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Unit commanders are being advised to separate service members who can’t shave their cheeks and chin for medical causes for greater than a yr in new steerage from Secretary of Conflict Pete Hegseth.
“Unit commanders will provoke separation of service members who require a shaving waiver after greater than 1 yr of medical remedy,” Hegseth wrote in an Aug. 20 memo for senior navy management that was included in a Sept. 15 press launch.
“The grooming customary set by the U.S. navy is to be clear shaven and neat in presentation for a correct navy look,” Hegseth stated within the launch, which marks the newest in a collection of coverage adjustments limiting facial hair within the ranks.
Underneath the brand new coverage, navy medical suppliers suggest to the commander whether or not a service member ought to obtain a shaving waiver. If the waiver is permitted, they’ll begin a medical remedy plan, however commanders will separate them in the event that they require a waiver after greater than a yr of remedy. The brand new steerage doesn’t apply to lodging granted for non secular causes.
The Pentagon press workplace didn’t instantly reply when requested what number of service members could be affected by the coverage, although Army.com beforehand reported practically 20,000 Airmen and about 300 Guardians held medical shaving waivers in 2023.
For many years, U.S. navy leaders have banned beards, arguing they give the impression of being unprofessional and so they intrude with the seal of a fuel masks or oxygen masks—although the science on that latter level isn’t settled. Different NATO militaries similar to Canada, Germany, and Norway enable beards, and even some NATO fighter pilots sport them.
U.S. Airmen are allowed to develop beards in the event that they obtain a spiritual exemption or a medical waiver for circumstances similar to pseudofolliculitis barbae, also called PFB or razor bumps, a pores and skin situation brought on by ingrown hairs that makes shaving painful and might result in scarring if pores and skin isn’t given an opportunity to heal. PFB is very prevalent amongst Black males, who research present usually tend to have it than different teams.
From 2020 to 2024, the Air Drive repealed insurance policies that had barred bearded Airmen and Guardians from serving in some positions, and the service started issuing five-year waivers—earlier waivers needed to be renewed yearly.
The strikes had been meant partly to counteract a longstanding stigma in opposition to neatly saved beards that navy dermatologists stated was knowledgeable by many years of coverage.
In a 2021 research on promotions and shaving waivers, navy dermatologists concluded the coverage in opposition to beards was not inherently racist, however as a result of it created a bias in opposition to beards, it will “possible at all times have an effect on the promotions of Blacks/African-People disproportionately due to the comparatively greater want for shaving waivers on this inhabitants.”
Quick ahead to 2025, and a navy dermatologist, granted anonymity as a result of he was not licensed to talk publicly, advised Air & Area Forces Journal that the brand new coverage would have an identical impact.
“The vast majority of these [PFB] circumstances aren’t curable by another means than not shaving, so if we resolve to separate members who can’t carefully shave, that may disproportionately have an effect on our Black Troopers, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors,” the dermatologist stated.
Cases of documented PFB amongst male service members elevated from 2000 to 2022, in accordance with information gathered by the Army Well being System. Black troops had by far the very best variety of circumstances, however white and Hispanic troops additionally noticed will increase after 2020. That would recommend the coverage adjustments led to extra service members looking for remedy.
But the coverage pendulum has swung the opposite means in 2025. In January, the Air Drive rolled out a collection of latest grooming requirements, together with an effort to assist medical suppliers distinguish between PFB and shaving irritation, which could be prevented and handled with correct shaving approach and topical steroids.
Air Drive Surgeon Normal Lt. Gen. John J. DeGoes stated on the time that prolonged length shaving profiles are typically reserved for extreme circumstances of PFB, “whereas mild-to-moderate circumstances could profit from extra frequent administration, follow-ups, and momentary shaving profiles.”
The Air Drive referred to as on all Airmen with a medical shaving waiver to be reevaluated by a well being care supplier, in any other case their waivers would expire. An nameless well being care supplier advised Air & Area Forces Journal on the time that the coverage would place a heavy administrative burden on suppliers to schedule all these appointments, and the supplier doubted it will yield a lot change in suppliers’ diagnoses.
In July, the Military launched a coverage eliminating everlasting shaving waivers and separating Troopers who held a waiver for 12 months throughout a two-year interval. An Military spokesperson stated on the time that the coverage was an try to regain “management of our customary when it got here to being clear shaven,” in accordance with Activity & Function, which additionally reported that greater than 40,000 Troopers had waivers in 2024.
The Marines rolled out an identical coverage in March, shortly after Hegseth introduced a military-wide evaluation of bodily health, physique composition, and grooming requirements.
Audio of this text is delivered to you by the Air & Area Forces Affiliation, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their households. Discover out extra at afa.org