well, it makes me curious. i'm just starting nursing school, and I have a tiny little monroe piercings, its small, and only noticable depending on the color of the ball. I'm only 19, and i've had the piecings since i was 14, its apart of me. i'd understand taking it out for class but what about once i get a job?
and then there is my hair, i'm a natural blond, but i have a very vibrant red underneath the blond, its only noticable when my hair is down and straight, will i have to dye my hair back or not? i'm just not sure, i don't know many nurses who could tell me.
Lots of tattoos and small facial piercings where I am in the northeast.
OP, you'll have to comply with whatever your school requires. Take a moment when you're in clinicals in various hospitals to get a sense of what hospitals in your area allow.
before school i used to dye my hair every color under the sun. blue, orange, fire engine red, yellow, my hair was even purple when i went for my nursing school admissions interview. but i had the common sense to know they wouldnt accept me into a professional program with purple hair, so i wore a realistic looking wig. no one called me out on it and i got in so i guess it worked..
i did however dye my hair a natural red color before starting school, still kind of unique, but acceptable in the workplace. i just had to make a decision, what is more important to me: my crazy hair, or my future career?
your appearance does not define you, if you are a unique person it will shine through regardless of your hair color or how many holes are in your face. there are plenty of other ways to express yourself. i wear pretty much anything i want to class, and i have 6 tattoos (all coverable by scrubs). i still listen to the same music, have the same friends, and say the same crazy stuff as i did when i had rainbow hair, i can just pass myself off as a normie when it counts!
It depends on the facility. Nursing school was much more ridgid with their rules. No peircings other than ears, no visible tattoos, hair had to be natural colors. I work in a NICU, and many of our nurses have visible tattoos and facial peircings. I had bright pink highlights in my hair for about a year, and I never recived anything but positive feedback on it. I even had a couple older, management copcats, because they loved mine so much.
As far as patients are concerned, the babies haven't voiced their complaints. Many, many of our babies' parents are young and have tats, peircings of their own, and they tend to be more receptive to the nurses who are a little less coservative. I even had an older, very conservative couple ask me to primary for their baby, with my pink hair.
I think veiw points are changing. Now everyone and their mother has a tattoo or unconventional peircing, so patients and facilities are more accepting. You might just have to suck it up for school, though.
Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
I think veiw points are changing. Now everyone and their mother has a tattoo or unconventional peircing, so patients and facilities are more accepting. You might just have to suck it up for school, though.
And Grandmothers too. I see many in their 50's and 60's getting tattoo's and piercings these days. I have none, but that is only because I have enough scars already!
i'm gonna give you a little advice that you can apply in virtually every part of you life when meeting new people, interviewing for something, or dealing with new sitautions:
Let the crazy trickle out - not gush.
You won't lose your panache by taking a piercing out of your face. You won't become any less wild by dying your hair to one color and once people know you it won't come as a surprise to them if you show up one day and you "forgot" to take your piercing out.
Grew up in Seattle, work in the Bay Area.
That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B
3,421 Posts
Looks like a zit....