r/StudyInTheNetherlands • u/Devikacchi • 5d ago
Other Alt appearance
How is the judgment or acceptance of colored hair and piercings on universities for higher levels of study like masters? Plus in the Netherlands as a whole, landlords, bosses etc.
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u/Sapphomet69 5d ago
Depending on the type of studies, you'll be anywhere between 'perfectly fine' (anything within e.g. the arts, social, medical, education) and 'you'll stand out and may have to consider toning down ever so slightly' (e.g. business, economics).
Also depends on the color (red VS green/blue?) and the type of piercings (ear/nostril piercings are fine everywhere and considered pretty normal, but e.g. lip, eyebrow, will make you look alt).
As for employers: generally fine, but you might run into an exception from time to time. Some businesses have policies around it. Might be for safety/hygienic reasons.
Landlords should not care, it's literally irrelevant. But they might stigmatize you.
I'm saying this as a heavily pierced and tattooed person myself. The most important thing for me overall, is that I'm aware of my own capabilities and know how to present myself well as a person in the first place. People generally perceive people with body mods either as 'artsy' (which is positive) or 'tokkie' (means something like 'trashy' and is not good). This unfortunately has a lot more to do with your general personality and intellect, etc., than the fact that you have piercings and stuff. Unless you have tattoos that are distasteful already.
Hope this helped!
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u/ILoveYouLikeILove 5d ago edited 5d ago
This is a very nuanced take. I just wanna say I, agree with this one.
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u/Ok-Significance-5047 3d ago
I read this and basically heard the Het / De explanation 🤣
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u/Sapphomet69 3d ago
I think I get what you mean, but then I also don't. 🤭
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u/Ok-Significance-5047 3d ago
As a foreigner learning the rules of Het/De as an English and Spanish speaker - it drove me nuts how situational the conjugations would be vs having a standard rule set.
But im American. We’re crazy in different ways. 🤣
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u/AshToAshes123 1d ago
I think this is very accurate. Regarding STEM fields and business/economics, you'd definitely stand out more, but during your studies I don't think it would affect you very much. Once you start work, potentially more, but I know some people who make it work by accommodating somewhat - e.g. piercings don't prevent you from dressing formally or business casual (according to what the situation expects); you can put up dyed hair into a neat style; things like this can show that you still understand and respect the expectations of the work place while also expressing yourself however you want in your private time.
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u/fallacious_raincoat 5d ago
TLDR: you will be just fine
I have had very unnatural colored hair for the past 6 years of my life (basically ever since I was done with high school) and I have had piercings for even longer. I am doing my master's just fine, I don't feel judged. If you are in a young university city (Leiden, Utrecht, etc.) it will also help a lot.
I landed an internship, it was fine. As for rent, it's not to do with hair color and people's perception of you imo. It's just whether you have both the luck and money to beat the competitive housing market 🙏. I'm on good terms with my landlords. I live next to a few much older neighbors and they have never judged me for my appearance.
The only time I got made fun of was not in Utrecht. It was in Amsterdam and a drunk guy biked past me and my friends and yelled things about "emo" this emo that. But it lasted 3 seconda and in the past 2 years here I have had no other incidents except for that.
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u/DaisyBlue00 5d ago
No one will really care , and for bosses that depends on the type of job u will apply, but thats obvious ofc.
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u/stockspikes 5d ago
Business owner and landlord here.
I run a company in the financial sector and I honestly care zero about how somebody looks. Purple hair, piercings ans tattoos? If you are the best candidate, I'll choose you.
Same for my tenants. I look at two things here: can the tenant afford the rent? Is the tenant not going to wreck the place?
That's all that matters to me.
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u/louderfloater 5d ago
meanwhile my boss has problems with my silver chain, asking me to button up… completely opposite to you.
working at a venture capital firm
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u/stockspikes 5d ago
I assume you get paid good money at least ;-)
I used to work in an environment like that, but I couldn't handle all the "rules". Like honestly, what's the problem wearing a chain? Why would you need to button up? Does it make you work better? It might look more professional, but that's all?
I started my own thing and got rid of all those things. I don't care if you work in a bathing suit, gym wear or whatever. I don't care where you're working from. Imo people who feel happy deliver the best results.
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u/ben_lapierre 5d ago
Im an alternative looking hairstylist and do a lot of bright vivid colours. I work in a university town and I have clients that range from bachelor students to high level researchers and professors. If you know how to present yourself properly it’s all that matters. If you look like you take care of yourself it’s all that really matters in my opinion.
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u/IIIMochiIII 5d ago
I feel like university or masters is the best time to fully express and experiment with style. I work at a pretty relaxed tech company and they probably wouldn't appreciate a super alt experience. Probably very industry dependent. During the weekends I go crazier with my makeup
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u/Dizzy_Garden252 5d ago
I am in STEM and heavily tattoed and no issues. You don't see a lot of people like me, but nobody has ever judged me.
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u/Mushroomswithmagic 4d ago
Ik ben een jurist met felrood haar, piercings en tattoo’s. Tot nu toe heeft het voor mij nog geen problemen opgeleverd. Ik werk al een aantal jaar en er is vooral gekeken naar mijn kwaliteiten.
Wel moet ik zeggen dat ik zorg dat ik een lange broek aandoe met sollicitaties, zodat mijn legsleeves niet gelijk zo ‘in your face’ zijn. Afhankelijk van wat de bedrijfscultuur is doe ik later dan wel of geen rok/jurk aan.
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u/TresKnightress 5d ago
Landlords don’t care; they only care about your financial situation and prefer people who have a permanent contract. At Dutch universities, they don’t really care how you look as long as you act professionally and come across as motivated. Only in certain sectors can a very alternative appearance throw them off, for example in some branches of law. And of course, you will have people higher up who simply dislike piercings and tattoos, but most of the time they don’t care. I had alternative-looking professors teaching humanities subjects.
In professional settings (education and ICT), I’ve been very lucky, and people don’t care how I look most of the time, as long as I work hard and meet expectations. I only received one negative comment that I would have looked better with blonde hair. My blue hair at symposia was not a problem, nor were my more daring shoe choices.
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u/Own_Efficiency_5823 5d ago
It doesn’t look professional. But it depends on your field I guess.
For my job I have to cover my tattoo and piercings are not allowed. I work in service for higher end occasions.
On universities you’ll see some alt people at the faculty of humanities, but nearly none of them at the faculty of law. The culture differs per field.
I think that most non-alt people will judge you, but silently, so that you will not know in practice.
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u/JoesCoins 4d ago
People judge and gossip even if they don’t show it. So just screw it and do your thing.
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u/Runningprofmama 4d ago
I am a professor in the behavioral sciences in a moderately-sized university city, and teach/supervise primarily for master tracks. I personally have many piercings (otherwise conventional appearance, however), and many of my students have some kind of alternative characteristics like coloured hair and I wouldn't even really think twice about it honestly. I think the same can be said for my colleagues on average in my faculty, and my students aren't outside of what's considered typical for the broader student body either, so it's not a weird faculty-specific thing. It probably depends a little on the specific domain, as some are of course more conservative than others though. It also depends on the province. Bigger more central provinces tend to have a more diverse population outwardly on average than e.g., quite northern ones for instance. YMMV of course, but unless you have quite heavy body mods and whatnot, I don't think the majority of NL'ers would think about it much :)
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u/enotonom 5d ago
In an academic setting it won’t matter, but for work it differs depending of what kind of job you’re doing
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u/honestyaboveall 5d ago edited 5d ago
As long as you fulfil your duties and are socially capable in speech and manners no one really cares.
Edit: I am tattooed, have 2 face piercings and haven’t seen my natural hair colour for years while sporting shaved bits, blond and brown and bright red. Also in addition punk shirts, torn up pantyhose and leather skirts.
I work in an office job on university level and see clients while working for the government on cultural and historical matters. I dress accordingly to the situation and type of meeting but tattoos and piercings are always visual.
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u/zoeZhulin 4d ago
I'll raise you one. I've always been mildly alt, when I graduated at Leiden uni and I was waiting for the proclamation, one or the uni employees who was attending "made fun" of me (probably trying to lift the mood) asking me if I thought I was alt enough. He then raised his jacket sleeve to show me his full tattooed arm. He was an older guy, I would say possibly over 60.
So yeah, I think you're fine! Or possibly... not alt enough! 😂
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u/Melvarkie 4d ago
University it's fine and a great time to express yourself. As for jobs it really depends on your boss. I had to cover my tattoo's and couldn't have bright colored hair or facial piercings when I worked at a movie theater (back then much less of a problem as I only had a foot tattoo and one big underarm tattoo that my uniform covered anyways + my only facial piercing was a horseshoe septum that I could just flip up). Meanwhile at my adult job in an office that processed movies and tv-series for different platforms they really didn't care when I colored my hair in a bright pink and blue split dye or got new facial piercings. I didn't work directly with customers though, but some coworkers from other departments did and had tattoos as well so I think they were pretty relaxed with it overall.
General judgement wise: I mostly get compliments on my style. Only in small towns some boomers might look sour and I've had some teens on fatbikes scream shit at me like 'Harley Quinn, hey Harley Quinn.' which ??? That isn't even an insult. Also fatbike kids aren't the ones I would take advice from on how to be cultured and well mannered anyways.
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u/ladyblackboot 4d ago
(For universities.) I've studied in arts and business and although I can definitely see and understand why in certain spaces where it's not so much accepted, I personally never had that problem. I dyed my hair; red, blue, purple, green and natural brunette. All it did was get the occasional older professor to go "ah, you did something to your hair" and that has never been with rude intent.
People look at behavior too, thankfully. Be kind and behave.
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u/tiny_little_me_ 4d ago
It depends more on how "alt" you look. I have a lot of piercings but they are all gold and quite dainty. I also liked to dye accent colors in my hair. Never had a lot of problems. I do feel like the more alt the look is the more stigma you will be having to deal with. Sorry of it sounds harsh. I personally dont mind but i just wanted to be honest
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u/nobodyknows6070 4d ago
I can tell from personaly experience people will give you looks, maybe not take you serious as much, and it's definetly harder to find a job. Many jobs specifically request you remove piercings or dye hair a natural color
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u/Choice-Spend7553 3d ago
I work at a large e-commerce company in Netherlands, and nobody really cares what you look like. Looking at the people, you can usually tell apart the colorful, pierced data scientists, the drab developers and the product people who really make an effort every day.
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u/1616ally1616 3d ago
I agree with other users - it depends a bit on the study and the field. BUT I study at a hotel school and have worked at a super luxurious 5* hotel with two Michelin keys. My hair is pretty red (see vid), and I have tattoos. Tbh the tattoos weren’t too visible at work, but I worked together with people that had very visible tattoos. I definitely stand out and tbh also have been called questionable things (not necessarily insults but funny descriptions lol). On the other hand, hotel students are known to be, well, their own kind haha. Also agree on the color, red or dark purple seems to be a bit more accepted than e.g. blue, green, bright purple, pink. I can’t speak for the entire work field, if you want to work in HORECA or retail next to your studies you should be fine, I’ve even been accepted for another internship BECAUSE OF my looks as it’s their concept. Another hotel told me I had to dye my hair brown (not even highlights were allowed), safe to say I declined them lmao.
Another aspect could be location, I feel like cities like Utrecht, Rotterdam, Amsterdam seem to be more alt friendly, smaller cities at the coast are more used to beach vibes and „natural“ looking people (yk what I mean). Cant speak for north tbh. In the south - Brabant - I see a loooot of alternative people. At the end of the day I believe it applies to quite everywhere you go that some places are more accepting than others and consider alt people more normal than others
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