Trying to figure out how to dress and how to do your hair for a job interview or important meeting can be stressful for everybody, but if you have very curly hair, there is a whole added level of worry. Melanie Harper, a vice president at a major publishing house, admits that when she has an important meeting, she pulls her curly hair back. "I'm afraid that when my hair is down, it can look unruly or messy. It just doesn't feel pulled together." Sadly, sometimes the world agrees, says New York City hair stylist Christo. "Unfortunately," he says, "the corporate world thinks you have to have straight hair or you have to pull your curls back to be professional," said Christo, who opened Christo Fifth Avenue last year. "It's discrimination."

No one wants to have her hairstyle dictated by her employer, but the fact is, according to John T. Molloy, author of Dress for Success, hair should be off your face in a business environment to provide a "more honest" appearance.

On the other hand, why deny your curls if you're lucky enough to have them? Is it possible to break through the straight hair barrier? Yes, says Christo, because of newer treatments and products. Christo recalled a TV personality who came to him in desperation. Her producers didn't like her long, kinky hair and had requested she get a straighter look. Yet she didn't want to lose all her curls. Christo didn't straighten them, but used a biosoftener to give her looser, sleeker curls ‑- a look her producers could live with.

July 05, 2007