The Navy's Diversity Task Force Didn't Recommend Allowing Beards. Here's Why
Corporal Carl Provost, automotive mechanic, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, shaves Lance Cpl. Lukasz Wlodkowski, automotive maintenance technician, Combat Logistics Battalion 5, at his home aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif. June 8, 2014. (Anna Albrecht/U.S. Marine Corps)
4 Feb 2021
Sailors hoping for permanent no-shave waivers to make a comeback in the Navy aren't likely to see the policy change anytime soon.
Task Force One Navy, a group created over the summer to review potentially discriminatory policies, released its report Wednesday, detailing the 56 recommendations it made to the chief of naval operations. While the task force did say grooming policies need to be reviewed for racial bias, it stopped short of calling for a reversal to the 2019 decision that did away with long-standing no-shave chits, or waivers that allowed Navy personnel to grow quarter-inch facial hair.