Academia's view on body modification I'm a young undergraduate student currently finishing my next-to-last year as a math bachelor. I plan to apply for a Masters as soon as I finish, and I look forward to a job as an academic researcher.

I'm also deeply involved with the culture of body modification, hosting myself a few tattoos, piercings and one scarification (as of today, all of which could be covered by wearing a dress shirt and pants). I also look forward to further modify my body, including face/hand tattoos, scarifications and piercings.

I know that, in general, this means that I will find barriers to land a job given my future undeniable ``strange" appearance. Now, in the context of academic jobs, how is this culture viewed upon? I've never seen a member of our faculty with any form of extreme body mod, just one or another mild, easily hidden tattoo.

I would like to add that both body modification and mathematics had (and still have) a huge impact in my life, both are my driving force and my passion for them will make me purse my dreams of being a (heavily modified) mathematician, no matter what. I would just like to know what type of obstacles I should be ready to face, when the time comes. Though I repeat to myself everyday that "if I'm good enough at my job, people will need to accept my looks", I would also appreciate a less faith-dependent advice. You know, for the hard days.



To further clarify how is this different from other related questions on tattoos, I'm talking about extreme body modification, while the question linked states: "Of course, if I did get one, it would be discrete and innocent." These images show what sort of looks I aim to achieve: photo 1, photo 2.
You will likely be judged differently in any situation, where you have to be present in person - that is, all kind of interviews (actually even via skype and similar).

Your skills become more important later in your academic life, but the documented skills of say a master student who applies for a PhD position are very limited - personal judgement plays the major role here.

Therefore, you might want to wait until you do a PhD, or even after that. By that time your publications and achievements may speak for themselves and all you need to do is to find a PI that is okay with your looks.