The Pentagon on Sept. 15 unveiled grooming standards for facial hair, which orders military personnel to be clean shaven, with those granted medical exemption needing to be put on a treatment plan.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth “recently directed the Services to implement the following grooming standards for facial hair” following the rapid force-wide review of military standards.
The statement linked to an Aug. 20 memorandum, made public on Sept. 15, in which Hegseth said personnel should be “clean shaven and neat in presentation for a proper military appearance.”
The memorandum states that military medical officers must issue a written recommendation for a waiver to the clean-shaven rule, while final approval rests with the service member’s commander….