The U.S. Navy says it will implement new grooming standards for women as a means of creating a more “inclusive” fighting force.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and Chief of Naval Personnel Adm. Robert Burke announced this week that women will be permitted to sport ponytails and locks while in uniform. The new standards expands the possible styles for female servicemembers from braids, buns and cornrows.

“I asked a team to come together and help us think through some things,” CNO Adm. Richardson said Tuesday during an “All-Hands Call” Facebook evenet. “What sort of recommendations do they have if they could sort of be CNO for a day? … All of this really is, again, to allow us to be … much more inclusive inside our team.”

There will be, however, some working situations when the new styles still are prohibited, USA Today reported Thursday.

Locks for women gained approval in the Army and Marine Corps in 2015, the newspaper added.

The announcement can be found shortly after the 32-minute mark in the embedded presentation.

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.