--- title: Military Rolls Back Restrictions on Black Hair Styles description: Two-strand twists are now acceptable in the Army, Air Force and Navy canonical: https://time.com/3107647/military-black-hairstyles/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-13T15:06:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:38:46.156Z article:section: Politics og:title: Military Rolls Back Restrictions on Black Hair Styles og:description: Two-strand twists are now acceptable in the Army, Air Force and Navy og:url: https://time.com/3107647/military-black-hairstyles/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee40ffe2f7adfba9/69869f6013c79f72cc19371e/military-black-hair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Army Black Hair og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Military Rolls Back Restrictions on Black Hair Styles twitter:description: Two-strand twists are now acceptable in the Army, Air Force and Navy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee40ffe2f7adfba9/69869f6013c79f72cc19371e/military-black-hair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. Military Rolls Back Restrictions on Black Hairstyles > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Aug 13, 2014 3:06 PM UTC  This undated image provided by the US Army shows new Army grooming regulations for females. This undated image provided by the US Army shows new Army grooming regulations for females. US Army/AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Aug 13, 2014 3:06 PM UTC Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel [announced](http://cbc.fudge.house.gov/uploads/ArmyRegulationResponse.pdf) the U.S. military has rolled back prohibitions on popular black hairstyles within its ranks, following months of fierce backlash. Hagel said the military had spent the past three months reviewing the definition of acceptable styles in a letter to [Rep. Marcia Fudge ](http://cbc.fudge.house.gov/uploads/ArmyRegulationResponse.pdf)(D-Ohio), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, which [led a charge](http://cbc.fudge.house.gov/press-releases/women-members-of-the-cbc-send-letter-to-dod-secretary-hagel-on-unauthorized-hairstyles/) against the military’s decision to ban natural hairstyles like dreadlocks and twists. “Each Service reviewed its hairstyle policies to ensure standards are fair and respectful while also meeting out military requirements,” Hagel wrote. “As a result of these reviews the Army, Navy, and Air Force determined changes were necessary to their Service grooming regulations to include additional authorized hairstyles.” Three branches of service including the Army, Air Force, and Navy will now allow service members to wear their hair in two-strand twists. The Army also increased the size of acceptable braids, and both the Army and Air Force will remove the terms “matted and unkempt” from their grooming guidelines. In a [statement](http://cbc.fudge.house.gov/press-releases/cbc-chair-marcia-l-fudges-statement-on-department-of-defense-changes-to-ar6701/), Fudge thanked Secretary Hagel for his swift response to their concerns. “These changes recognize that traditional hairstyles worn by women of color are often necessary to meet our unique needs, and acknowledges that these hairstyles do not result in or reflect less professionalism or commitment to the high standards required to serve within our Armed Forces,” Fudge said. The military originally announced the restrictions on how soldiers can wear their hair in March as a part of sweeping new rules on grooming, known as Army Regulation 670-1 “[Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia](http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140331/NEWS07/303310046/It-s-official-Army-s-new-appearance-reg-takes-effect)”. Hairstyles like dreadlocks or locs, two-strand twists, and other natural hairstyles were prohibited. Styles including afros were also banned in an effort to “maintain uniformity within a military population,” military officials said. But African American soldiers and members of the Congressional Black Caucus felt the changes were racially insensitive. The inclusion of terms like “matted and unkempt,” in the military’s directions on which styles were unacceptable did not help cool tensions. “Most black women, their hair doesn’t grow straight down, it grows out,” wrote Sgt. Jasmine Jacobs in a White House petition calling for the military to reverse its decision, first reported by [_Military Times_](http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140331/NEWS07/303310051/Black-female-soldiers-say-new-grooming-reg-racially-biased-). “I’m disappointed to see the Army, rather than inform themselves on how black people wear their hair, they’ve white-washed it all.” The ban was also mocked in a sketch on _The Daily Show with Jon Stewart_ called “[Operation Black Hair](http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/p3pawq/operation-black-hair).” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3107647/military-black-hairstyles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3107647/military-black-hairstyles/"},"headline":"U.S. Military Rolls Back Restrictions on Black Hairstyles","datePublished":"2014-08-13T15:06:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:38:46.156Z","description":"Two-strand twists are now acceptable in the Army, Air Force and Navy","url":"https://time.com/3107647/military-black-hairstyles/","keywords":["Military"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee40ffe2f7adfba9/69869f6013c79f72cc19371e/military-black-hair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee40ffe2f7adfba9/69869f6013c79f72cc19371e/military-black-hair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Army Black Hair","caption":"Army Black Hair","creditText":"US Army/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3107647/military-black-hairstyles/","name":"U.S. Military Rolls Back Restrictions on Black Hairstyles"}}]}] ```