Hey, what’s up, everybody? It’s me, Casey Grayson. And I’m here because I want to tell you about the shaving standards that apply to men in the United States Air Force. So let’s get right into it. So one of the first things that people have asked me is, hey, you got a little stubble.
You don’t have to shave. Well, yes, you do, and I’m going to explain all of it to you, so you have all the knowledge that you need. When you first get to BMT, basic military training mean everybody has to shave unless you have a religious waiver, which is basically like a religious exemption. So pretty much everyone you see, even if you have ingrown hairs like me, folliculitis Barbay is its clinical medical term. You still have to shave.
So when you get to BMT, if you have problems with a razor bumps or razor burn, talk to your MTI. They might send you to go see the IDMT, the independent duty medical technician. You still have to shave, but they’ll teach you some things you can do to help. And the thing that was helpful for me is I talked to my MTI, and they actually let me use my electric razor. Not clippers, but just like an electric trimmer.
That really helped. Okay, so once you get out of BMT and you finally have earned your stripes, you’ve earned the right to be able to call yourself airman or airwoman in the United States Air Force. Then you’ve got some more options. Okay. So as soon as I got into medic school, I actually went and talked to one of the doctors, and I was able to get a shaving waiver.
Initially it was for 90 days, and then it got extended to a year, and basically he was able to see that I have ingrown hairs. So pretty much once you get into the operational air force, the only hairstyles you’re allowed to have, if you don’t have a religious waiver, or if you don’t have a shaving waiver, you’re allowed to have a mustache. So we can’t really go over the edges of your lips. And that’s about it. Unless you’re a member of orthodox Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, or paganism, then you are allowed to have a beard.
Now, if you’re not a member of those four religions, what you’ll have to do is basically, you’re just going to have to shave, have the mustache. However, getting a shaving waiver, I have to carry it around with me all the time, and technically, I’m not allowed to have hair that’s over a fourth of an inch now. No one’s come up to me and taken a ruler and tried to measure how long my facial hair is, but I have had some people ask me, hey, do you have a shaving waiver? I pull it out, give it to them. I also took a picture of it on my phone, but literally, I just have the hard copy of me whenever I’m on duty.
Most people don’t ask. Most people just assume if you got stubble, you have a shaving waiver. Obviously, if you have a full grown beard, they’re going to expect that you have some type of religious waiver. But mere supervisors, they will ask. So it’s good to have it.
So that pretty much explains what the shaving regulations are. This is obviously for men. For women, there are different regulations. I’m going to find out. I’ll make a video about that.
But yes, you do have to shave. And for me, what I do is I trim it. And that’s another thing with shaving waivers, I can’t have a sculpted look, so it has to be even all the way around. So if I wanted to trim it up a little bit or shape it up or go to the barber, can’t do it. And I’ve seen other people with shaving waivers kind of get scrutinized on that.
So you pretty much just have to take, I just take an electric trimmer and I just like once a week keep it short. I try to keep it obviously clean, professional. So I just try to keep it like shorter stubble. But yeah, there have been times where it’s grown out a little bit. So I hope that explains the standards for shaving in the United States Air Force.
If you guys have a question, leave a comment below. I love reading you guys comments. I’ll get back to you and help out as much as I can. Also give this video a, like, share it with people and hey, I’ll see you guys soon.