Women's Hair in the US. Army

Do you think that women in the US Army should have to wear their hair a certain way?


In 1948, Legislation formally allowed women to join the military. Ever since 1948 women have always had to follow many rules on how their hair could and could not be. For many years women have always had to wear their hair “Spick and span”. This means that their hair had to be put in a low bun, had to be out of their faces and had to have no fly-aways. 


In 2014, the Army started to change the rules concerning women's hair. Over the past year or two, they have added multiple options for women to choose from. Currentally, women have approximately 3 or more options. The 3 main options are; Low tight buns, Braids, and Ponytails. Some of the other rules women have to follow are things like; soldiers who choose dye/color their hair must not show 1.5 inches or more of natural root growth, hair colors must be natural looking and not distract from a soldier's performance or the performance of others, and no coloring your hair colors like; blue, pink, green, orange, etc. 


Soldiers have complained of contracting traction alopecia (TA) which is a type of hair loss that is often connected to certain hairstyling practices, like tight buns. Having multiple hairstyle choices, let soldiers keep from contracting this. 


Women have these rules for many reasons. These things help them with being and doing their best on the field. One of the sources below states, Staff Sgt. April Schacher, said that wearing the buns would make it hard to wear a helmet during training. It "would affect how low the helmet lies on our eyes, so, especially with shooting our weapons, that did affect being able to see the target properly," she says. 


I think women should have multiple options of how to wear their hair. As long as their hair is kept clean and neat. 



Questions:

  • Do you think that women in the Army should have to keep their hair neat and tight?

  • If you were in the US. Army, would you like to have multiple options of how to wear your hair? 


Sources:

https://www.army.mil/article/242536/army_announces_new_grooming_appearance_standards 

https://msmagazine.com/2021/03/22/army-haircut-women-grooming-standard/

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/23/999313152/the-army-is-expanding-allowed-hairstyles-for-women 

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Replies

  • Good topic choice and well done Tara!

  • I think the tight hair is way better then completly shaved hair. The tight hair keeps everything in place and its very mature. If I was in the Us. Army, I would just keep my hair exactly how they want it. 

    • Yes, I do agree that having tight hair is better than shaving it all off.

  • I think that they have some good rules, but they could loosen up a little. I think that the rules are fine right now, because they could do an alternating hair stly order, you don't have to just choose one for the rest of your life, you're given options. I also agree that you shouldn't have a bright color for hair, if you are undercover, or under fire, you don't want people to see your bright teal, bright pink, or other unnatural colored hair, and let them get at you. It is safer for the troop you are with and for the solider themself

    • I agree. I did not think about being undercover with bright hair. That is a really good point.

  • I think that people serving in the army are interested in doing their best. In order to this, I think that they would logically use a hairstyle that doesn't distrub them when they are fighting. However, I think that they should have different hairstyles to choose from so they can choose the one that fits them best. 

    • I agree with you because they are there to do their best and having different colored hair could make them distracted.

  • I think that women in the Army shouldn't have to have their hair neat and tight if they wanted to, but if they decide not to have their hair neat and nice, then they have to make sure its not blocking their face. If I was in the US. Army, then I would probably like to have multiple options to how I wear my hair.

    • Yes, I would also like to have mutiple options also.

  • I think that women should need to have their hair out of their faces, but it shouldn't necessarily be tight and neat. As long as it is functional for the women, I think they should be able to wear their hair up the way they want. 

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