Navy commands commence monthly facial hair accountability reports in August

Navy commands that issue shaving waivers are now required to produce monthly facial hair accountability reports.

Commanding officers are instructed to maintain a log of personnel requiring medical facial hair treatment plans, according to updated guidance. They also must “forward a Facial Hair Accommodation Accountability Report using Excel Spreadsheet by the 15th of each month, commencing August 2026,” the July 31 memo states.

The accountability reports pertain specifically to sailors diagnosed with skin conditions such as pseudofolliculitis barbae, or razor bumps.

Razor bumps, which occur when shaved hairs curl back into the skin, can cause painful inflammation. The condition disproportionately affects Black men, some 60% of whom may experience it, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology.

The update follows the Navy’s early July directive that instructed all sailors with skin irritation or other conditions caused by shaving — including those with current medical shaving waivers — to report the issue to their supervisors and seek medical evaluation. If recommended for treatment, their commanding officer may issue a temporary shaving waiver, allowing them to maintain a beard up to one-fourth inch in length.

The updated policy brings the service in line with guidance issued last year by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth banning most shaving accommodations for service members.

“No more beardos,” Hegseth told top officers and their enlisted advisers during a speech last September at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. “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 [physical training] test or don’t want to shave and look professional, it’s time for a new position or a new profession.”

Commanders may grant temporary waivers for up to 90 days, according to the Navy’s earlier guidance. Those waivers must “align with prescribed treatment.” Commanders may only grant a 90-day shaving waiver four times before they must recommend a sailor for administrative separation.

Sailors who cannot meet shaving standards after one year of treatment shall be deemed to have “an unmanageable permanent condition” and recommended for “separation due to failure to comply with grooming standards,” according to the July 7 memo.

Hegseth has lamented the increase in recent years of bearded troops, whom he has said do not meet military standards. The secretary’s September memo also instructed the military services to reevaluate religious beard waivers.

The Navy in June ordered sailors with religious-based accommodations, including facial hair, to reapply for a grooming-standard exemption and outlined its more stringent evaluation process.