The U.S. Navy announced on Wednesday that it will allow servicewomen to wear different types of hairstyles, including ponytails and locs, the Associated Press reports.
What We Know:
- Black women have long requested for changes in the Navy’s rules about hair for female servicemembers.
- The policy, which went into effect on Wednesday, was announced by Yeoman First Class LaToya Jones on a Facebook Live event on Tuesday, according to the AP.
- Locs, braids and twists, which are described as “ropelike strands,” by the AP, and wider hair buns are now allowed. Ponytails can also be worn while in uniform.
- The Navy is aiming for a more inclusive environment Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson told the AP.
- The Marines approved natural hairstyles in 2015, according to the Marine Times, and the Army, approved its own measure in 2017, per the Army Times.
