We’ve already written about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s needlessly expensive rant at the nation’s military brass. But one detail has slipped past most observers—the racism behind his new prohibition on shaving profiles.
A shaving profile is a waiver letting a service member skip clean-shaving rules and grow a beard. The Department of Defense recently announced the end of permanent beard waivers, only allowing the exemption for a year.
But on Tuesday, Hegseth made his feelings clear. “No more beardos," he said. "The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done."
U.S. military senior leadership at Marine Corps Base Quantico, on Sept. 30. Not a beard in sight.
There are only two reasons for it: religious exemption or medical necessity. Several religions require beards, including Islam and Sikhism, and many Orthodox Jews also wear beards because of tradition and Biblical interpretations on how to trim them.
That makes it obvious enough what’s going on here—Hegseth and MAGA are thrilled to hide anti-Muslim bigotry behind a supposedly religion-neutral policy. Less obvious is the policy’s devastating impact on Black service members.
The medical exemption is for pseudofolliculitis barbae, or PFB, a painful condition in which curly hair grows back into the skin, causing acne-like bumps and scarring. It disproportionately affects Black men. A 2013 study found that between 45–80% of Black men suffer from PFB.
Even at the low end, half of Black men in uniform can no longer serve without permanently scarring their faces. Latino men are also more prone to the condition.
White men? Just 3% are affected.
The harm goes beyond pain. Shaving profiles already carried career penalties. According to a study in Military Medicine, 63% of Black men on shaving profiles in the Air Force reported that it hurt their careers. Respondents described being denied career-broadening assignments like Honor Guard, Air Force Band, recruiting duty, and Airman Leadership School instructor—all of them pipelines to promotion.
Meanwhile, no other major military power has such a ban. Israel’s military allows beards. Most NATO armies allow beards. History’s fiercest fighters—the Vikings—rocked them proudly. Hell, even “Game of Thrones” understood the power of a beard.
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If you want a fearsome-looking military, let the beards grow. Even Vice President JD Vance sports one and thinks it makes him look tough.
Yet under Hegseth’s order, anyone who refuses to shave will be kicked out of the military within a year. With 17% of our armed forces Black—about 346,000 service members (though some of these are women, of course)—this order could cost the U.S. military tens of thousands of experienced, loyal, patriotic soldiers. It would cripple readiness while stripping away diversity.
But that’s the point. This administration is at war with non-white America, and it’s willing to weaken the military itself to make it whiter.
