Pentagon says troops can only be exempt from shaving their facial hair for a year

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered that troops who need an exemption from shaving their facial hair for longer than a year should get kicked out of the service.

While commanders are still able to issue service members exemptions from shaving — a policy that has existed for decades — they will now have to come with a medical treatment plan, Hegseth said in an Aug. 20 memo made public Monday. Troops who still need treatment after a year will be separated from service, the memo says.

“The Department must remain vigilant in maintaining the grooming standards which underpin the warrior ethos,” Hegseth wrote in his memo.

Most shaving waivers are for troops diagnosed with pseudofolliculitis barbae, or PFB, a condition in which hair curls back into the skin after shaving and causes irritation. It is a condition that disproportionately affects Black men.

The memo is silent on what treatments the military would offer for troops affected by the new policy or if it will front the cost for those treatments.

It is also unclear if policies like broad exemptions from shaving for special forces troops who are in operational settings or soldiers stationed in the Arctic climates of Alaska where shaving can pose a medical hazard in the extreme cold will be affected by the change.

The announcement applies to all the military services. The Army this week announced its own grooming standard update, which significantly changes acceptable appearance standards for soldiers, especially for women, including revisions for nails, hairstyles, earrings and makeup.