Army Sgt. Clay Stephens, far left, a Nordic Pagan since 2021, said he is unsure whether the military will continue honoring his waiver. (Rayonne Bissant/U.S. Army)
Some service members who wear beards for religious reasons worry the Pentagon may soon target their shaving waivers, a concern driven by recent policy shifts that have already tightened rules for troops with medical exemptions.
The Army, for example, announced in July it would re-evaluate all religious shaving waivers, part of a broader effort expected to extend across the services.
Then, on Sept. 30, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the nation’s top generals and admirals that medical shaving waivers would be phased out within a year. The Pentagon also directed each branch to revise religious waiver policies by limiting them to “non-deployable roles” and requiring annual gas mask fit training.
The U.S. military accommodates beards worn as expressions of faith for adherents of several religions, including Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Heathens and Nordic Pagans.
The changes have rattled groups like the Sikh Coalition, which advocates for religious accommodations in the armed forces.
“I don’t really know how the service is going to try to be harder and stricter on that note of sincerely held religious beliefs, because a lot of individuals, especially in the Sikh faith, practice on a spectrum,” Marissa Rossetti, a senior staff attorney for the coalition, said during a Nov. 21 video call. “Some individuals do trim a little bit of their facial hair, while some have never in their entire life.”
The Defense Department declined to comment on potential changes, saying each service is responsible for its own policies.
Under Pentagon guidance, service members with medical shaving waivers have until next fall to seek treatment to resolve their condition. Many service members granted medical waivers suffer from pseudofolliculitis barbae, a skin condition exasperated by daily shaving that disproportionally affects Black men.
Since 2014, the military has permitted facial hair as an “expression of sincerely held beliefs,” provided the installation’s senior officer approves.
“A lot of people will say, ‘We’re seeing an increase in shaving waivers because the regulations got more lenient,’” a service member with a shaving wavier said during a Nov. 7 video call on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. “That’s not true in any sense. There has always been a method for getting a religious accommodation letter; it’s not a new thing. What happened was we started teaching people how to take care of themselves medically and spiritually.”
The service member, who has 19 years on active duty, said he has helped many others navigate grooming rules and obtain religious waivers.
For some troops, facial hair is central to their faith identity. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jesse Gordon, a contingency response maintenance craftsman and Heathen practitioner since 2019, said his beard is tied to his beliefs.
“I want to be steadfast in my faith,” he said during a Nov. 21 video call.
Gordon said his beard represents masculinity, fortitude, courage, strength and integrity.
“Sure, I’m a Heathen, which is a religion that most people do not understand,” he said. “Just because it’s not what a massive part of America considers real, doesn’t mean it isn’t.”
Air Force Staff Sgt. Jesse Gordon, a contingency response maintenance craftsman and Heathen practitioner since 2019, said his beard is tied to his beliefs. (Jesse Gordon)
Army Sgt. Clay Stephens of the 101st Airborne Division, a Nordic Pagan since 2021, said he is unsure whether the military will continue honoring his waiver.
“I spent the better part of a year and a half studying before I submitted my religious accommodation waiver,” he said on a Nov. 6 video call. “You need to understand why you need it — why you deserve it — and if you can prove that to the military, you should be able to keep it.”
