Are grooming standards in the military outdated and without purpose?

Can't tell you how many times I saw a CSM go ape crazy after seeing a route clearance patrol come in after three days outside the wire trying to get hot chow with beard stubble before the DFAC Closed. Certainly feel there is massive room for improvement especially in the combat environment. Discipline in appearance does not equal combat effectiveness or combat discipline, in fact in many instances perfectly capable soldiers are discounted due to their gruffness or lack of administrative skills.

This is a complicated question because there are many factors to consider for why relaxed grooming standards can be necessary. To start off with, you can't shed a high and tight over night, nor can you grow a beard over night. Longer hair distances the impression that someone could be a service member in environments where a service member is looking to maintain a low profile. Beards sometimes are called for for cultural reasons, and they also can defeat many types of facial recognition technology (also the reason why some service members are encouraged to wear sunglasses in media heavy environments).

That said, I've seen plenty of cases where relaxed grooming standards are used when they are completely unnecessary. There is the mistaken idea that anytime you deploy to a predominantly Muslim country you must have a beard. The reality is that in many Muslim countries, the only people wearing huge beards are radical Islamist and jihadis. Long shaggy hair is also seen as inappropriate because in many countries, it is associated with being unkept and unprofessional.

In almost any environment, visible tattoos are a bad idea for more reasons than I have time to get into. I find it idiotic that some guys try to justify relaxed grooming standards to maintain a low profile while they have tattoos up their neck and down to their wrists (I'm looking at you MARSOC).

However to be perfectly honest, a lot of reasons why the military went to clean shaven and high and tights are outdated. Beards don't prevent you from sealing a gas mask. While skin conditions and parasites can be an issue, it is nowhere near what was in past decades because of improvements to personal hygiene products.

I do think that there should be a little more give in a combat environment in terms of grooming based on the situation. A patrol coming in from a 3 day recon mission shouldn't have shaving as a top priority before they can get a hot meal. Rushing shaving when you are dirty and using reclaimed water can actually increase the chances of infection. Still, the average service member doesn't need to run around looking like a ZZ Top knockoff.

The combat beards are to help folks be accepted by the locals in the mid east. I never figured out the purpose for running around half necked though. Sun burn sucks and is a vector for infections. I always had a flat top and tight taper to help keep critters from latching on.

I am a big fan of differentiating standards between garrison and deployment. In a deployment scenario where military members are away from barracks/dorms/home for extended periods of time, it makes sense to relax grooming standards (beards, mustaches, hair). In garrison, I am okay with the current grooming standards, since we are a professional military and we should uphold a higher standard. As far as tattoos are concerned, I would leave that up to each service as to what image that service wants to portray.

Are the standards outdated and without purpose? I would not go that far. If I were king, I would definitely modify the standards for all deployed personnel. I certainly did not like walking between tents or trailers just to shave with cold water, but there needs to be some kind of standard to prevent someone from avoiding the shower for six months. Sometimes the silly grooming standards serve to remind military members to take care of themselves daily, even in austere conditions.

yes , I think its time to stop this madness about shaving LOL its getting old. Im pretty sure that if needed we can shave it all off if we need to put on our pro masks

Relaxed grooming standards in the combat zone or on mission have depended on the mission in the past. Try maintaining a low profile wandering around in a Middle Eastern city or countryside clean shaven and with a high and tight. Having lived in that environment I know that getting acceptance and communication with the locals is difficult when one goes in looking like an Amrika'i. Given that, I sometimes wonder why I see operators with the appearance pictured above. Looking like Soldiers, American Soldiers, who care enough about the people who they are working with that they have studied their local tradition, culture and language is much more impressive than bare arms and beards.

I hate to shave. Scraping one's face every day is a chore. It's infinitely less fun with cold water (or no water), especially when you have a beard like copper wire (like mine). I see no problem with a closely cropped beard (one that an adversary can't grab).

When there is time and in a safe environment grooming is still the soldier responsibility.

I don't believe grooming standards are outdated. I understand every culture is different and some cultures for instance a beard is a sign of maturity. The problem is that people don't see the purpose behind the decisions.

Anyone who has seen women fight knows why to keep your hair short. If you can get your fingers in their hair, you now have control of their movements. The same thing can be said about beards. A fistful of hair can bring a person's face down to meet my knee. Tattoos are a cultural thing. We are a global force and we deal with a lot of different cultures. We can't have possible peace talks be disrupted because LCpl Schmuckatelli has an offensive tattoo in a visible location.

Discipline, cohesion, and uniformity are all important and the grooming standards are a part of this. I think it'd be badass if we could all grow beards and get fully tattooed and look like hardcore warriors. But you have to look at it from a practical point of view. Yes we are warriors, but we must be just as equal in our long range tactics as we are in close combat tactics as we are in our diplomatic approach.

To give an enemy an advantage over us is to fail.

So many well thought out responses! I agree wholeheartedly that 'Command discretion' while using common sense is not only the best answer for this question but perhaps a mantra to be used for most controversial, situation based questions. The unit commander of an operational unit should have the autonomy to modify a basic standard if they decide it will benefit overall mission success. On the flip side of that coin, I believe that the commander of troops that are not conducting operations has a duty to maintain the highest basic military standards in the interest of good order and discipline. During most military indoctrination training they shave your head, take away your civilian clothes, take away most contact with the outside world, make you talk differently, walk differently. Why? To make you into a part of that organization. When you graduate you have 2 names on your uniform: the one you were born with and the one you earned. Enforcing the basic military standards, helps maintain good order and discipline because if you hammer down on the little stuff people will think twice about breaking more important rules. More importantly though it reminds us that we are part of something greater than ourselves it reminds us of that other name that we earned.