The new hair do's are cute, but why the military hair regulation updates matter!

The Military Woman and so much More

Today we are talking about all things hair! It’s no secret the Army has rolled out some new hair regulations for women. Let's start with the main changes in the regulation: women are now allowed to shave their heads, and can wear ponytails to their shoulder blades. Previously, ponytails were only allowed to be tucked in and during training. Braids and twists are now allowed.

So why is this important? There’s been some negativity towards the new regulations from both men and women. Although her unit has been very supportive, social media hasn’t been as accepting. Many say that they want to honor how the military has been for years and things don’t need to be changed. Also ponytails have been considered messy, ponytails can be used for hand to hand contact, and buns are more professional and stay within exceeding the standards.

This is also important for more societal inclusions for all races of women and what the world accepts as ‘beauty’. The Army taking this step to be more inclusive, can only be a step in the right direction for societal change. In the civilian world, there are also problems with women of color being sent home from their job or knowing someone who was sent home from their job because their hair was deemed unprofessional for the workplace.

Previously, women had no exceptions for having any hair regulations besides a bun, although men have exceptions for beards for religious and medical reasons. Going into the history of hair in the military, long hair and ponytails were accepted for men as well as beards up to WWI. As time went on, often for sanitary purposes, all regulations had to be the same ‘clean cut look’ across the board.

Sharika shares her struggles through the military and staying within hair regulations and the struggles many women had keeping their hair in a bun every single day of work no matter what texture of hair they had. The old regulations also did not take into consideration migraines due to hair, alopecia, limitations of movement, diversion, and inclusion.

Sharika suggests reading regulation AR670-1 which can be found here so you know the regulations of course before calling someone out, and turning these new regulations into a learning experience for all.

Learn more about the new hair regulations and the important steps the military is taking to provide inclusion for all, on today's episode of The Military Woman and so much more!

Quotes:

• “The point of these hair regulations and the point of updating them are to ensure we are diversifying and we are including everyone - all shapes, sizes, and colors.”
• “So why is this important? The old regulations allowed a lot of subjectivity to the majority of a population, who did not understand black hair styles, the maintenance cost and the time it takes to professionally style hair or perform daily styling. The old regulation didn't take into account the medical reasons.”