Navy Question

That really depends on what she wants. If she gets it cut beforehand she may have some say in what kind of style she gets. If she waits, she will just get the standard recruit haircut. Also if her hair was long enough & she wanted to do anything with it, such as keep it or donate it, she should get it cut beforehand, as she will have no option if she waits. Nevr having been in the military myself, there`s not much more I can say, I hope this helps.

Dear Potato:

Wags is quite correct.........your sister will NOT have to cut her hair, as long as she can demonstrate the ability to put it up in a secure updo........there are several such dos that are very quick and easy to maintain......Dennis

Will she not have to cut it to a certain length during basic training? She`d better check with her
recruiting office. Shouldn`t she get such information from them?

Yes, this is sexist. In the Netherlands, all soldiers can have long hair as long as they keep it
secured in some way.

Duke the training is pretty tense . I can`t understand how anyone would have time for their hair. Personally I don`t care what they do in Netherlands support your country for goodness sakes. Being a soldier in our country is something to be proud of and we have a good reputation in this world. Sorry but this is starting to bug me being a daughter of an army man. I personally find that having long hair in certain hostile environment only causes us to be more victims because the enemy can easily grab us. If you reallly studied what you are complaining about you will notice that women in the army in our country cannot have a certain lenght of hair and men do have some choices in hairstyles.

Well it is very obvious why haircutting wouldn`t be required in Israel, Waggy. Why would you bring that up? It doesn`t belong.
IN everyday life we long hair people get in all kinds of embarrassing and funny situation like slamming the car door and leaving the hair out of the car etc. Filing cabinet, plastic plants grabbing our hair etc. Years ago we had a whole section on these situations and even Karen our webmaster can easilly tell you embarrassing funnymoments. Being a long hair woman myself I know how long hair could easily get in the way of duty.Why do you think that police women have only a certain length of hair? You will never see someone with knee lenght . I seriously can`t see the practicality of crawling around the bush, the woods, avoiding the enemy and fixing the hairbun all the way time and aiming all the same time. I don`t know how many times I can say that I have been caught by branches in the woods and I had a braid in my hair or I was caught because of my bun. We are talking about life or dealth. This is not fun and games. This is not videos games. These are people who have seriously taken their job to save their country seriously and fixing buns and fashions in the bush doesn`t belong. I happen to know lots of females in that sort of field. I`m around them and know what is involved. There is a time and place for everything. I am not going to bother with this any further. Obviously you never had long hair or you would understand. I enjoy wrestling, paint ball shooting and it is tough to just play and have long hair. I We will never agree as I see how obviously it is by experience. There is a reason to laws. It is easy to see that something isn`t neccessary when one never experience the reason to why the law exists.

A fine muddle this thread is becoming! I thought men at least had to cut their hair in Israel, and that
a draftee has decided to challenge this. I thought Canadian women did not have to cut their hair,
but even if it can`t exceed a certain length, it sure can be long enough for a good bun.

Diane, I am VERY proud of our military, and our country, but there is always room for improvement.
Rather than saying hair should be a certain length, why not do the same thing as the Netherlands and
say hair can be any length if it can be held in place. Long hair can be put in a tight bun. (military women do it all the time). And say that you can`t do this and it has to be a certain length, like past the shoulders. Men should have the same right. I find it difficult to believe that wars can be lost just because you`re not required to have GI crewcuts!

I don`t know about policewomen. I think the mounties used to make you have short hair, for men at any rate, but changed the rules because Indians wanted to keep their traditional braids. I`d like to see
that in the Canadian and American military, too. At any rate, crewcuts and buzzcuts are needless, and
as for the idea of everyone being the same, your fatigues are enough for that. The military may
require you taking orders, but it should not treat you like property or a robot. You`re not that, but a
human.

There`s been another thread about flight attendants, and that I don`t understand. That obviously
varies from airline to airline. It`s a wierd world we live in. Too many rules, even though were in the
21st century...

Diane, do you know about the style options for men in the CAF today? Do they have to have crewcuts/buzzcuts or at least tapered cuts? What about facial hair? I saw a picture of an American soldier in Afghanistan today, and he had a mustache and goatee. Kewl! Is this allowed now?

`Xcuse me - but first ??? "posted on 18-Dec-2001 10:04:11 PM
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Reply to message: 21.3176.1
Well it is very obvious why haircutting wouldn`t be required in Israel, Waggy. Why would you bring that up? It doesn`t belong.

What the heck is that supposed to mean - I brought it up because it`s true - and why is it "obvious" - it`s not "obvious" to me. And Pardon me but I`ll decide what I think belongs.

As to my hair - you don`t know me from Adam - and you are wrong to boot.

WoozieWoo - I think you have it on the nose - if it becomes a problem people will take care of it as they see fit themselves. We don`t need regulation imposed by other for situations that don`t have any sense and are there simply as a way of bullying and throwing unnecessary weight at the people. Keep to what is important...wags

oh yeah, if she does choose to cut it, have her do it now, for when she joins any haircuts will be performed quickly and messy, ive heard horror stories.

Yes, I see what you mean, Jennifer, but I must re-iterate, haircuts are not essential to this. How
were wars won before hair was part of the dress code? You can`t force a feeling of unity, you can
just try to stimulate it. At any rate, a basic uniform does this. I don`t care even about, like, the same
color socks, but your hair is a part of your body, even if a renewable one. I don`t want the people
who defend my country to be robots, just well-disciplined.

This attatched to your hair idea is also something that I take issue with. Aren`t you attatched to
the color of your eyes, the length of your members, the shape of your nose etc? Disfigurements
unfortunately do happen, but that doesn`t make people automatically not care about their body. I
don`t care if hair is renewable. It still grows on your body and is part of you. No the army is not a
beauty contest, but it shouldn`t feel a special license to be an uglification process.

I also think this is silly. Military personnel of either sex should act like "people", not like "men". Just
as I think it`s unfair to give female soldiers buzzcuts, so I think, as said above, that men should
be allowed long hair, as long as you put it up.

Fun fact: in the British army, from somewhere in the 18th century until 1809, you had to have long hair which you`d braid and at least on ceremonial occasions, you had to put this sloppy pomade on it and
powder it with flour or something, as if you were a "gentleman of quality". If your hair was not long enough for this, in at least one regiment, you had to acquire an extension the same color as your hair.,
and attatch it. So why don`t we stay away from extremes, and enforce only those hair rules that are
absolutely necessary? :) :D :)

reasons people should shave there head in a combat situation:

1) when in hand to hand combat the enemy can grab your hair and use that to there advantage to help gain more control.

2) When stuck in the woods or at sea for long peroids of time it will help prevent lice from forming and spreading amoungest the group

3) If a fire breaks out you don`t have to worry about you hair going up. Hair is very flamible

4) getting stuck in bushes and trees, gears, machine parts etc...

5) causing the loose of concentration in critical moments. Like falling in the eyes or tickling the face.

Me personally. If were to go into the miltary no matter who, or what I am. I would shave my head for thew reasons above and I would do it before.

The only negative thing I could think as to having a shaved your head would be it would get sunburn.

The only positive thing about having hair is it could be used to make string in a sticky situation, maybe as if it is brown or matches the enviroment it could help camoflage.