Army updates grooming standards to foster inclusion and diversity


The Army is letting its hair down a little, so to speak, announcing several changes to grooming requirements Tuesday in an effort to foster inclusion and diversity in the ranks.

The updated regulations will take effect at the end of February. The new guidelines will allow women to wear a short ponytail if their hair does not have the texture or length for a bun. The Army is also removing the minimum hair length for female soldiers, and will permit two hairstyles to be worn at once — "locks" (twisted braids) and a bun, for instance.
The grooming regulations were last updated significantly in 2017, when the Army removed the ban on female locks. The last update affected Black women with afro-textured hair, in particular, and the new updates expand on the 2017 change.

The new guidelines have come about as the result of a July 2020 directive by then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper to investigate whether some of the Army's grooming regulations were offensive.
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