After a century of requiring shaven faces, the military could be on a path to embracing beards. 

The United Kingdom and Canada have both allowed beards among their troops in recent years. The Canadian government said the change would make grooming standards more inclusive, while the BBC reported the change in the UK was intended to boost recruitment.

A pilot program to allow beards in the Air Force and Space Force was included in a draft version of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. The study would have examined the effect of beards on safety, discipline, morale and inclusivity, according to a news release from Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas), who sponsored the bill.

While the Senate removed the pilot program from the legislation, lawmakers agreed on language that would require the Air Force to present information on beards to the Armed Service Committees of both houses. The committees want to know if beards could be compatible with gas masks, , among other issues. 

The military already grants waivers to services members to grow beards for religious reasons. For example, Sikhs believe beards are an article of faith.

Service members can also get a waiver to have a beard if they have a condition that causes painful bumps in their skin when they shave. A military health survey found more than 1,400 Black service members had the condition in 2022. 

Veasey raised concerns about issue at a hearing this year and asked if those waivers can cause resentment among the ranks toward those who qualify for one. 

“This is obviously a very serious issue,” he said. 

A spokesman for Veasey’s office said this week the congressman would continue to support the proposed pilot program into the future. 

The requirement for shaven faces has it roots in a cultural change around World War I, according to Christopher Oldstone-Moore, a Wright State (Ohio) University professor who wrote a book about the history of men’s facial hair called Of Beards and Men. 

“The shift away from mustaches in the European and American military during World War I was not a result of the gas mask issues,” he said in an email. “It happened independently because mustaches had become unfashionable by 1914, and European militaries finally canceled the mustache requirement.

Shaving for gas masks was beneficial for fitting into masks, but it was not the primary cause for the ban on facial hair, Oldstone-Moore said. Other institutions like businesses, schools, and police and fire departments banned beards around the same time to promote orderly appearance. 

As to the longevity of the requirement, Oldstone-Moore said he thought it was rooted in culture as well. 

“The most valued form of masculinity in the 20th and early 21st centuries has been a disciplined, professional, team-player sort of person, in contrast to the individualist, self-reliant or heroic type,” he said.

Beards and mustaches during the Civil War and after fit into a male ideal that emphasized daring, Oldstone-Moore said. 

The mustache requirement in European militaries began in the Napoleonic era, when units started imitated the flashy Hungarian Hussar cavalry, with its bear-skin hats, colored ribbons, leopard-pelt saddles and long mustaches, he said. 

Oldstone-Moore said he expected the military is headed for a change in regulation, particularly since waivers are already granted for specific reasons. But he expected the military would adopt length and form standards for beards.