CF Hair Regulations - superthread [MERGED]

[jonsey]

For those who get their hair cut short (e.g. high-and-tight, or simmilar, done with the electric clippers), do you have your own set of clippers and do iit yourself, or do you have a barber do it?

I get my hair cut short as often as I can afford (maximum of 2 months between cuts), and I usually get a 5 on top, 3 on sides with the electric clippers. However, I don't know of any barber shop in my area, and the "salons" that I end up going to  charge $15+ for it. I was just wondering if it would be worth it to get a decent set of clippers and doing it myself, or if I should just search for a decent place that doesn't charge a lot?

 

[Bert]

If you're referring to the military and to BMQ, the official response you'll get is that you are not allowed to do it yourself and the barber has to
do it for you while in BMQ.  $8 plus tip per pop. Part of it is that its done as a platoon and a cut per specifications.  After BMQ, if you can do it
yourself correctly, then whos to know.  My girlfriend does mine.

 

[Korus]

London Drugs and $30 - $40 will produce a platoon razor and a backup career in hairstyling for one or two lucky members.

Just don't get caught. In my experience, Barrack haircuts are not allowed on BMQ and SQ.

 

[space_sldr]

Females can also be granted a "transision period" for their hair style. I believe this period is 6 months.

Does this apply to the males too?

 

[Pte. Bloggins]

No. Why would it? The 'transition period' is for females to grow their hair long enough so it can be tied back into a bun, but is still technically below the collar.

 

[Jarnhamar]

I saw a lot of soldiers without mags in their weapons. A few times we mentioned it to people and they would say "Ya i know". or "Won't get an ND this way right? har har"

It's hard to place a finger on it exactly but in the last few years it seems like the dress regs for female hair has got lax. I dunno i just see more and more female soldiers with untidy hair. This summer when visiting friends in petawawa i saw a girl with what looked like dreadlocks that were black and pink.  Another soldier was in the mess with a really sloppy pony tail. I remember seeing a soldier who had pig tails at the back of her head and slowly over the week excersise they moved more and more forward. It was a big joke with her and some of her section buddies but no one seemed to care enough to tell her to fix it.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Yes, females are allowed to have ponytails touching their collars now.  Looks like shit.  I wrote a rocket to the editor of The Maple Leaf to complain that a Navy LS on the cover had a ponytail hanging down - and she was working on machinery at the time!  He wrote back to say he got a lot of similar letters, but the regs now apparently allow it.

 

[beach_bum]

Well, these people must have different dress regs than we have.  I wonder where I can get a copy of those ones?    LOL
I have never seen anything saying that ponytails were okay.  I know that you can wear braids, either a single or two down the back, but they can't be longer than your armpit. 
When it comes to colouring your hair, you are only allowed to dye it a NATURAL colour.  I have seen girls with odd colours as well....and with sloppy hair.  This is not allowed.  :  However, no one seems to stop them.  The story I keep hearing when we have conversations about it, is that people are so afraid of being charged with harrassment if they jack a girl up for the hair do.  I just say....if a guy had hair that didn't meet the standard....wouldn't you say something?  :  Crazy.

 

[ackland]

Well I guess maybe things haven't digressed out there as bad as in ontario. I was speaking with my RSM the other day and he told me that females were allowed to have those CORN ROLLS the tight multy braids that sit agains the scull. Like some rapper or some thing.

I want to find an electronic copy if some one knows were to get it.

 

[kmcc]

This is a topic I've been worrying about. I shaved my head a couple of months ago for charity and donated my hair to locks of love. I want to have to long again but by next summer( hopefully when I'll be going to BMQ) it may not be long enough for all of it to go into a ponytail. at least not a neat one, I'd need 20 bobbypins. I would also have to wear it at the base of my skull because I have really thick hair and it falls down when it's up to high. Will it really hurt me because I cant control my hair?

p.s: if you know anyone planing to cut/shave there hair and its over 10'' please please mention Locks of love to them. its a great charity. It makes wigs for kids that have lost there hair due to cancer and other illnesses. Oh and do any of you think that people would shave there heads for charity?? is there anything like that going on in bases now? I'd like to try and do one for cancer research when I get posted somewhere....or am I just being dumb???  :

Kmcc

 

[PteCamp]

TR
I have an electronic copy of tha hair regs for females, if you pm me with your e-mail address I will be happy to forward it to you. My unit sent it out to all the females.
KaT

 

[CdnGalaGal]

I am with TR on this one.

Relaxing the standard on certain dress regulations for men AND FOR WOMEN (ie hair and earrings) would IMHO certainly degrade the traditional, clean-cut image that is (hopefully) portayed to the Canadian public about the CF.

I'm all for having certain exceptions in dress regs to a point. A guy whose skin is irritated by shaving can grow a beard, Natives with the right to wear a braid, turbans... that's fine. A woman whose bun, single braid, or short hair is kept orderly certainly protrays a cleancut image.

Not to bash other militaries, but one I can think of in particular (Slovakian) seems to me to have no dress regs, or very lax ones, and looks very sloppy to me. I've seen some guys in uniform with goatees, earrings, long sideburns, etc... Of course, they seem to be the exception and not the rule - there are many very clean-cut Slovakian guys out there too...

Anyway, standards of dress for men and for women are not "equal" for a reason. Too many allowances leads to a rag-tag look that is unacceptable for a professional armed forces.

Anyway, must cut this short. My relief is here...

 

[FastEddy]

I am with TR on this one.

Relaxing the standard on certain dress regulations for men AND FOR WOMEN (ie hair and earrings) would IMHO certainly degrade the traditional, clean-cut image that is (hopefully) portayed to the Canadian public about the CF.

I'm all for having certain exceptions in dress regs to a point. A guy whose skin is irritated by shaving can grow a beard, Natives with the right to wear a braid, turbans... that's fine. A woman whose bun, single braid, or short hair is kept orderly certainly protrays a cleancut image.

Not to bash other militaries, but one I can think of in particular (Slovakian) seems to me to have no dress regs, or very lax ones, and looks very sloppy to me. I've seen some guys in uniform with goatees, earrings, long sideburns, etc... Of course, they seem to be the exception and not the rule - there are many very clean-cut Slovakian guys out there too...

Anyway, standards of dress for men and for women are not "equal" for a reason. Too many allowances leads to a rag-tag look that is unacceptable for a professional armed forces.

Anyway, must cut this short. My relief is here...

I think we are not correctly reading "Elizabeth's" point of contension, she is not advocating that Male members of the CF's be allowed to wear ear rings or long hair, but Reg's should read uniformly for both Genders .

That no Special allowances be made concerning PC, social, cosmetic or any other perks for Female members of the CF's. With the exception of any Physical or Biological conditions that might influence her performance .health or duties.

And while you Gentlemen are on the subeject of PC, Turbans, Beards and all that other nice stuff, I'd like to hear your views on CF's Female members of the Muslim faith who might advocate that they be allowed to wear Head Scarves???.

 

[Inch]

Head scarves? I don't know about that.  The common theme within the permissions granted with respect to dress and appearance is that no matter what people wear or how they cut their hair, it all has to be compatible with mission equipment.  IE, you'd be hard pressed to find a guy wearing a turban in a high chemical threat environment since a gas mask won't fit properly over a turban, and no, you don't have time to take the turban off to don your gas mask. The same goes for Kevlar and flying helmets.  For aircrew, no beards since it doesn't work well with the oxygen masks that everybody has with the exception of the rotary community. A good friend of mine that I met in Moose Jaw is a Sikh, he doesn't wear a turban and he cuts his hair short since that stuff won't work with a flying helmet and oxygen mask.

I'm all for people expressing their religions and being a woman, but if it causes problems with wearing mission critical kit, their rights take a back seat to their own and everyone else's safety.

Cheers

 

[pbi]

I cut my hair short. Very short. I like it that way, and I think soldiers look best that way.

But, Elizabeth has raised a very interesting point. If we say that the purpose in having hair regulations is to ensure hygiene and sanitation in the field, and uniformity in garrison, fine. But why do we then turn around and torpedo this rationale by establishig that it is OK for women and others to have different hair lengths?

Either the supporting arguments are valid, or they aren't. If they aren't, it is only a matter of time before we face a court challenge (as we did over obesity and as we feared over PT standards) over hair regulations, which may result in us not being able to enforce any standard at all. Either soldiers need short hair, or they don't. Gender, religion, etc. IMHO  have nothing to do with it.

On the issue of Sikh headdress, I discussed this yesterday with one of the Pakistani LOs that is here. He told me that in their army (and the Indian Army) Sikhs  accept that they cannot wear turbans all the time. If wearing a helmet, respirator, flight suit, firefighter's gear, etc. they wear a very small cloth device like a tiny skull cap. The only time they wear the full turban is in parade dress. They also accept that beards may have to be trimmed to wear respirators, etc. He is a Muslim and pointed out that Islam is also prepared to make certain allownces for military requirements, such as adjusting prayer timings, dress, etc. Hmmm.

Cheers.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

There is also the reality of recruiting and retention, and especially in the Reserves, asking females to cut their hair short would be a step in the wrong direction.  Is this not self-evident?

Allowing long hair on males would create similar morale problems...

 

[pbi]

Micheal: I'm quite obviously in favour of haircuts (and I'm living in Haircut Central right now....) but I'm pointng out an inherent flaw that has often made me wonder how long it will be before somebody calls us on it.

In my opinion, the real value of the haircut is not hygiene at all, but the act of making a physical change to your appearance in order to join a particular group. Sounds like an opinion sociologists and anthropologist would like to pick apart, but there you are. Cheers.

 

[RatCatcher]

The original reason for soldiers have short hair was indeed hygiene.  It made de-lousing quite a bit easier for the precurser of my trade who were responsible for the de-lousing section. Obviously time and hygien levels have changed but there still is a hygiene reason for the short hair (ie one troop gets lice... the rest probably will too).  However with the changing times the har cut has come to be a distinguishing feature of a soldier, during the 80s hair band period you could always tell who was a soldier...

 

[Hansol]

Heres my two cents:

The Roman Legions cut their hair because (at least one of the best explanations I have heard) (1) the enemy you were fighting could not grab a handful of your hair, rip your head back, and slit your throat, and (2) It is way easier to keep clean.

Also, the way i figure it, if you want to become part of an organization, then you should conform to ITS standards, not the other way around. Scream all you want about headscarves, Burkas, turbans, or crosses, but if you want in, then cowboy up and meet the standards. If not, doom on you. Go play in utopia land.

Cheers, Cameron

 

[Jarnhamar]

A while ago a Sikh tried to join my old unit.  HE was removed from the recruit course because he refused to take off his turban during gas drills (Putting on your gas mask). It's unfortinuate to lose him as a recruit but i'm glad the army put their foot down and didn't bend the rules even though the big bad H word was apparently being used.

Regarding hair regs. I don't think saying "Well just because a girl gets to have an earing guys should too!"  That makes sense on some level of equality and I don't really have an argument against it but still. I just hate that whole "Well they did it so can we" because that leads to bad practices.  "That course doesn't have to do (whatever) why do we have to". Once you start on that mentality it's hard to stop. "they look like shit and get away with it, why can't we"

I don't always agree with the dress regs but thats just my little opinion. I think dropping the dress regs to a point where we look like slobs is ridiculas. 
Pride isn't a bad thing. Theres nothing wrong with looking professional, and good.  The soldiers from other countries with big ear rings and goatees or scruffy faces with long hair and filthy boots while in uniform look like slobs.

When i see a fellow soldier looking like a slob I get embarassed and I don't want to be seen near them. Guy or girl.  I don't want to imagine what the public thinks of them, we all know how under the microscope the CF is.  i think a big deal about being a soldier is looking the part and that doesn't include hair down to your feet lip and eye brow rings or blue and green hair.