A recently updated grooming policy issued by the United States Marine Corps is being slammed by advocates for negatively targeting Black male service members.
The policy is a reversal of a decades-long waiver that allowed Black men with coarse or curly hair to electively wear their beards as a result of a skin condition. The waivers allowed Black service members to avoid the military’s requirements for men to be clean-shaven.
In March, the Marine Corps issued a new guidance on pseudofolliculitis, or PFB, which is a skin condition more commonly known as razor bumps or ingrown hairs. PFB disproportionately affects Black men (60%), according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology. Despite allowing waivers since the 1970s, the new guidance from the Marine Corps now states that the condition could lead to a service member being expelled from the military branch if the issue persists, reports NBC News.
In January, the U.S. Air Force also updated its guidance on the skin condition, informing service members that waivers will expire 90 days after one’s next annual health exam. The military branch did not indicate what the requirements would be to still qualify for a waiver.
The Marine Corps says that its new guidance will best position the military branch for “warfighting capability” and that service members with PFB will have to undergo a medical evaluation within 90 days. If their condition does not improve within a year under a four-part treatment plan, they could be separated from the branch at the discretion of their commanding officer, according to NBC.
A Marine Corps policy in 2022 barred service members from being kicked out of service solely based on PFB, as it was determined that topical medication does not effectively treat the skin condition. Dermatologists, including a military dermatologist, told NBC the latest policy reversal on PFB waivers are unnecessary and has “nothing to do with readiness.”
“The Marine Corps’ new directive targeting medical shaving waivers for razor bumps — a well known condition in the Marine Corps that disproportionately affects Black men — represents another discriminatory policy enacted under a Secretary of Defense with a history of hostility to Black people,” Kyle Bibby, co-CEO and co-founder of Black Veterans Project, told theGrio.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has aggressively pushed President Donald Trump’s agenda to end diversity, equity and inclusion policies, calling DEI and “wokeness” a threat to military strength and preparedness. “We’re done with that sh–,” he said earlier this month.
The Black Veterans Project notes that Black service members make up a larger proportion of the military compared to their overall representation in the civilian population. Therefore, the new policy on PFB creates “unnecessary barriers to service for Black Marines and poses its own threat to military readiness that outweigh any concern around grooming standards,” said Bibby.
“These medical waivers have existed for decades without compromising mission effectiveness and the military routinely relaxes grooming standards for operational needs,” he added. “Threatening administrative separation for Marines needing longer-term medical waivers reveals the true intent: forcing Black Marines out of service for conditions beyond their control.”
