Pete Hegseth bans false eyelashes, certain fingernail polishes

[yardwork]

17. I can give some examples.

Hegseth banned facial hair, which is necessary for the facial hygiene of many men with curly hair. Shaving causes their skin to break out. Some white men are affected by this issue, but most people with tightly curling facial hair are Black or brown.

Many Black women use hair extensions for a variety of reasons, including racist expectations that Black women's hair look "white," i.e., long and straight. As long as those hair extensions are controlled in regulation ways - coiled into a bun, pulled back - it shouldn't matter whether a woman's hair is naturally long and straight or achieved in a salon. But this new policy says it's ok for white women to have naturally long, straight hair, but not ok for Black women to achieve the same look through artificial means.

And so forth. I think the inherent racism in the requirement that manicures be "American" or "French" polish speaks for itself. It's one thing to have a policy that everyone's nails be only X cm long. It's quite another to say this. Why not just say "no polish of any kind?"