Any military women have tips for staying in regs?

[StephieNavyGirl]

I want to get tips/tricks for growing out "the Bootcamp cut" from anyone who may have been there.

My biggest concern is damaging my hair while it is still so short. I want to protect it, but I also have to put it up into a bun everyday.

Do sock buns damage hair?

The Bootcamp cut pros:
- cuts off years of damage
- low maintenance/no need to put it up every day
- less damage from styling products and pins
- sets a distinctive starting point to growing it out
- gives me a new appreciation for long hair.

The Bootcamp cut cons:
- the length is gone.

[SimplyViki]

Psst, it's ok for newbies to post questions in forums other than the newbie board. ;) Love you, Stephie!

[Nat242]

Welcome to LHC!!

Igor has a couple of articles that might be helpful for you. See here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=58) and here. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=76)

I'd say that sock buns are only as damaging as the tools you use. If you use a nice soft "sock" that doesn't snag your hair, if you use a soft, metal free band to secure the ponytail that you start with, and if you use hair friendly pins and clips, I don't think you'll sustain much damage.

[wvgemini]

Hm. Well, I never experienced the "boot camp cut" (the Army didn't make any female get a hircut), but I use the sock bun regularly! And when your hair gets back to long enough, learn how to French braid. A nice, tight braid is always good :)

[Purdy Bear]

Iv not been to Boot Camp, but I know plenty who have. In the Uk, they like the sock bun, but also allow for the nets to be work. Remember to do something with the little halo hairs at the back of the neck, as most military like a clean neck some girls shave this and some wax.

I had one lass ask me how I kept my neck clean, sadly I couldnt help her as it was Alopecia (hair loss).

You might want to check out You Tube as theres tons of stuff on their about military hair and Boot camps.

[SgtMomArmy]

I wouldn't recommend cutting hair. I've done that several times in my career. Growing out layers and hair is difficult while trying to stay in regs. I wear a twisted bun held by 1 scrunchie most of the time and my hair stays secure. Good luck! :)

[torrilin]

Huh, I know female Marines usually don't get their hair cut in a special style, nor Air Force. Looks like this is a mostly Navy thing.

From the Navy's FAQ description, the only thing I'd be able to do after that cut is a very pitiful French braid. It sounds very much like the half ups that I'd do at that length would not pass muster. Slippery hair is not fun to deal with when it isn't even shoulder length. If your hair is not as fine or slippery as mine, you may have more options... but most of the LHC tutorials on coping with short hair are useless for me because they are done by folks who have hair that doesn't slither.

Once I have a fistful of braid, I start being able to do other updos besides a French braid.

[Ravenwaves 88]

I thought I heard somewhere that they weren't doing the NAVY chop anymore on women. I also heard that back in the day it was a tool they used to discourage women from joining too! It may not be true but I could see that being a deterant for women back in those days.

[Aevra]

Welcome to LHC!

If you want to do a sock bun, it won't damage your hair unless you use those hair bands with the metal clasper that keeps it together. While your hair is short enough for there to be little to no remaining hair while using the hair band, I suggest that, but in a little while I suggest you use this method, no hair bands at all (less damaging, if you do it gently).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I13J7ArHTkM

No hair bands, and no hair left over on the sides of the bun. Happy growing!

[haharobots]

Ohh... I wore a pixie for years while I was in the Army. It always looked awful from wearing my beret.

Once it started growing out, I always kept it just above my collar, so that I could still wear it down. And there was this one really mean NCO in my unit that was always giving me a rough time about it, even though it was in regs. Once it got any longer, I'd have to put it up in a ugly little pony stub. :(

I gave up the growing until I was off active duty. Weelllll, looks like I'm no help! I do know lots of girls that got extensions, though, so they could do a proper bun. Also, if you're on a big post, find one of those beauty shops run by the Korean women. They sell these little fake hair "pony stub" covers... (don't know what they're called?). Its like a little cup that looks like a bun, that you pin onto the back of your head.

ETA: Also, wearing corn rows was popular.

[wvgemini]

ETA: Also, wearing corn rows was popular.

Be careful with cornrows. While they are allowed in the Army, every service's regs vary slightly (i.e. black nail polish is okay in some branches since it coordinates with the uniform). Be sure you check out your uniform regs before getting something done to your hair :)

[kjirstiben]

Once your hair grows out a little, you might try doing two french braids and joining them together in the back. It has the benefit of holding more tightly to the layers and fits nicely under a hat. Lots of the women I know defaulted to that hairstyle as their short cuts grew out and they were trying to stay in regs.

Actually, once you get past the awkward stage of growing out, the military is pretty good for growing out your hair... you basically don't have a choice about bunning it and forgetting about it, so you don't get as tempted to experiment with styles!

[Natalia]

Quick question is this "bootcamp cut" a required thing? If so i find that INCREDIBLY offensive of the armed services. They dont make men shave their underarms do they?

[kjirstiben]

Quick question is this "bootcamp cut" a required thing? If so i find that INCREDIBLY offensive of the armed services. They dont make men shave their underarms do they?

I think it's just in the Navy that they do this. All things considered, it's probably a little more fair this way--the other branches shave off guys' hair when they go into training, but women's hair is left alone. Don't get me wrong--I'm glad that the Air Force left my hair intact (it's entirely possible I wouldn't have joined if I knew they'd chop my hair), but it never felt fair that the guys had their heads shaved and I was left alone.

Then again, my training was in Alabama in the spring and my 2c/3a hair spent all its time joyously springing into a halo in the humidity... I got yelled at several times: "OT, What is UP with your HAIR?" until I started wet-gelling it back into a bun for the rest of my time there.

[julya]

I went to Navy OCS and I had to cut into a pixie. The hardest part was growing from pixie until I could put it up. I used bobby pins to hold back short bits, and trimmed frequently. I did a style like a pulled through ponytail with a hair matching hairtie that looked fairly bun-like when my hair got long enough.

Actually, the growing out was hard, and I ended up maintaining the pixie for a year or so. But I did eventually grow it out while I was still active duty.

Happy growing!

[Natalia]

I think it's just in the Navy that they do this. All things considered, it's probably a little more fair this way--the other branches shave off guys' hair when they go into training, but women's hair is left alone. Don't get me wrong--I'm glad that the Air Force left my hair intact (it's entirely possible I wouldn't have joined if I knew they'd chop my hair), but it never felt fair that the guys had their heads shaved and I was left alone.



Then again, my training was in Alabama in the spring and my 2c/3a hair spent all its time joyously springing into a halo in the humidity... I got yelled at several times: "OT, What is UP with your HAIR?" until I started wet-gelling it back into a bun for the rest of my time there.





Hi kjirstiben thanks for the quick reply :). Wow well the only female i know in the navy falls under the naturally "butch" side of the dont ask dont tell so it didnt effect her. But geez is till find it really offensive, i find it just silly for guys since the average male haircut is short enough to be covered by well their covers it shoudlnt matter. I get color like wild purple or something but length? As long as its clean and out of the way why should they care?



Well whatever the policy im glad they left yours be! Im so absolutly beyond not the military type. For goodness sakes they wouldnt take my bisexual, hippie, long haired self anyway :p so why should it matter to me but it does. Dont get me wrong i fully support all branches of our troops just not so much the managment. I dont like that you serve to let people have rights but they take away yours. Ok sorry ranting on something thats none of my bussiness . Anyway thanks again for the reply :)

[maryann]

Hey Steph, although generally speaking hairspray and gel are drying, I use them anyway for going to work since having my hair glued in place makes it a non-issue in terms of straggling hairs falling anywhere that might offend. Apparently the damage isn't significant as my hair is now tailbone length and overall pretty healthy. Maybe you can use spray and gel to get you through the in-between-phases as it grows out?
:heartbeat Mom

[Heidi_234]

To the OP - you weight pros and cons to the bootcamp cut because you have the choice? I've actually remember reading women who joined the military, cut their hair short and said it was a huge mistake because the hair was too long and kept getting messy and in their faces, but too short to be put up/away in any way. They strongly advised against chopping it short, because longer hair is easier to put up and keep neat.

As an aspiring longhair I would definitely avoid cutting it if I could, even though getting rid of all the damage is a very tempting thought. Despite that, I do think long hair is easier to handle, and requires less maintenance if it can be put away. Some people here actually don't wash their hair as a hair care routine, I don't think it gets less low-maintenance than that. :)

I'm not to keen on what exactly the regulations say, but I guess that I can probably keep my hip+ length ii/iii by them easily, and there's room for more. I know there are 2 possible styles to wear - a sock bun and a tucked under french braid.

I kinda outgrown the 'regular' sock bun (the hair that goes around the bun, there's just too much of it), but I can fake it by doing a sockless sock bun (heh you've heard right :laugh:): Leaving some hair out, and coiling the bulk around it as in doing a cunnamon bun. The cinnamon bun serves like a the sock donought, and the remained hair can be spread over it and secured like in a regular sockbun. It comes out looking like a rather small and pityful sockbun, but for purposes of keeping hair in a small neat sock bun it works like a charm. Also, done right, a Giblartar bun can resemble a sockbun a lot, so it's option number two.

And last but not least - the tucked under french braid, which is a great style any way you look at it - and it keeps your hair relatively flat in case you need to wear headgear of a sorts. I think, if it was my hair, I could keep it small and neat for much longer length, so I believe that joining a military doesn't have to come in the journey to beautiful long hair. :D

Whatever you decide - good luck!! You're a very brave person!

[wvgemini]

I find it just silly for guys since the average male haircut is short enough to be covered by well their covers it shoudlnt matter. As long as its clean and out of the way why should they care?


It's about more than fitting under the headgear. If a guy's hair is too long, they risk not being able to get a good seal on the gas mask and it just doesn't look very ... military, lol. I'm pretty sure the shaving at the beginning of Basic Training thing is so the guys won't have to worry about going for a hair cut so often (training schedule and all). Plus, it's just another part of the "break you" part of basic.


To the OP - you weight pros and cons to the bootcamp cut because you have the choice?

I don't think she has a choice. Guess it's a Navy thing. I know in the Army, females can get in trouble if they cut their hair too short/shave their head. We're supposed to maintain a feminine appearance. We had a girl who shaved her head before she arrived. She got yelled at. Daily.

[Heidi_234]

I don't think she has a choice. Guess it's a Navy thing. I know in the Army, females can get in trouble if they cut their hair too short/shave their head. We're supposed to maintain a feminine appearance. We had a girl who shaved her head before she arrived. She got yelled at. Daily.
I'm not 100% sure, but I thunk the OP joined the Navy quite a while ago (nothing that was mentioned in her post though). I assumed that she had a choice also because she was weighting her options regarding the haircut. Besides the fact that women are not allowed to wear their hair in any other style rather than sock buns and tucked under french braids I have very little idea wasn't OK and not OK in the military. :oops: I just thought that the sockless sock bun could be something that women out there could use a lot if they want to grow their hair out while keeping it within the rules, so I wanted to share.

[Tabihito]

I'm not active duty (yet), but I'm a cadet at a senior military college and subjected to most of the same personal grooming rules. Though I don't know any Navy particulars, given that I am Army contract and the school itself is based off of Army regs, it should all be pretty similar.

But basically, it's going to change a lot as your hair grows out. The first thing that's possible is either a really pitiful sock bun (I used a baby sock, cut off the toe, and rolled it up) or a really pitiful French braid. And unfortunately at that point, you're going to have to use rather large quantities of gel and/or hairspray and likely a number of bobby pins. Layers are going to be your biggest problem. Try to position your pins so that they're not in the way of your cover, or you're going to be moving them around when you put it on (which isn't fun). This goes especially for dress whites, because that cover is pretty much death to all attempts to pin your hair.

As it gets a bit longer, hitting shoulder length or more, you get the options of either a better French braid or a sock bun. If you have a blunter cut, a twisty bun may be possible, but they're difficult to keep in. Layers are going to make a twisty bun impossible to keep neat. A French braid usually requires the least effort to keep in, and in my opinion tends to look the nicest. I still wear a sock bun though.

Around BSL, sock buns and French braids become impractical. A sock bun is still possible if you use the method where you roll all of your hair into it, but it's extremely difficult to keep neat; I personally don't know anyone with hair that long who wears a sock bun. French braids just get way too large, and it gets too difficult to tuck the end of the braid under the back of your hair. At this point, you're going to want to switch to a twisty bun of some sort. I've seen two types rather frequently:

The first option is to just put it into a ponytail and twist it around itself, like a cinnabun but very, very neatly. The second is to put it into a ponytail, braid it, and then wrap it around the base of the ponytail, again rather like a cinnabun. The first usually requires upwards of three or four ponytail holders (including the first at the base) to hold in neatly, and the second can be two or three depending on if you tie off the bottom of the braid with one or not. Again, I prefer the second option because it usually looks neater.

Heidi also gave an interesting idea with using the hair itself as a 'sock'. I don't think I've ever seen that done, but then I haven't seen many of the women here with their hair down, so I don't know how long a lot of their hair is.

Most of what I know comes from my experience in the Corps of Cadets, including growing my hair from earlobe length at the start of my freshman year as well as the experiences of the other three girls in my unit, one of which has approximately BSL hair. I'm now a sophomore with hair that's just above APL, wearing it in a sock bun pretty much every day. I have yet to see a lot of damage, but do know that bobby pins are murder if you use them wrong and await the day my hair is long enough to use fewer of them.

Also, sock buns can have some interesting variations if you choose to not roll all of the hair into them. My favorite is dividing the leftover hair in half and braiding them, then coiling the two braids around/under the base of the bun. It looks very neat, holds the hair extremely well without the use of as many bobby pins, and is a neat little feminine touch in an otherwise very masculine uniform.

[Coriander]

The only reasons I cut my hair for Boot Camp were that we only had 2 minutes for showers and it was January in Chicago. :lol: I came out of there with walking pneumonia anyways. I can't imagine having cold, wet hair on top of that. I had about 16" taken off, I think.

Anyways, I WISH I knew about the sock bun back then! Use a nice soft sock or foam form if you can. It's generally a very gentle bun. To hold the bun in place, try metal-free elastics. (I'm sure this has already been mentioned.)

All the best! I did enjoy my short hair until it started getting caught under the collar, and then I came up with various ways to keep it out of the way.

[StephieNavyGirl]

I'm not 100% sure, but I thunk the OP joined the Navy quite a while ago (nothing that was mentioned in her post though). I assumed that she had a choice also because she was weighting her options regarding the haircut. Besides the fact that women are not allowed to wear their hair in any other style rather than sock buns and tucked under french braids I have very little idea wasn't OK and not OK in the military. :oops: I just thought that the sockless sock bun could be something that women out there could use a lot if they want to grow their hair out while keeping it within the rules, so I wanted to share.

I did a poor job of clarifying either way. I did join almot a year ago, and while I had no choice during Bootcamp, I weighed the pros and cons because sometimes it seems easier to keep it short... Maybe also to "look on the bright side" of the fact that my hair was cut so short.

Last year when I joined I cut it before I started training, but I had chosen a style that was "too faddish". When I was told to get it "fixed" at the barber shop, they took too much off and my very short chin-length bob was turned into a disasterous bowl cut at the mid point of my ears. Finally, almost a year later, my hair is just dropping below shoulder length.

I'm so happy to read some of the suggestions. It seems like I've been doing a few things right, and I have some more things to look forward to. Thank you for all of your input/advice.

Just letting any prospective military girls know: yes, the hair cut is mandatory (for now). If you want to get around it, some girls got a weave before leaving and so the barber cut the weave letting their natural hair stay hidden during basic training. Which may sound gross to some people, but if I could do it over again that's what I would do. Another possibility is to just let them cut it. What I did wrong was I had an a-line cut, it was much shorter in the back than in the front, if I had just let them cut it perhaps it would have been a straight cut at my chin.

[wvgemini]

I did a poor job of clarifying either way. I did join almot a year ago, and while I had no choice during Bootcamp, I weighed the pros and cons because sometimes it seems easier to keep it short... Maybe also to "look on the bright side" of the fact that my hair was cut so short.

Last year when I joined I cut it before I started training, but I had chosen a style that was "too faddish". When I was told to get it "fixed" at the barber shop, they took too much off and my very short chin-length bob was turned into a disasterous bowl cut at the mid point of my ears. Finally, almost a year later, my hair is just dropping below shoulder length.

I'm so happy to read some of the suggestions. It seems like I've been doing a few things right, and I have some more things to look forward to. Thank you for all of your input/advice.

Just letting any prospective military girls know: yes, the hair cut is mandatory (for now). If you want to get around it, some girls got a weave before leaving and so the barber cut the weave letting their natural hair stay hidden during basic training. Which may sound gross to some people, but if I could do it over again that's what I would do. Another possibility is to just let them cut it. What I did wrong was I had an a-line cut, it was much shorter in the back than in the front, if I had just let them cut it perhaps it would have been a straight cut at my chin.

Yikes! Good to hear you're well on your way to growing out. Yeah, the 'faddish' thing can be annoying because it is so open to the individuals' perception.
Anyway, go for the sock bun! It's by far the easiest way to do things.
Makes me glad the Army doesn't make enlistees chop off their hair.

[SgtMomArmy]

I wanted to add that my sockless bun with layers is held neatly with 1 scrunchie due to a good coconut oilling from nape on down. :) YMMV

[StephieNavyGirl]

I wanted to add that my sockless bun with layers is held neatly with 1 scrunchie due to a good coconut oilling from nape on down. :) YMMV

I'v used coconut oil before (it works an smells so amazing) but one of my friends pointed out an oily appearance... Is there a way to keep it from looking oily? (it seems like a silly question.)

I began using plain aloe gel to slick back flyaways.

[SgtMomArmy]

The bun is the only part that is oiled. My hair is dark and just looks wet. I've only had one comment on it, and I just said that my hair doesn't dry in a bun. ;) I am a sticker for Army regs and hair. Coconut oil looks less oily on me. EVOO looks too oily. Messy buns drive me nuts. :)

[jlw9222]

Okay, you may have gotten this information already, however, being former Navy AND Air Force, I can absolutely relate to your situation. :) Navy, I believe, is the only branch that makes you cut your hair. Go Navy! ;) It was funny that we would brag about how many pins it took to hold our hair up once it got long enough. When you got to one (large) pin, you'd bragged about it. :) Before you broke that threshold, you curled it into a flip style bob. ;) I remember the tricks well.

I used braids to help keep my hair under control while under the cover. :) I, now, use a side bun to hold my hair. As you know, as long as you don't get too fad-ish, you'll be fine. Pile the bulk of your hair on the bottom not the top. Remember your cover has to fit properly. If you wear a baseball cap, a low bottom or side bun will work. If you wear a garrison cap, you have a little more freedom to wear your wear up a little higher.

While in the military I always kept my hair long because once I was out of my uniform I wanted to make sure it was clear I was female and not too military. Don't get me wrong, I loved being military and miss it very much, I just wanted to maintain my femininity too.

[MsKafka]

I know this post is a few years old, but in case any other military gals stumble across it (AC Navy), when I got the bootcamp cut, the transition kinda sucked getting it to bun (yup, pitiful little sock bun), however once it got about SL, you can do a braided bun (which I then continued up til now). It's simple, especially if you have mostly same length hair:

1.Pull hair back into ponytail
2. Divide ponytail into two sections and braid
3. Wrap braids around each other
4. Tie another hair tie around bun to secure.

I honestly stopped using Bobby pins (always end up with a headache when I used them) because it holds so well.