Sailors who develop beards to keep away from routine shaving points won’t be kicked out of the service if they can not discover a therapy that works for them, in line with a brand new Navy coverage launched Wednesday.
Service members who get frequent ingrown hairs and pores and skin irritations generally known as pseudofolliculitis barbae, shortened to PFB by the Navy, won’t be required to shave, and officers have up to date steerage for treating, sustaining and addressing their beards.
It is probably the most notable change to Navy grooming coverage since 2019, when the service did away with long-standing no-shave chits, or waivers, that allowed Navy personnel to develop quarter-inch facial hair. The earlier rule was condemned for having a racial bias towards sailors of coloration.
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Petty Officer 2nd Class Raheem Richardson, a sailor who enlisted in December 2017 and is at the moment stationed at Navy Personnel Command in Tennessee, instructed reporters throughout a media roundtable Tuesday that the coverage change is a serious aid.
“Being pressured to shave over the bumps that happen from PFB is among the harshest issues I believe I ever needed to expertise,” Richardson stated. “So now that this coverage is modified, I really feel prefer it’s actually going to assist sailors so far as not solely being comfy in their very own pores and skin, however with the ability to really feel assured of their job.”
PFB is commonly present in curly haired males and happens in about 60% of African American males, in line with research by the American Osteopathic School of Dermatology.
Navy officers have stated beards could be an operational threat for sailors who should placed on a respiration equipment, and stubble may cause an improper seal on firefighting or gasoline masks, which is an important means for service members aboard ships.
Below the earlier coverage issued in 2019, sailors recognized with PFB needed to work with on-base medical doctors to give you a therapy plan, and people with extreme circumstances even needed to bear laser therapy to get rid of razor bumps.
Rob Carroll, director of the Navy Uniform Issues Workplace, stated that is all prior to now now.
“Three years in the past was the final replace we did to the PFB coverage,” Carroll stated. “At the moment, we utilized the data within the steerage that was offered. Now that we’re in 2022, we’re taking one other look.”
Sailors with PFB are actually allowed to edge and description their beards in the event that they select to as a substitute of being pressured to develop them out below prior coverage.
Moreover, sailors not should carry a paper copy of their shaving waiver on their individual, and laser therapy is now elective as a substitute of necessary, Carroll stated.
Sailors with PFB who do not wish to bear laser therapy or trim their beards in any trend won’t be administratively separated from the Navy, in line with the brand new steerage.
“PFB therapy failures won’t be thought-about for administrative separation from the Navy, however might lead to a required designator or score specialty change,” the brand new coverage states. “Sailors discovered to be willfully non-compliant or that refuse to adjust to prescribed PFB medical therapies or commanding officer’s shaving necessities could also be topic to administrative separation.”
Carroll stated a separation would happen provided that a sailor is prescribed a therapy plan by a health care provider and willfully ignores it. Sailors who do not conform to a plan or discover one that does not work with their pores and skin will probably be thought-about for a reassignment that may not require emergency respiration tools.
“As a substitute of the Navy saying you possibly can’t make the most of your talent set or skills, that particular person could also be really helpful to pursue one other specialty that does not require them to put on a sure sort of apparatus,” Carroll stated.
The Navy has not but given steerage on the subject of spiritual lodging for beards.
— Thomas Novelly could be reached at thomas.novelly@army.com. Comply with him on Twitter @TomNovelly.
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