Shaving waivers for medical conditions have skyrocketed for Air Force airmen and Space Force Guardians over the past three years, allowing more service members to grow beards, according to service data provided to Military.com.
Between 2021 and 2023, the number of active-duty airmen with shaving waivers due to pseudofolliculitis barbae, a skin condition causing frequent and painful razor burn that disproportionately affects Black men, has grown from 10,965 to 18,991, the Department of the Air Force data shows.
The data did not include shaving waivers for religious reasons, which may include Sikhs, Muslims and others who grow beards as part of their faith. Data on those waivers is managed at the local installation level, Master Sgt. Deana Heitzman, an Air Force spokeswoman, told Military.com.
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The increased number of shaving waivers between 2021 and last year was also seen outside of the active-duty Air Force.
Waivers in the Air Force Reserve rose to 1,983 in 2023, up from 1,208 two years prior. The Air National Guard gave out 2,094 waivers last year, up from 958.
Even the Space Force's relatively small number of medical shaving waivers for Guardians nearly doubled just between 2022 and 2023, going from 151 to 288, the data shows. Notably, that service's waivers were not separately broken out from overall…
