It’s been six months into the Trump administration’s return to power and one thing has become crystal clear: They hate the word ‘woke’. Donald Trump has wisely picked people to head different government departments, including DHS and defense. Former television presenter turned Army National Guard officer, Pete Hegseth was appointed as the Secretary of Defense in January 2025. Since then, he has been on a mission to remove any “woke” policies from the military.
During the Turning Point USA event in Tampa, Florida, Pete announced that he is working on getting the military “back on track.” Apparently, banning the transgender from the military isn’t the only way forward. To revolutionize the US military, the government has come up with a plan to dictate nail polish color, facial hair, and eyelash extensions.
Rolling out new dress code and grooming standards, which includes the length of service members’ hair, and nail polish colors, is on top of the priority list of the government. As reported by Radar Online, strict guidelines have been set for facial hair, and eyelash extensions have been banned. It has created an outrage as critics believe these rules disproportionately impact minorities and women.
Serving members would often get ‘shaving waivers’ which means that they were allowed to keep trimmed beard if they suffered from razor bumps. However, this is about to change now. People in the army will be required to shave their faces daily, whether they are in civil clothes or in uniform while on duty.
📰 The U.S. Army is updating its facial hair grooming policy in an Army Directive that resulted from a force-wide review of military standards.
The update reinforces the Army’s long-standing policy that all Soldiers must be clean-shaven when in uniform or civilian clothes while… pic.twitter.com/5k0PIJgxH7
— U.S. Army (@USArmy) July 8, 2025
Those who develop razor bumps will be allowed to keep a trimmed beard only during the treatment period. But here’s when things get worse. They will be at the risk of being removed from the services if the razor bump problem isn’t solved.
The Army, however, won’t leave the members to their fate completely. If none of the treatment options work, they will also pay for the laser hair removal of the concerned members.
However, the critics aren’t happy as they have called the new rule ‘racist’, citing that the “Black service members are more prone to razor bumps,” reports Radar Online.
The portal reveals that as per the Navy shaving waiver data, 66% of people exempted from clean shave due to razor bumps were Black members.
The US Army, in its directive, says, “The intent of this directive is to provide refined grooming standards for medical providers and commanders to implement, in support of Army readiness.”
It mentions that the clean shaven look will be exempted temporarily for medical reasons and permanently only for religious reasons which will require religious accommodation documentation.
The changes come a month after Pete Hegseth told Congress, “We’re looking at overall fitness standards, overall grooming standards, overall basic standards across our formations that we believe have slipped certainly under the previous administration, but over decades.”
The announcement of new guidelines is being widely criticized on social media as well. An X user wrote, “Ah yes I’m glad that army’s priorities are on people shaving instead of quality of life improvements for soldiers. Also, maybe instead of beards you should focus on the 300lb SPCs and LTs refusing to take PTs.”
Ah yes I’m glad that army’s priorities are on people shaving instead of quality of life improvements for soldiers. Also, maybe instead of beards you should focus on the 300lb SPCs and LTs refusing to take PTs.
— 優木 せつ菜 🇯🇵 | Love Live Superstar S3 SZN (@Nljigakulive) July 9, 2025
Taking a dig, another wrote, “Good. Next, drill the troops on marching. They looked sloppy as hell in the parade a couple of weeks ago.”
Good.
Next, drill the troops on marching. They looked sloppy as hell in the parade a couple of weeks ago.— HughCO (@HughCanelli) July 8, 2025
However, some citizens have appreciated the move, while criticizing the exemption made on the basis of religion.
