Army Appearance Standards Changes
Trivia question: what percentage of soldiers are female? Black? That will come up later.
The Army is tightening up appearance standards, and rolling back some Biden-era changes.
Women will be permitted to use clear nail polish, as opposed to the previous rules, which placed limits on only “extreme” colors.
The changes also impose more specific rules for earrings, allowing women to wear only gold, silver, diamond or pearl studs — one in each earlobe — and a maximum of six millimeters in diameter.
Shaved heads are authorized for both male and female soldiers.
Women are allowed to wear ponytails only with Army combat uniforms and physical fitness uniforms; they’re prohibited in dress uniforms. The maximum allowable length is six inches from top of collar.
OK, I admit to being a sucker for a great ponytail. I recall the captain of my wife’s company in the ’70s who wore her hair in a bun in uniform – turned out, when loose, it fell to the small of her back. How the heck do they do that?
Women may wear a hairstyle of short sides and a long top if there is a maximum of two inches on top. Buns, braids, twists and ponytails, as well as asymmetrical cuts, are prohibited with this style.
There are stricter taper and fade requirements for men’s hairstyles. Braids, twists and locs are prohibited for men, as are designs in their hair.
Makeup is permitted to achieve an even skin tone only. It must match a soldier’s natural complexion, and the application must be conservative.
Makeup cannot be used to cover tattoos.
Lipstick is prohibited; only clear or skin-toned lip gloss is allowed.
Eyelash extensions of any kind are prohibited. False lashes may be authorized through a medical profile in situations when soldiers have lost their natural lashes.
Seen some an inch long… for sure they don’t belong in uniform.
Women must keep nails at a maximum of one-fourth inch in length. Only clear nail polish is allowed, and nails must be either squared off or rounded.
Men must keep their nails trimmed and not extending past their fingertips. No nail polish is authorized, including clear polish, unless by medical exemption. Army Times
Almost sounds like someone is trying to get soldiers to look like… soldiers. Nail polish is something which needs to be addressed? Unless they need a shaving profile – the old “profile forever” for shaving is history. If the service member isn’t back to shaving normally in a year, they will be processed out. Military.com
The reason for that opening question?
The looser rules introduced in 2021 were the work of a 17-soldier panel established to promote diversity and inclusion, the service said at the time. Suggestions were proposed by troops and voted on by panel members, who came from commands across the force. The panel was made up of 10 Black women, four white women, one Hispanic woman, one Hispanic man and one Black man. Army Times
Yeah, that’s representative. Apparently the Army is 65% Black, 88% female, and contains no white males. Boy, I sure learned something new!
Shaved heads for females? Only if they look like Demi Moore… wait, that was Navy.
Category: Army
Well, at least I can still wear my navy blue and scarlet sequined gown and adorable matching pumps to the Marine Corps Birthday this year….
DAMN THESE MEDS THAT MAKE ME THINK OUTLOUD!!!!!!!!
Damn Skivvy, with a getup like that…you need a date?
..
So, umm…. you’re taking a bulldog?
Of course, you sick bastard…what else would I take, a poodle???
Hold on there just a second Skivvy, I have a 4lb Maltese.
She’s a honey!
Won’t yo mama be proud!
By the same token, I hate when bald dudes decree hair standards.
The DEI panel was to better accommodate diverse soldiers. Not sure it was needed except for the shaving profile thing. Many black men have skin conditions that shaving every day causes issues.
But this all comes down to styles of the day. Here we are in WWII with *gasp* colored nail polish, lipstick, make up and hair down. Whatever’s.
Hair down, but not extending below the bottom of the collar as had also been the standard for female Marines. (And may still be. I retired in 2009, so I don’t keep up with that anymore.) The ladies here are either WAAC or WAC (depending upon when the picture was taken), so there’s some degree of segregation from the Army, so not quite an apples to apples comparison with today’s standards.
My point was more to that fashions change and regs change with fashions. In the Civil War for example practically every single Officer had a beard. It wasn’t until WWI that they were made against the regs for the gas mask seal.
In 1970 Zumwalt allowed the Navy to again wear beards, this went away again in the 80s. Again following fashions and the reason given for the beards was to follow fashions.
Darn, you stole my thunder….
We have the Godwin’s Law Mustache enshrined in AR 670-1, so obviously the U.S. lost WWII.
Because those ladies accentuated their femininity.
When their country needed them to be androgynous.
Wait a tick, the Chaplin Cleft Hider is verboten?!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J7GY1Xg6X20
The best teacher I ever had was my fifth grade who was the very first woman from my county to enlist in the Army. I learned years that she served at the Pentagon. Years later she became Principal at the same school I had attended and by coincidence became a teacher too! She was an outstanding leader and motivator. Well done Claudia May Huston, rest in peace.
I saw a picture the other day that was really weird to me. It showed a soldier with what looked like a largish inverted bowl, made up of corn rows and a shaved area below around the ear level as well as a beard. I suppose that met the regs somehow but looked strange as hell.
Hard to take a man who looks ridiculous seriously, isn’t it? 👀
No beards and manbuns like Euroweinies do in uniform, please.
“Unless they need a shaving profile – the old “profile forever” for shaving is history. If the service member isn’t back to shaving normally in a year, they will be processed out”
This is (soon to be was!) a huge problem in the reserve components. Due to workload and access difficulties profiling officers would accept folliculitis “diagnoses” from civilian providers.
Problem? Once one shitbag (I can’t limit this to Joes since I know personally one 1SG who went this route) found a friendly provider, all of a sudden business would boom and before you know half the males in a company formation had shaving profiles.
Another observation not-related-but-related…there’s a decent bet that any random Soldier who still wears a COVID mask is hiding a goatee under there. I love busting those assholes.
DO it, for me please!
Beards were allowed for the my first 2 years in the Navy. The official reason to axe beards was seals on gas masks and OBA’s. The real reason was jokers abusing the policy. Some guys were trying to look like Civil War Generals, and others guys had patchy abominations they tried to pass off as a beard. Fast forward to today, and every body seems to have pseudofolliculitis barbae (razor bumps). We know that’s not true, but with beards being in style lots of services members are trying to rock the manly look.
We had an HT2 that let his shaving lapse, ands some asshole officer insisted he shave. His neck looks it was stung by 100 wasps & hornets. Guys like him that actually need the exemption are the ones that are going to suffer. I’d hate to lose good men like him. He didn’t abuse the policy and kept his facial hair tight. The fact that this effects black men the most is not going to be a good look not matter how you spin it. The Top Brass needs to find a way to weed out the slackers that just don’t want to shave from the men the need this exemption.
I’m inclined to believe that this change will serve as a screening function. Screen out the obvious malingerers first, establish the population of troops with genuine and un-resolvable issues, and then adjust the policy to have the desired effect.
As they say, there’s an exception to policy for everything…
Perhaps enlisted must be instructed in the Science of Shaving 101? Many grew up with only female parents and had no male to teach this fine art. Maybe using a razor is not practical, there are other options.
“New Army Shaving Policy Will Allow Soldiers with Skin Condition that Affects Mostly Black Men to Be Kicked Out”
Yep, I’m sure a totally unbiased news article will follow that headline…
Stay tuned for the dreaded skin conditions epidemic!
I’m constantly amazed at just how many Muslim and Norse pagan Soldiers we have these days. Beards everywhere. Drill sergeants with beards. It’s like there’s been some kind of religious revival among the troops.
Invasion! Beware.
Lars tears.
From their Miskatonic University ROTC.
Da hell!
NO! Just NO! You gotta be joking…
“Makeup is permitted to achieve an even skin tone only. It must match a soldier’s natural complexion, and the application must be conservative.”
I won’t name names, but a certain MI 1LT who’d been an Eagles cheerleader and later wanted to be one of the first female Rangers before settling for Civil Affairs, would have been horrified by this standard. Every time I saw her on FOB Shank, she was dolled up to the max. There are pictures of her outside the wire while on a Female Engagement Team (FET), looking like she’s about to attend a Hollywood event. There were more than a few attractive young women in S2–both officer and enlisted–but I always found her a bit mousy.
Then again, who am I? That male 1LT she spent so much time with was fortunate to have female companionship over there (not saying there was anything inappropriate going on, just that it was obvious they were a couple).
As for your question, White males only matter when it comes to the killin’ and being killed. Let us bear the brunt of the combat but glorify the minorities and women who make up a very small segment of front-line troops. Besides, we have it easy–a high skin fade, high-and-tight, or buzzcut–in and out of the barber’s chair in three minutes each week. Blacks have to spend an hour getting lined up just right, and females have to get just the right look when they go in for their annual cut and style.
MI to Civil Affairs… I’ve seen that particular career path before 😉
I’m guessing that allowing females to shave their heads is so there are not issues at Ranger School!!