I know lots of very skilled guys with solid jobs and long gray pony tails and tats that can get a job in the industry anywhere, but that same guy in dreads will end up living under a bridge before he will find work in the heavy welding trades when he competes with them biker and skinhead types for a job.....That's just the way it is.If after work he dons a dread wig and slips into heels and lipstick and shaves his legs, then that's his business because he already took good care of mine.Hair styles aside, first impressions tote lots o stroke where an experienced boss sizes you up as soon as you walk in the door. I'll give you an example;About 22 years ago I had retired from The Navy as a Senior Chief Machinist Mate and after two years, I took a job as a boiler operator at local state hospital for retarded folks....One pretty spring Sunday morning in the parking lot outside the boiler plant I'm sitting on the tailgate of my pretty red new extended cab Dodge Dakota swing my legs and smoking and thinking if I'm going to be working full time, then I need to make better bucks....That whole campus was deserted on weekends, so I was deep in thought when a little white Taurus drove up.....A young guy steps out and fiddles with some stuff then heads across lot to me....When he walked up, I said, "You a submarine sailor." I didn't ask him, I told him. He looked at me kinda confused, and said yeah he once was....and I just smiled and relaxed and knew I was dealing with good people, so I offered to help....He replied he was a boiler inspector for Hartford Steam Boiler and needed to inspect my boilers today because he was transferring to Jackson Mississippi next day...I asked what a boiler inspector did and how much it paid and he told me all about it, and I told him my background, and he said if tonight I'd scribble out a resume, then he'd stop by there in morning on his way to Mississippi then would fax it to his boss because they needed to fill his vacancy as of tomorrow.So I did, and he did, and then I became a boiler inspector.His name was Tim Zoltowski and I had him pegged for what he was all about before he got across that parking lot. I had spent 20 years inside a sewer pipe with guys just like him where we all eventually walked the same walk and had the same posture and just everything goin on the same, so I could recognize a fellow submariner from a distance.It will very much be the same for you when you step in the door for your job interview.....An experienced boss will size you up before you even stick out you hand...Dreads will distract him from seeing the real you.Last edited by wornoutoldwelder; 03-15-2015 at 02:56 AM.
Reply:Originally Posted by iongaryour looking at careers and worried it will affect your hair style?
Reply:Originally Posted by MikeGyverlmao!gotta have your priorities manIn my mind, the best career to have if having dreads is the most important thing in your life is perma-stoned pothead and/or reggae legend.
Reply:Let your welding Skills do your talking not your Hair, Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:It's your hair and your job to protect it. I'm sure if a employer was concerned for insurance reasons it would be pointed out to you. In the old days when afro's were popular, I had a guy that wore a big full wrap around brim safari type hard hat. At the end of day when he removed his hard hat his afro had the shape of the hat. I had guys working for me that had long hair, handsome ones , and some pretty fkng ugly ones. All that matter was if they could do the job and pass the test. Good luck.
Reply:There's several pro football players that have dreads. Wornoutoldwelder, just because someone has a military background doesn't mean they're good people. In your case they were but there can be real jerks no matter what their background. A top Canadian Military official was charged with rape and murder. Look at all the priests being charged with sexual assault. Also "Retarded folks" is an offensive statement to anyone who has friends or relatives with disabilities.
Reply:Originally Posted by Welder DaveThere's several pro football players that have dreads. Wornoutoldwelder, just because someone has a military background doesn't mean they're good people. In your case they were but there can be real jerks no matter what their background. A top Canadian Military official was charged with rape and murder. Look at all the priests being charged with sexual assault. Also "Retarded folks" is an offensive statement to anyone who has friends or relatives with disabilities.
Reply:I weld with a guy with some epic dreads, and he makes it work. If you can lay out beads like he can, you will never have a hard time finding work. He is pretty devout Rasta, and makes it known it is religious, so no one dares the law suite.Constant Current Weldor.
Reply:Originally Posted by DavidbrownI weld with a guy with some epic dreads, and he makes it work. If you can lay out beads like he can, you will never have a hard time finding work. He is pretty devout Rasta, and makes it known it is religious, so no one dares the law suite.
Reply:Originally Posted by wornoutoldwelderAWWWW, bull chit to all you said...There ain't no place on Earth were men get a chance to examine other men like you do on a submarine...It's the one place where if you gonna shatter, you will eventually, with everyone watching and learning when it happens and why...After 20 years of observation, I can rate the Rockwell hardness of any man from a distance and I tote a pistol for the ones that can't bounce high velocity armor piercing rounds off their chests because I know they a shipwreck, not a shipmate."Retarded folks" are just that. They are very unfortunate people who exist to teach us all a lesson in humility, where as they pass, if you don't say to yourself, "by the grace of God go I", then they wasted their very existence on you.Yeah, the world is full of queer priests and now a days queer military folks only because they can now hide behind the same PC words you spout here....The louder you shout PC words and the more of them you learn, the more they will flourish until they invade your home like bedbugs and you become one of them.And don't use pro football players to hold up to me as examples of the master race, because whenever I bother to watch the news, another of them is being charged with committing all the PC stuff you condemn.
Reply:Originally Posted by Mario92I was wondering about peoples opinions on dreadlocks in the welding industry, hard to weld with dreadlocks? Difficult to get a job having dreadlocks?Thanks for the information.Yeah i could easily, and right now they're only shoulder length. Would my chances of getting a job drastically decrease though? Thanks for the information from everyone btw.
Reply:Potential employers may think it's a safety issue right off the bat. You only get 1 chance to make a first impression and most everybody forms an opinion in about 5 seconds of seeing someone. About 1 second on the internet.  Put yourself in the employers shoes.
Reply:True very true. Say you were a employer, what would you think of it? Assuming it would all fit into the welders vest.
Reply:I'd be more interested in the job you could do but I'm sure not all employers would be.
Reply:I sincerely WANT the OP to get a decent job as a welder right out of the gate. I WANT him to MASTER EVERY welding process, I sincerely do. He asked here if his dreads might pose a problem getting hired, and I told him perhaps the WORST example of what he might encounter as a new hire in many places. I made ir REAL for him.Myself, I dig the chit outa dreads. I think they beyond cool.   BUT, if I was 18 years old again and tryin to feed myself today, then I'd paint my face blue if it improved my chances of getting a job.EVERY MAN on this planet has the opportunity to pick up an oar and help the rest of us row ALL of us over the horizon. If one wants to play the individual and face the wrong way, and refuses to row with the beat of the drum, then he becomes a passenger and not a shipmate, where odds are he gonna miss his ship when it sails because there will be no room in the boat for passengers.We EVERYDAY get a new chance to restack our priorities. Because everyday that old Sun comes up and presents us with a new world full of new challenges where we STILL must advance on that distant horizon or perish. If I awoke tomorrow and discovered I needed to change something about me to keep my seat in the boat and the oar in my hands, then I'd certainly consider making that change.I respect the OP because he thought to ask. That tells me his first priority is getting a job as a welder and he has taken inventory and he noticed there might be something about him easy to change that he is willing to change to get that job, so he asked us here.THat dude will make his choices and they will be good choices because he has the vision to self-reflect and is concerned how might appear to the other 6 billion of us.Last edited by wornoutoldwelder; 03-16-2015 at 11:29 PM.
Reply:You will be a distraction with dreads...and having to tie things up and keep them out of the way will interfere with your work and make you less productive than a clean shaven man. Even most women I've seen that weld eventually cut their hair to collar length or less...if not they keep it easily tucked up under things or pinned up.  Dreads don't work that way. Plus it will make you suspect due their association with dope.  And you might be targeted (though it won't be admitted) for more routine drug testing.  I have to ask, what is wrong with a high and tight?  It works in all professions and while it doesn't speak to what kind of character you have necessarily, it doesn't raise any red hiring flags.Esab Migmaster 250Lincoln SA 200Lincoln Ranger 8Smith Oxy Fuel setupEverlast PowerPlasma 80Everlast Power iMIG 160Everlast Power iMIG 205 Everlast Power iMIG 140EEverlast PowerARC 300Everlast PowerARC 140STEverlast PowerTIG 255EXT
Reply:a kid at school saved 15-20 bucks for a haircut. he was mig welding, i walked into the welding bay almost threw up ran out laughing my but off because long lengths of this kids hair were on the floor!lets just say he had long a$$ hair!
Reply:Originally Posted by lugweldI have to ask, what is wrong with a high and tight?  It works in all professions and while it doesn't speak to what kind of character you have necessarily, it doesn't raise any red hiring flags.
Reply:I am not sure how guys with dreads keep their hair clean.  I can only imagine what their hair would smell like after a week of flux core welding. I have never known anyone with dreads so this is my own openion with no support.  I do know that welding will leave a stink on a person that has to be washed off.  Dan D.Manipulator Of Metal
Reply:I had dreadlocks in my teens and early college days... Its a phase I went thru growing up...If you plan on working indoors or in a shop there are ways of keeping your dreadlocks from becoming a safety hazard, as suggested by guys here. But if you're planning on working outdoors like in a pipeline or field equipment maintenance, those dreads will become a nuisance to you.
Reply:Not even neatly trimmed? Well i guess the conclusion is a clean cut. Thanks for all of the info.
Reply:what if the experienced boss has dreads, and he don't like squids, guess you'd be sol.
Reply:Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:Let's keep this simple...............The boss owns a shop....He pays big lease, insurance, utilities, and all the other overhead crap before he can even roll up shop doors every morning.Potential clients stroll in an look around at his people, layout and machines, welding equipment and tool capabilities and floor space, and organization and work flo practices, and access, and all the other stuff he's got going on behind his fancy business cards and even TV ads......And if he sees blue collar folks looking less than full professional, and he then doubts their gender/orientation/religion/politics based on how they look and dress, then he ain't gonna want to drill down and see just how sweet that oddball looking guy can do stuff best for him....In the client's eye, if he looks goofy, then he produces goofy.There are FEW places left in this country where an hourly worker can tote his oddball looks to work and be judged and paid fairly based on his abilities...You can see lots of goofy looking guys on Jessie James and Gas Monkey 'reality' TV shows earning rep, but they wouldn't last a minute outside the gate in the real world where appearance still matters and jobs are tight.....They gonna be hard pressed to remove those huge earlobe loops and neck tats and orange hair and whatever else they got going on distorted beyond normal just to get an hourly job. If I was the boss looking to hire an unknown, then I'd try to picture him wearing my shop's uniform shirt before he struck the first arc and how he represented my shop by his appearance alone...The whole man-from top to bottom...professional, no matter his skill level would be value to me, because I can raise his skill levels thru training and experience, as long as he looks like he takes the job serious nuff for me to invest in him.Last edited by wornoutoldwelder; 03-29-2015 at 09:42 AM.
Reply:Originally Posted by wornoutoldwelderLet's keep this simple...............The boss owns a shop....He pays big lease, insurance, utilities, and all the other overhead crap before he can even roll up shop doors every morning.Potential clients stroll in an look around at his people, layout and machines, welding equipment and tool capabilities and floor space, and organization and work flo practices, and access, and all the other stuff he's got going on behind his fancy business cards and even TV ads......And if he sees blue collar folks looking less than full professional, and he then doubts their gender/orientation/religion/politics based on how they look and dress, then he ain't gonna want to drill down and see just how sweet that oddball looking guy can do stuff best for him....In the client's eye, if he looks goofy, then he produces goofy.There are FEW places left in this country where an hourly worker can tote his oddball looks to work and be judged and paid fairly based on his abilities...You can see lots of goofy looking guys on Jessie James and Gas Monkey 'reality' TV shows earning rep, but they wouldn't last a minute outside the gate in the real world where appearance still matters and jobs are tight.....They gonna be hard pressed to remove those huge earlobe loops and neck tats and orange hair and whatever else they got going on distorted beyond normal just to get an hourly job.
Reply:Get over it, yeah money rules....It always has and always will.If you don't like it, go your on way....You got a choice-work for the other man, or beat him at his game.If you approach me looking for a job, then that tells me I own you before I hire you and pay you first penny, so rules are mine.If you got nuff going on to challenge me, go for it.Capitalism works for me....It earned me three retirement checks and all I had to do was show up dressed for work and acting like I wanted to work....in all those years, I sucked up free of charge how to do what I did better and become worth more on the boss's dime.
Reply:Originally Posted by DanD78I am not sure how guys with dreads keep their hair clean.  I can only imagine what their hair would smell like after a week of flux core welding. I have never known anyone with dreads so this is my own openion with no support.  I do know that welding will leave a stink on a person that has to be washed off.  Dan D.
Reply:Originally Posted by teh603I'm not sure whether this is a better example of the coerciveness inherent in laissez- faire capitalism (the people with most money get to make the rules), or how Americans are so eager to enforce artificial normality upon each other, but either way it says a lot. What else would you like to do, require him to give you his social media passwords so you can make sure he isn't associating with undesirables? Or make him wear a GPS tracker at all times?And yes, those are somewhat loaded questions because there's already social media policy and supreme court case law on the subject. My point is that just because something fits one person's version of normal- say a Victorian prude or a religious fundamentalist in Washington who was elected by a majority of gerrymanders- doesn't mean it fits that of the nation as a whole, or even the people likely to be applying for jobs in a given field and area. It also means that just because someone has enough money to arbitrarily make rules, doesn't mean they should.(emphasis added)That's not something I hear every day.
Reply:Get a haircut and get a real job lol.I own a business and have employees. The way people look has a huge impression on who I hire. I know there are hippie looking guys that are awesome workers and there are clean cut guys that are douche bags but most appearances have stereotypes for a reason.Last edited by Drilldo; 03-30-2015 at 09:56 AM.
Reply:Kind of a drag to burn off your hair.   Sorta half melts , and the other half carbonizes. What is really scary though is the potential for getting it wrapped up in a rotating tool like a mag drill, lathe, that sort of thing. Sadly,every year a few folks get killed that way .
Reply:I was helping serious high school kids with welding senior projects. A kid with hair to his waist wanted me to teach him to TIG weld. I told him he would have to cut his hair due to the machinery. My 5 year old niece ripped a large chunk out of her scalp when her hair caught in a cheap cordless drill. The next day he showed up with a buzz cut. I taught him to design and weld. He is an engineer today. My opinion is it is a safety hazard and possibly a fire hazard, but I don't know about that. You only get one chance to make a good impression.
Reply:Gents, once again, lets keep this simple...For the kids that come here interested in selecting welding as a career that expect to enter the trade working for the other man, then let's be honest with them.Over 40 years ago, my dad reacted to my decision to join the Navy with VERY simple advise...After over 26 years as a Army man, he stated that. "Son, if you show up early every morning in proper uniform on time and appear as a military professional ready to go to work, you will have the whole day licked even when that day spans 48 hours...Just show up in proper uniform early appearing professional and like you are ready and willing to work, and you will not fail to advance and become a very successful career military man like me....Plus FIRST thing, learn what your bosses boss expects of your boss and deliver it before your boss directs you to do it...In that fashion, you will quickly become highly respected and quickly promoted." So yeah, when you young men decide you want to do Man things, then don't hesitate to alter your appearance along with your attitudes if you expect to compete and win against the endless competition.My dad was most correct...and I was most correct to listen to him.Once you become known for your skills and earn rep, then let your hair grow and most certainly become legend.
Reply:Originally Posted by wornoutoldwelderGet over it, yeah money rules....It always has and always will.If you don't like it, go your on way....You got a choice-work for the other man, or beat him at his game.If you approach me looking for a job, then that tells me I own you before I hire you and pay you first penny, so rules are mine.If you got nuff going on to challenge me, go for it.Capitalism works for me....It earned me three retirement checks and all I had to do was show up dressed for work and acting like I wanted to work....in all those years, I sucked up free of charge how to do what I did better and become worth more on the boss's dime.
Reply:OP  Don't follow the herd and change who you are for work. If you have a good work ethic let that be known, and display it. There are going to be the "good ole boys" and other cup caking political BS challenges to any profession. Make it evident you work hard and you can solve problems, then simply prove it. At the interview be clear that your hair doesn't define who you are but you simply enjoy having it. Explain how it won't pose a safety problem.  I have worked with clean shaved DIRT BAGS for years and years. I'd GLADY work with a dread wearing "hippie" that works their *** off any day. Just keep it within reason and your fine.  If your lazy, get un-azy or your sunk anyways...dreads and all.  Period.Last edited by FitnFused; 04-15-2015 at 10:48 AM.Lincoln PowerMig 200AHP 200x 3rd Gen.Miller 211 AASMiller Digital Elite "POWMIA"Victor Oxy SetLotos ltp5000d
Reply:Thanks for the advice FitNFused. I will try at first, then if i cant eat from not working, i'll have to make a choice. Thanks again