The latest edict from beard-obsessed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth adds strict new regulations to his crusade on facial hair, which rights groups have characterized as an attack on troops’ civil liberties.
In a March 11 memo, Hegseth, who has made grooming and appearances a central focus in his time at the helm of the U.S. military, raised the bar to qualify for a religious exemption to his blanket ban on beards. The guidelines lay out a strict new process by which service members may apply for a religious exemption and subject those who’ve already received one to a reevaluation, arguing they need to ensure their religious beliefs are “sincerely held” and have a genuine conflict with the grooming standards.
Service members who have spoken against Hegseth’s focus on grooming standards say his restrictions on beards are exclusionary to people from religious communities that require adherents to follow specific tenets of faith around beards, hair, and other grooming matters.
Sikhs, for example, who have served in the U.S. military since at least World War I, are required by their faith not to cut the hair on their head, to keep a beard, and to wrap their long hair in a turban. Members of many schools of Muslim tradition likewise have rules around beards and hair length.
Beard oil. It exists, it is amazing, and it stopped my itching. I comb a little into my beard every one or two days, takes like 5 minutes if I go slow.
Beard oil and beard balm are why I don’t look like a crazed mountain hermit. They’re really phenomenal stuff!
Tell us about this bear oil.
for many types of beard itch, beard oil can also be a long term negative. if the itch is caused by fungal infection (same as dandruff and lots of skin issues), that infection feeds on the oils
in that case, you need daily anti dandruff shampoo, and not all are created equal: different types may work better or worse for different people
And it’s not always treatable with shampoo. At some point, dandruff is dermatitis, and at some point after that, dermatitis may be psoriasis. If OTC topicals don’t cut it, check in with a dermatologist. That’s how I learned I also had psoriatic arthritis, as it was resolved with prescribed medication