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The Pentagon on Monday announced new grooming standards that require male service members “to be clean shaven” and present “proper military appearance.”
Chief Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement that following “a rapid force-wide review of military standards” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “recently directed the Services to implement the following grooming standards for facial hair.”
The directive is contained in an Aug. 20 memo. It is effective “immediately.”
“The grooming standard set by the U.S. military is to be clean shaven and neat in presentation for a proper military appearance,” Hegseth said the memo.
“When authorizing individual exceptions, commanders must apply consistent criteria and appropriately consider the Department’s interests in safety and uniformity,” he added.
“Service members with an approved shaving waiver will participate in a medical treatment plan,” Hegseth said. “Unit commanders will initiate separation of service members who require a shaving waiver after more than one year of medical treatment.”
Most National Guardsmen and Reservists do not have military-covered medical insurance. About 16% have no coverage. It is not clear how they would secure the “one year of medical treatment.”
“The Department must remain vigilant in maintaining the grooming standards which underpin the warrior ethos,” Hegseth said in concluding the memo.
—By John Goheen
