Shaved heads in basic training; is this mandatory? If it is, then why and why only for males?

In 1972 you had a choice, but if you didn't get it shaved, be ready to be a target for the Drill Sargents. Females had to have it short enough to tuck their hair under their head cover.

SSG Robert Burns: Staff Sergeant Burns: we females also got our hair shaved off in Basic Training. Or, at least we got our hair cut very short. -Most Sincerely, Margaret C. Higgins U.S. Army Retired

reasons for cutting all the hair off male recruits is for sanitation and for uniformity. Take away their individuality when they all look the same.
I think all woman recruits should have their hair cut to hang no more then two inches below their ear

More Obama administration political correctness out of control. Unintended consequences never ending. What if the male happens to identify as female that day? What if he doesn't feel comfortable unless he bunks with women and showers with them? The limits to all types of perversion are tossed out the window. This is not about liberty but about undermining the foundations of our culture.

Look at your history people, at one time head lice were a big problem, this is where we get the modern military hair cut. We had a case of body lice powder in the Air Items warehouse at bragg, question is why was it in the air items warehouse?

In the Marine Corps, Everyone gets their heads shaved to put them all on the same level.
Everyone starting out in the military should be put on the same level. No one is better
then anyone else. You all are the same. You will all be brought from the ground up.
You will all be brought up from civilian life to military. That's how we become brothers and
sisters of blood and fire.

I think shaving heads is the quickest and easiest way to get everyone's hair within regs

when I was in navy in 85 female haircut within regs was required. males got shaved.

On more than a few occasions when I have shaved my head I was told I look like a Buddhist monk.

I got reprimanded because one of my Sgt majors thought my hair was to short. I think if it can stay neat and out of the way it shouldn't matter but the regs give male marines 0 to 3

I also feel if females can have their hair long or short as should I, I'm for 100 percent the same standard. I would have my long flowing locks in a too standard bun during duty hours .

When I went to boot camp in 1983 we as females had to have our hair cut, granted not short but it could not be past your collar and most girls ended up with a very unattractive bob if they did not get hair cut before coming to boot camp. The reason hair is shaved is not for hazing but for personal hygiene reasons. Nat all people are clean when they head off to boot camp. So by shaving head it is a quick way to make sure there are no bugs!! Also there was a female I went to boot camp with that they did make her shave her head because she came to boot camp with rainbow colored hair.

I will share a quote from my DS. "If you want hair, you will earn it." Mind you, there were no females in our basic. I believe they mostly do it for time constraints.

I think in basic training, the head shaving is part of the "breaking down" of the person. Your gaining a new identity so shaving the head is part of erasing that identity you had before the military. It drives into your head(literally) that your part of the government you can't do what you want. Also it makes everyone uniform. Now with the females, in afi says that women are allowed short hair but it can't be shaved.

During my time if a SM shaved his head and got a sunburn, he would be subject to an Article 15 for damaging Government Property. Enforced was the Army Standard haircut and shave, when questioned why at my time did was the Navy allowed to have a bearded, sailors out at sea cant catch lice's, we whom train in wooded area do or can. Please note that in my time, we didn't have to many females so if females in todays Armed Forces also train in the wooded areas, as I seen in my later years, this kind of brings up a new topic as to the logic of lice's or crabs as we would call them in Korea (Little chingo's (little friends)).

Although it has already been mentioned it's a dead horse worth beating. If a Soldier is required to pay for a hair cut, that Soldier should have the of any style IAW AR 670-1

I do think it is only because of tradition that us males have and had our heads shaved. But I think it should be continued as a tradition.

I was always told the buzz cut for males is for hygienical purposes. I'm a firm believer that if females want equality it should be in everything, including the same standards in the field. If i go to the field for 2 weeks and females were to be in my infantry platoon i would expect them to have the same amenities and live just like us. I can see where this would be viewed as a not entirely equal situation. To some extent i agree that if they want total equality they would have to participate in such actions; but, you also have to imagine the outcry that would result from making a woman shave her head. Just think about all the bad publicity. I would even go as far as saying that they would claim its just men trying to discourage women from joining, and that would definitely bring some bad attention in an age where they're trying to push women into all combat MOS's.

When they were going to make the Army women cadet shave. I was going to shave my head. I usually don't rock the boat, but you are right why do they make guys not gals shave. You realize it's about egos. If I shaved my head, it would have been destruction of government property and I could have been in trouble. Trust me I do not fall on my sword often.

This is not about comfort for the recruit. It is about quickly and effectively processing the recruit into a useful member of their Service. Men have specific grooming requirements. Women also have specific grooming requirements. They are different for each gender.

For men, the grooming requirement is best met with the "shaved head" treatment. It will take quite a while for the hair to grow back to anything near out of regulations. This leaves more time for training. That's an effective way to deal with grooming for recruits. By the time another haircut is needed, basic training should be complete.

For women, the standards are not nearly so strict. Long hair is allowed; the DOD determined that this would be acceptable for women and therefore rigorous grooming standards (as they might apply to men) do not apply to women; they have their own standards. In this case, the "shaved head" treatment for women does not contribute towards maintaining this standard. Therefore, it is not a requirement.

With all that said, requiring a "shaved head" treatment for both men and women might not be a bad idea, and should be examined (seriously) by the DOD. It could improve comradery between male and female recruits. In addition, while it might not be as critical for women, the "shaved head" look would contribute to effective grooming for women as well.