{"id":147268,"date":"2023-09-15T09:15:41","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T13:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=147268"},"modified":"2023-09-14T19:23:28","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T23:23:28","slug":"revisiting-the-militarys-beard-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=147268","title":{"rendered":"Revisiting the military’s beard policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Pseudofolliculitis barbae is a condition involving painful inflammation and razor bumps. Cases in the military have increased since 2000, a lot of this increase occurred over the last couple of years. As a result, there is an effort in the military to revisit beard policies for service members.<\/p>\n

From the Military Times:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The condition, which causes painful inflammation and razor bumps, affecting some 45% of Black service members, is one of a few reasons for granting a rare military shaving waiver.<\/p>\n

In 2000, there were 50 reported cases of pseudofolliculitis barbae, according to the Defense Health Agency’s Medical Surveillance Monthly Report for August. In 2022, there were 2,404 ? an increase of 4,708%.<\/p>\n

Just since 2020, the increase in pseudofolliculitis barbae cases has been drastic. They’re up from about 500 Black troops to more than 1,400 among Black troops in that time frame, and from 150 troops to about 400 troops each for White and Hispanic troops.<\/p>\n

The report states that Black troops have composed a relatively steady 16%–18% of the total military force over the last 20 years.<\/p>\n

The data survey did not address the entire population of troops with beard waivers, which can also be granted in conjunction with religious exemptions.<\/p>\n

“The frequency trend is well out of proportion to the change in troop strength,” the short report states, adding that the matter “may warrant further study.”<\/p>\n

In light of repeated requests from troops to reexamine the beard prohibition, the Navy in 2022 launched a study to examine whether facial hair impairs an oxygen mask’s ability to seal, a longstanding objection to allowing beards.<\/p>\n

The Air Force, meanwhile, in 2022 completed an examination of “inclusive male grooming standards” led by military medical providers that concluded a more permissive facial hair policy would promote equity in the force.<\/p>\n

Does the recent sharp rise in pseudofolliculitis barbae cases indicate then a growing awareness of the waiver option or a rising eagerness to exploit a policy loophole? Probably both, said Lt. Col. Simon Ritchie, an Air Force dermatologist at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, who led the service’s inclusive grooming standards study.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Military Times has additional details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pseudofolliculitis barbae is a condition involving painful inflammation and razor bumps. Cases in the military have … Revisiting the military’s beard policy<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}