I like how you went back and forth from one stance to another in this one.
That's because I have two stances in it...sort of.
In a nutshell, don't cut your hair for some job that you don't envision yourself doing for the rest of your life. On the other hand, if you're still living at home, are out of school and not going to college, and you're looking for a job that you can see yourself doing for a long, long time, it would be silly to give up such a great opportunity
at making your life better because you have this fixation with long hair. That is utter idiocy, in my opinion. If you have an opportunity to make a lot of money, put aside a lot of money for retirement, get your own place and live comfortably for a long, long time, where's the problem with cutting your hair? You'd give up an opportunity like that and be happy working at some shithole job that you hate just because you can keep your hair long? That is insanity. I disagree with the whole notion of having long hair excludes you from certain jobs, and I think it's ridiculous, but you can't change the system from the outside. Either conform and try to change it from the inside, or keep your shitty job and live with your parents till you're 35...but you'll have long hair, so that would be worth it, wouldn't it?
Why do you think I stayed in the military so long? The last four years in the military was used to prepare myself for when I got out, buy all the guitars and amps and music equipment I could (I bought 8 or 9 guitars and two amps), save a shitload of money because they paid me a lot of money, and set myself up to be debt-free and totally independent when I got out of the military, and that's exactly what I did. I raped the military for every last penny and perk that I could because you're not going to get years of my life without significant payback. It worked like a charm and now I can do whatever the hell I want. The same is true about jobs. Conform when the time is right, set yourself up to be completely independent, and then you can do whatever the hell you want. Cutting your hair is a small price to pay for this. But again, only do this if it's something you can envision yourself doing for a long, long time and it's worth it.
FBI, CIA, DEA, etc. usually allow them to have long hair because most of the time they are either clandestine or working on a clandestine project. It suits them better because they keep a low profile...it's a force protection issue. Also, many people who work for the CIA, FBI, DEA, etc. are civilian contractors and not members of the federal government....therefore, they don't have to abide by their rules. This is what I recommend. If you have any computer skills with network administration, computer security, etc., the government will hire you as a civilian contractor to do your job and you can make a mint doing it...plus government benefits as well. I knew so many people who came to work wearing an Alice in Chains shirt and a long pony tail with cargo pants because they had their own office, their own bosses, and worked alone, mainly. The government doesn't discriminate because you aren't a government employee...they need you because you are cheaper to hire, even at 50k a year than paying a government military or federal employee to do the job. Half the jobs in the military are contracted out to civilians, now...even some of the warfighting jobs. Look into that and you may see something that interests you.