Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will exclude service members with shaving waivers from an event during his South Korea visit this week, first reported by Task & Purpose and confirmed by an Air Force official who said the emailed restriction is authentic. The event is slated for Camp Humphreys; Pentagon officials referred inquiries to the Air Force.
Hegseth has moved the Pentagon to stricter pre-2020 grooming standards. An Aug. 20 memo directed commanders to begin separating troops who still need shaving waivers after more than a year of medical treatment, and a Sept. 30 memo said facial-hair waivers are generally not authorized, limiting medical waivers to temporary status and reverting religious waivers to pre-2010 rules.
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What Hegseth has said about beards
In a Sept. 30 speech at Quantico, Hegseth told senior leaders, “No more beardos. The era of unprofessional appearance is over,” adding “the age of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.” He also expressed skepticism about some religious waivers, saying, “We don’t have a military full of Nordic Pagans.”
Who is pushing back and why
Reps. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, and Steven Horsford, D-Nev., led 39 House members in a letter urging Hegseth to reverse the policy, warning it will disproportionately harm Black service members, undermine morale and reduce readiness. The letter cites medical shaving waivers for pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB), a chronic condition that disproportionately affects Black men, with prevalence among Black service members ranging from 45% to 83%.
The lawmakers called the policy “unjust, discriminatory in impact, and corrosive to both
the readiness and morale of our Armed Forces.”
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From 2000 to 2022, non-Hispanic Black service members, historically 16% to 18% of the force, accounted for 63.5% of all pseudofolliculitis barbae cases.
Straight Arrow News reached out to Bell for comment.
What the Air Force and Pentagon did
An Air Force official confirmed the email barring bearded troops from the Korea event and said Hegseth will meet service members during his Asia trip, which also includes Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The lawmakers asked Hegseth to suspend implementation and to answer questions on waiver counts, demographics, TRICARE standards for PFB and alternative protective measures for facial hair in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear environments.
