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@justdoit19 I am very disappointed. I consider it a rite of passage, and I will cut mine anyway. I heard USNA decided to stop because the other services have, and because they do not want less females to apply to USNA because of the haircut (which is ridiculous because you shouldn’t be going to a place like USNA if you are mad about a haircut!)

how short are you cutting it? do you have straight(ish) hair? being able to pull it up in a bun or a ponytail while running and crawling through the sand is helpful, Id imagine.
 
@justdoit19 I am very disappointed. I consider it a rite of passage, and I will cut mine anyway. I heard USNA decided to stop because the other services have, and because they do not want less females to apply to USNA because of the haircut (which is ridiculous because you shouldn’t be going to a place like USNA if you are mad about a haircut!)

how short are you cutting it? do you have straight(ish) hair? being able to pull it up in a bun or a ponytail while running and crawling through the sand is helpful, Id imagine.

My DD was told at CVW that she wouldn’t have to cut it and she was thrilled. She is a dancer and has mastered a 10 second bun and thinks it would be so much easier to wear in braids or a bun. When she first started talking about USNA, I mentioned having to chop off her hair and the horrified look on her face was priceless. :eek: As much as she loves her long locks though, cutting her hair wouldn’t be a deal breaker. Will NASS give her an idea of how difficult/easy it is to manage long hair?
 
My DD was told at CVW that she wouldn’t have to cut it and she was thrilled. She is a dancer and has mastered a 10 second bun and thinks it would be so much easier to wear in braids or a bun. When she first started talking about USNA, I mentioned having to chop off her hair and the horrified look on her face was priceless. :eek: As much as she loves her long locks though, cutting her hair wouldn’t be a deal breaker. Will NASS give her an idea of how difficult/easy it is to manage long hair?

It will in a sense....but it wont be AS hot. Or AS stressful. Or AS time crunched. Or AS dirty. As plebe summer. But that’s what NASS is designed to do, give a look into plebe summer. You can look at YouTube videos to get a glimpse.

I suspect, that many who don’t cut it before or on IDay, will at their first barber visit. Honestly whatever is easiest/fastest will be preferred.
 
My DD is a mid. So I understand girls/women and the sensitivity about hair. It’s more vital to their identity than it is for men. (Gosh, I hope that doesn’t come off sexist. Bald guy talking here.)

Important to remember that, as a midshipman and then commissioned officer, the mission and the team come first. When the sh!t is hitting the fan — whether in plebe summer or in the fleet or in the Corps — personal vanity takes a back seat to serving those under your direct care. And that may mean you do not have even 10 seconds to fix that bun.

During plebe summer, no one gives a diddly what their shipmates look like. The seven weeks are filled with unflattering fashion — from white works to ill-fitting swimsuits to grimy blue rims to BCD goggles. But plebes do give a diddly whether their shipmates help get the job done.
 
On I day -1, while walking around town we saw lots of boys and wondered if they were headed to the Yard. Almost every girl we passed we could tell by the chin length bob. They also gave a nod to DD as we passed them. The secret, "I'm with you, sister". I enjoyed observing the instant bond between them. I guess you just won't know going forward.
 
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@justdoit19 I am very disappointed. I consider it a rite of passage, and I will cut mine anyway. I heard USNA decided to stop because the other services have, and because they do not want less females to apply to USNA because of the haircut (which is ridiculous because you shouldn’t be going to a place like USNA if you are mad about a haircut!)

how short are you cutting it? do you have straight(ish) hair? being able to pull it up in a bun or a ponytail while running and crawling through the sand is helpful, Id imagine.

I have straight hair, and I’m going to go for the chin length cut. The last thing I want to worry about during PS is my hair, and I’m not skilled enough to do buns during PS!
 
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Of course men's hair will always come back just as it was before. . .

I wonder if its too late to file a claim that my ever increasing bald spot is the result of Tracy's zealous I-Day barbering ?
(Kinda inside joke, Tracy was a long time USNA barber who was well known (infamous) for his hair styling ... you had one choice, high and tight !
THAT'S MISTER TRACY TO YOU MISTER UMPTEEFRAATZ!
 
Last year at I-Day, I saw an incoming female Mid getting on the bus at the stadium, with a burr cut. Practically bald.
She rocked it, and she looked great.

I asked her why, and she said that it was "one less thing to worry about during Plebe Summer". She was B.A.
 
One of our sponsor daughters arrived with a clipped-sides boy cut, kept it that way the whole time at USNA. Looked great on her, and she happily dressed in jeans, tees and boots as well as short skirts and heels. She went Marine air, is a B.A. helo pilot and has always been self-confident and knows exactly who she is. Her hair doesn’t define her, and she carries herself so well, it’s just part of her.
 
Wow,

I got busy for a few days and came back to the great hair debate.

Most of the girls I have talked to at the academy think it's stupid they don't have to cut their hair anymore. You don't understand until you go through plebe summer that your hair will be wet all the time. Wet from sweat, swimming, and showers. It never seemed to get dry except on Sundays when we had a few hours to relax. Heck, they didn't even issue us a hairbrush so our hair was wet and knotty the whole summer. But that was part of it and it was one less thing to deal with. I think girls who keep their hair long are going to have a very hard time with it over the summer. I highly recommend that you just do the plebe chop.

As a detailer, I am going to be especially strict with my girls over hair. If they can not keep it up and neat I will take them to get it cut. They are not going to get any extra time to do time hacks just because they have long hair.
 
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If they can not keep it up and neat I will take them to get it cut.

You are not going to be able to do that. You as a detailer will not have the authority to order than to have their hair cut.

You can correct them all day long and make sure their hair is within regs, but you can't change grooming regs as a punishment.

You'll get a lot more training on this stuff before plebe summer. The academy will do you a really good job of teaching you what is and isn't allowed.
 
If they can not keep it up and neat I will take them to get it cut.

You are not going to be able to do that. You as a detailer will not have the authority to order than to have their hair cut.

You can correct them all day long and make sure their hair is within regs, but you can't change grooming regs as a punishment.

You'll get a lot more training on this stuff before plebe summer. The academy will do you a really good job of teaching you what is and isn't allowed.

This is true, but if a plebe is consistently not making time hacks because she can't get her hair up in a proper bun, she will likely feel a lot of pressure to go down and get it cut. The detailers this summer are going to be extremely hard on hair regs and will show no sympathy when longer hair slows some down. With this intense scrutiny and the peer pressure from fellow plebes after not making time hacks, I think many will opt to just get it cut at some point during the summer.
 
You are not going to be able to do that. You as a detailer will not have the authority to order than to have their hair cut.

Nemo..if i recall correctly, prior posts suggest that you are, or were, a Midshipman, so I will not pass this statement off as simple naivety. You are absolutely correct, a Detailer cannot order a Plebe to do something that is against policy. That said, if any Plebe's hair (m or f) becomes an issue, the Detailers certainly have ways to deal with it. There would also be a significant amount of pressure from said Plebes peers, as they will also feel the Detailer's dissatisfaction. Plebe summer is not the time to be asserting individuality, or rights. Woe to the young Plebe who tries to tell their Detailer their "rights" ...lol..

Bottom line, if you are squared away and can handle the rigors of Plebe Summer with long hair...more power to you ! If you can't, or it becomes an issue, cut it voluntarily. Hair shouldn't be the hill you are willing to die on.
 
So are females allowed to get a buzz cut before plebe summer? There is no minimum hair requirement? For the last like 3 years in CAP I’ve cut my hair as short as regulations allow, which is that it has to be at least one inch long and can fade to 1/4 inch on the sides and the back. But I’ve always wanted to get a buzzcut, so if I’m allowed I will. My hair is really thick and grows quickly, so even when it’s very short it’s kind of annoying to deal with since it sticks out in all directions.
 
Nemo..if i recall correctly, prior posts suggest that you are, or were, a Midshipman, so I will not pass this statement off as simple naivety. You are absolutely correct, a Detailer cannot order a Plebe to do something that is against policy. That said, if any Plebe's hair (m or f) becomes an issue, the Detailers certainly have ways to deal with it. There would also be a significant amount of pressure from said Plebes peers, as they will also feel the Detailer's dissatisfaction. Plebe summer is not the time to be asserting individuality, or rights. Woe to the young Plebe who tries to tell their Detailer their "rights" ...lol..

Bottom line, if you are squared away and can handle the rigors of Plebe Summer with long hair...more power to you ! If you can't, or it becomes an issue, cut it voluntarily. Hair shouldn't be the hill you are willing to die on.

I've done quite a bit with plane summer and have the t-shirts to prove it (even the red one from post-graduation TAD). Plebes are certainly going to be held to the standard for grooming regs, but no one from detail or the staff is going to pressure them to cut it short.


I think everyone is over thinking this, big Navy has had these rules at boot camp and OCS for years now. Girls who can't keep their hair in regs are going to be corrected just guys who can't keep their shave in regs. It's really not something to worry about going into the summer.
 
So are females allowed to get a buzz cut before plebe summer? There is no minimum hair requirement? For the last like 3 years in CAP I’ve cut my hair as short as regulations allow, which is that it has to be at least one inch long and can fade to 1/4 inch on the sides and the back. But I’ve always wanted to get a buzzcut, so if I’m allowed I will. My hair is really thick and grows quickly, so even when it’s very short it’s kind of annoying to deal with since it sticks out in all directions.

https://www.usna.edu/UniformRegs/Chapter5-GroomingStandards/personal-appearance.php


Just be within those standards and you will be fine.
 
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