Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed to purge the military's "beardos" with strict grooming rules, but what may seem like an attempt at mere uniformity could undercut religious traditions and health protections for some soldiers.
Why it matters: A uniformity push could force some service members — Sikhs, Muslims and some Jewish troops — to choose between service and faith and penalize those with skin conditions exacerbated by shaving.
- Kyle Bibby, co-founder of Black Veterans Project and a former Marine captain, said, "If we have a soldier or sailor, airman, Marine ... who is good at their job, and they just have this medical condition, but they're willing to volunteer, it is absurd for us to try and tighten this."
- Some religious traditions require or strongly recommend men to keep their beards uncut.
Driving the news: "If you want a beard, you can join special forces. If not, then shave. We don't have a military full of Nordic pagans," Hegseth said in his Quantico address to top military leaders outlining his vision for a MAGA-aligned Defense Department.
- "The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done," he said. "If you don't 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."
Flashback: During Trump's first administration, the Army granted a beard waiver to a Norse pagan soldier who called his beard a "defining feature of masculine men."
Yes, but: For Sikh soldiers, shaving or cutting their beard is like "cutting off a limb," said Marissa Rossetti, senior staff attorney at the Sikh Coalition.
- Uncut hair and beards are central to Sikh faith and identity.
- "We have Sikh service members who are deployed with beards right now — it's not a hindrance to how they're serving this country," said Rossetti.
Context: Sikh service in the American military spans back a century, according to the Sikh Coalition, which has spent well over a decade fighting for Sikh members of the armed forces.
- Loosening Army restrictions in 2017, followed by other branches, led to a wave of new exemptions. And in 2022, a federal court ruled the Marine Corps must allow Sikh men to train with their beards and turbans.
And it's not just Sikhs who could be affected, she said.
- "This is going to impact others who have requested religious accommodations, not just the Sikh faith: It's Jewish people with beards. It's Muslims who have beards for religious accommodations," Rossetti said.
- In 2011, a Hasidic Jewish rabbi settled a lawsuit against the Army that let him keep his beard as a military chaplain.
State of play: A new Hegseth memo said the department will revert to "pre-2010 standards" for religious accommodations and generally won't authorize facial-hair waivers.
- The memo requires "individualized review". Individuals must provide documentation proving "the sincerity of the religious or sincerely held belief." Approvals will be limited to "non-deployable roles" with little risk of chemical attacks or firefighting.
- The memo builds on an August directive that said troops who need medical waivers after a year of treatment will be separated. Permanent conditions, the new memo said, will "result in evaluation for administrative separation."
- The Pentagon would not tell Axios if it would pay for treatment for soldiers or if existing accommodations would be upheld.
Zoom out: Hegseth's strict approach could also mark a new hurdle for those with chronic skin conditions aggravated by shaving like pseudofolliculitis barbae, which the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology estimates affects up to 60% African American men and others with curly hair.
- NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement to Axios the new rules were part of "a broader assault on Black identity despite its guise of 'uniformity.'"
- When Bibby served, he said, Marines already had to clear command reviews and medical exams before receiving accommodations. Once approved, soldiers had to maintain a neat appearance. No "Brooklyn hipster mustache" allowed, Bibby said.
- Accommodations are "something that's existed for a long time," he said. "So the change is suspicious."
Friction point: Bibby said he can't look at the changes in a vacuum, pointing to moves the Pentagon made in its anti-DEI crusade, including the removal of civil rights pioneers from federal websites and the push to oust transgender service members.
- The Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter to Hegseth requesting additional information on religious exemptions and stressed that religious freedom "is a constitutional right, even in uniform."
- "Ensuring that Muslim, Sikh, Jewish, and other religious personnel can continue to serve honorably without compromising their faith is consistent with both constitutional principles and established DoW policy," the letter read.
The bottom line: Bibby said he trusts the leadership and culture of the military to handle Washington-driven changes as judiciously as possible.
- He told Axios, "They can come through with all the political theater that they want in the Trump administration, but those commanders and senior enlisted advisers are going to do their best to protect people from nonsense."
Go deeper: Trump's anti-DEI purge is erasing these military legends
