Hegseth Bans Beards for No Good Reason

All right, you maggots! Shave those sissy beards!

That was a big part of the message Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dragged hundreds of generals and admirals from around the world at needless taxpayer expense Tuesday to hear in person from him in an embarrassing testosterone rant at Quantico. Here’s the transcript from Rev of Hegseth’s whisker remarks:

…At every level, from the joint chiefs to everyone in this room to the youngest private, leaders set the standard and so many of you do this already, active, guard, and reserve. This also means grooming standards. No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression. We’re going to cut our hair, shave our beards, and adhere to standards. Because it’s like the broken windows theory of policing. It’s like when you let the small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes, so you have to address the small stuff. This is on duty, in the field, and in the rear. If you want a beard, you can join special forces. If not, then shave.

We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans, but unfortunately we have had leaders who either refused to call BS and enforce standards or leaders who felt like they were not allowed to enforce standards. Both are unacceptable. And that’s why today at my direction, the era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos. The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done. Simply put, if you do not meet the male level physical standards for combat positions, cannot pass a PT test, or don’t want to shave and look professional, it’s time for a new position or a new profession. I sincerely appreciate the proactive efforts the secretaries have already taken in some of those areas, service secretaries. And these directives are intended to simply accelerate those efforts [DOD Secretary Pete Hegseth, rant to military leaders at Quantico, 2025.09.30, transcribed by Rev].

Hegseth’s beard ban isn’t new this week. In August he issued a memo largely ending medical exemptions from shaving Blacks Sikhs Nordic Pagans requirements and ordering that, in the few cases where a medical exemption survives scrutiny, exempted service members have one year to get cured or get out. Tuesday Hegseth issued another memo disposing of religious exemptions to shaving standards.

Hegseth cleverly invokes Nordic pagans as the freaks he’s attacking, but Hegseth’s fervent anti-beardo stance is one more thinly concealed ploy to drive non-white, non-Christian men out of the military:

The memo issued Tuesday ends virtually all religious exemptions that have allowed some service members to wear beards in recent years, including Sikh, Norse Pagan and some Muslim troops. It instructs the Defense Department to return to pre-2010 standards, referring to the first year the Army granted an exemption to a Sikh soldier to wear a beard in uniform. The service began granting permanent religious accommodations to Sikh soldiers in 2017, and other troops have been granted religious beard waivers on a case-by-case basis since 2019.

…The policy also ends permanent shaving profiles for those who suffer from pseudofolliculitis barbae, or razor bumps. Current troops with razor-bump profiles can be granted shaving exemptions for up to 12 months, but they must also have a treatment plan. Those with permanent conditions will be considered for administrative separation, Hegseth wrote. Pseudofolliculitis barbae, caused by curly hairs growing back into the skin, disproportionately affect Black men and is associated with frequent shaving, according to a study by the Society of Federal Health Professionals.

…Hegseth said the new policy will bar military hopefuls from entering the ranks if they cannot meet his new grooming standards — including those diagnosed with pseudofolliculitis barbae [Corey Dickstein, “‘No More Beardos’: Hegseth Gives Military Branches 60 Days to End Shaving Waivers for Almost All US Troops,” Stars and Stripes, 2025.09.30].

The Defense Department indicates the beard ban ensures gas masks fit properly, but an Air Force expert says there’s no scientific evidence that groomed beards prevent gas masks from sealing:

“It’s an unsubstantiated claim,” said Lt. Col. Simon Ritchie, a dermatologist who last year published a study on the beard prohibition’s discriminatory effect on Black airmen. While supporters of current Air Force policy “may have anecdotal evidence of one to five people who they see fail the fit test,” he said, “that can’t be extrapolated to hundreds of thousands of airmen.”

Anecdotal evidence is useful, Ritchie said, but in his years of analyzing the issue he has yet to find an up-to-date, scientifically rigorous study showing that neatly trimmed facial hair impacts the seals of military gas masks.

“In the scientific community, anecdotes are the lowest level of evidence for making recommendations,” the doctor said. “A lot of the consensus papers and position papers on this rely on expert opinion, but none of it is based on an actual scientific study like ‘hey, let’s have people put a M-50 mask on and study that.’”

…While there are plenty of studies that show the deleterious effect of facial hair on gas mask or respirator seals in the civilian world, there are no studies Ritchie could find that gauge how neatly trimmed beards hold up in modern-day M-50 military gas masks.

“These studies are for the civilian population, where there’s a range of thickness, curliness and length that may influence the results,” he said. “It’s tough to look at that and say ‘hey, case closed’” [David Roza, “Do Beards Actually Break the Seal of Gas Masks?” Task & Purpose, 2022.05.19].

Our NATO allies allow whiskers and aren’t encountering any problems:

…several other NATO countries such as Canada, Germany and Norway permit service members to wear beards. Surely they must have studied the effect of facial hair on gas masks? Apparently not, said Ritchie, who is stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany and so has had plenty of chances to chat with NATO partners about their whisker policies.

“They also can’t point to actual studies,” Ritchie said, “but they can point to lived experience.”

The NATO officers who spoke with Ritchie reported seeing no negative impact of facial hair on oxygen masks for air crew, he said. The airman added that the Royal Canadian Air Force has also had zero physiological events related to beards since the Canadian military first allowed service members to sport them in 2018. Beards also have not been a problem for students from foreign militaries who go through the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, Ritchie said.

“The Aircrew Flight Equipment folks at Sheppard we spoke to have had zero problems fitting a bearded pilot,” he said. “We’ve had Sikhs go through that program and people from NATO who have beards for personal preference” [Roza, 2022.05.19].

The British Army last year joined the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force in allowing its troops to beard up, following a survey showing broad opposition from soldiers and veterans to the beard ban, including from King Charles III.

Hegseth said nothing in his Quantico speech about alcohol abuse, which degrades readiness far more than whiskers and is more prominent in the military than in any other profession.