(17 Sep 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++MUSIC CLEARED FOR EDITORIAL USE++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 17 September 2025
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Nandini Gupta, The Associated Press:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
"What if someone told you you had to be clean shaven most if not all the time? Well, that’s kind of what’s happening with the US military. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered that troops who need a medical exemption from shaving can keep their facial hair for one year. After that, they’ll have to shave or they could be kicked out of the service, undoing a policy that existed for decades. Hegseth wrote in a memo that the department should live up to the grooming standards that "underpin the warrior ethos." Most shaving waivers are for troops diagnosed with pseudofolliculitis barbae, a condition in which hair curls back into the skin after shaving and causes irritation. It’s a condition that disproportionately affects Black men. The memo doesn’t specify if service members will still be allowed to sport mustaches. It’s also unclear if this change will affect Special Forces troops who are in operational settings or soldiers stationed in Alaska, where shaving can pose a medical hazard in extreme cold."
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ARCHIVE: Manila, Philippines – 28 March 2025
2. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaking
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ARCHIVE: Vaziani, Georgia – 11 May 2015
3. Various of US troops
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ARCHIVE: Brussels – 13 February 2025
4. Hegseth walking towards microphones
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ARCHIVE: Washington – 5 December 2024
5. Hegseth seated
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ARCHIVE: Powidz, Poland – 18 February 2022
6. Close of US flag on troops uniform
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ARCHIVE: Vaziani, Georgia – 11 May 2015
7. Wide of troops
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ARCHIVE: Arlington, Virginia – 26 May 2016
8. Various of troops walking
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ARCHIVE: Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, California – 12 April 2016
9. Backs of a group of troops sitting listening to a speech
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ARCHIVE: Hassakeh, Syria – 8 February 2022
10. US flag on a military vehicle
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ARCHIVE: Arlington, Virginia – 26 May 2016
11. Troops walking
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ARCHIVE: New Hanover Township, New Jersey – 25 July 2025
12. Pan of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst signage
STORYLINE:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered that troops who need an exemption from shaving their facial hair for longer than a year should get kicked out of the service.
While commanders are still able to issue service members exemptions from shaving — a policy that has existed for decades — they will now have to come with a medical treatment plan, Hegseth said in an Aug. 20 memo made public Monday. Troops who still need treatment after a year will be separated from service, the memo says.
“The Department must remain vigilant in maintaining the grooming standards which underpin the warrior ethos,” Hegseth wrote in his memo.
The announcement applies to all the military services and is the latest in a series of restrictions after years of military services loosening the rules on how troops can look, often at the request of service members themselves.
Most shaving waivers are for troops diagnosed with pseudofolliculitis barbae, or PFB, a condition in which hair curls back into the skin after shaving and causes irritation. It is a condition that disproportionately affects Black men.
The memo is silent on what treatments the military would offer for troops affected by the new policy or if it will front the cost for those treatments.
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