Doc Jargon: Military haircuts

Photo By Collen McGee | Doc Jargon, cutting through the jargon that is the U.S. Army.  

FORT RILEY, KS, UNITED STATES

01.26.2023

Story by Collen McGee 

Fort Riley Public Affairs Office

Dear Doc Jargon,

My dad keeps getting this ultra-military haircut. I mean, I love the guy but it seriously is embarrassing. All my friends, who don’t have military dads, know it’s him when he picks me up at school and it’s all because of his hair! He calls it a high and tight. Who came up with such a funny name for a haircut?

Signed,

I’ve Got Hair


Dear Hairy,

I can’t tell you the way that particular name for a haircut came about, but I can tell you a little about it and the way military hair grew — or not — over the 243 years that we’ve had an American Army.

The High and Tight is rumored to have started in the 1960s and gained in popularity in the 1980s. It was the most popular for Marines who, after basic training, would get to grow their hair out a little on the top.

But military hair styles weren’t always so short. In fact, the first officers wore powdered wigs. But everyone who was anyone did back then. Well, almost everyone. The first commander of our nation’s Army wore his own hair and tied it back in a ponytail. He did still powder it.

Move forward to 1861. Civil war breaks out and men in uniform sport beards, long and full mustaches, bushy sideburns and all kinds of variations in the hair on top of their heads.

After the Civil War, the frontier was being expanded westward and cavalry Soldiers would wear their hair long, but tied up in a “clubbed” style where it was twisted, folded and tied at the back of the head.

It wasn’t until World War I that shaving was required. The reason — to get a good seal on a gas mask. Hair on top was limited to one inch.

During World War II, the standards continued for much the same reason — but those units in direct combat would often allow hair to grow simply because it was too hard to shave and cut while under direct fire or on a road march.

Now, beards are only permitted for religious or health exemptions and hair again must remain neat and short. And, according to military regulation — no powdered wigs.

So — now you know more than you ever wanted to know about military hair and a little about the High and Tight.

Sincerely,

Doc Jargon

• Date Taken: 01.26.2023
• Date Posted: 01.26.2023 09:27
• Story ID: 437258
• Location: FORT RILEY, KS, US