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Posted on 07/10/2026 12:33:16 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Sailors whose medical conditions prevent daily shaving now have up to 12 months of treatment options before the Navy evaluates them for continued service and, in some cases, administrative separation.
A safety argument has ensued around facial hair, with the service saying it can break the seal on the masks that keep a crew breathing through fire or gas. Behind this argument sits a study the Navy has kept close to the vest.
NAVADMIN 162/26, released July 7 under the signature of Vice Adm. Jeffrey J. Czerewko, The order reverses the Navy’s 2022 policy, which prohibited separation solely because PFB treatment had failed, and ends what two retired officers writing in Proceedings described as a roughly four-decade practice of allowing renewable medical accommodations.
In place of that open-ended allowance, the message sets a countdown for any Sailor who now gets twelve months of medical treatment to reach a clean-shaven standard, and those who cannot get there are headed toward a separation board.
Most of the men caught by the change carry the same diagnosis. Pseudofolliculitis barbae, the ingrown-hair condition better known as razor bumps, afflicts roughly 60% of Black men, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology, and it worsens with the very act the policy now demands.
Shaving vs Separation
The order's demands are clearly detailed, stating only a commanding officer may grant a medical waiver, and even then only as part of a documented treatment plan.
These waivers will arrive in 90-day blocks, four at most, and they expire in one year. Facial hair stays under a quarter inch, and anyone who relies on breathing gear draws a mask-fit check every three months.
After twelve months, if the Sailor is still unable to shave and the condition is marked as "unmanageable", this will firmly place them in a...
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
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Pretty sure you can shave faster than that …
The year delay makes no sense.
1 year? Shaving is like sex to me, it takes about 3 minutes and the ladies like it.
This can be a problem for people working in BSL labs and other bioscience environments, too.
They mean they are giving people with skin issues time to adjust. I’m not sure how they do that, though...
Make allowances for personnel that aren’t in positions where it would be a safety issue.............
“Navy Says Beards Are a Safety Risk, Gives Sailors 1 Year to Shave”. So, if I’m the Navy I have a whole year where I don’t have to shave?
Having now read the article after posting first (in the greatest of all FR traditions), I can envision an alternate solution:
1) Require the sailors in positions which require a mask at any time to sign a waiver that they understand they will die, and nobody can be counted on to save them, because they’ll be quite busy, AND
2) Put them in positions in which nobody will be relying on them when the fire (or whatever) breaks out, so that they are not risking anyone else’s lives for failing to do their work.
That would be a really tough bar to achieve, but I could see it.
In firefighting you can get away with a little facial stubble, but too much and yeah, it breaks the seal with the SCBA masks. So I can appreciate that this is an issue in any occupation requiring donning an airtight mask for survival.
The old is new again. I recall the same argument from 50 years ago.
I had one for 3 of my four years in the Navy. I shaved it off twice onboard ship once for three months the second time for six months. Both times I was in the fire department and a tight seal was required. The rest of the time no problem. Even most senior enlisted and many officers had one. This was 76-80. The tight seal issue was known back then. I worried more about the cannister on my chest than anything.
I always thought it was unfair. When I served on my ship, we were told, “Everyone is a firefighter.”
Had to shave every day to ensure the OBA was sealed against my ugly mug.
Yet, some people were, “Special.” Had these, “No Shave Chits.”
Some actually developed a superiority complex because of it, too.
I know, depending on the numbers of men involved and expected doctor visits, it seems like 3 months, or maybe 6 months could do it, but I guess it isn’t any big deal that they give them a full year to work it out.
The main issue is that they stick to their decisions on these issues, if they do, then being gracious with time is OK.
I remember around 1970, we in the Air Force were pretty jealous when Zumwalt allowed beards in the Navy.
The Navy is about ships.
Keeping them off of ships means others have to make up with longer sea tours.
Don’t join the navy if you can’t do the tour.
“”””This was 76-80.””””
Reagan ended the beards and Sikh hats and ordered uniformity.
We had Black guys in our BMT squadron that had shaving waivers due to PFD skin condition. Shaving actually makes it worse because the short curlies (in your face/neck) curl back under the skin.
I see the Navy getting a whole bunch of RACISM complaints over this.
^Oops. PFB^
Zumwalt's enlisted dress blues were a worse fire hazard than beards.
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