Norway’s male soldiers allowed ponytails

 

The new rules follow complaints from a male officer that while female soldiers were allowed to keep their hair in a loose braid or ponytail, man with longer hair had to gather it into a knot or hair net. 

 

Jan Eirik Finseth, the defence chief of staff, confirmed to Dagbladet that "the disputed wording has been changed to a gender-neutral form in the upcoming revision of the regulations."

 

Vegard Utne, from the department of defence's culture and tradition department, said he did not expect significant changes as a result of the revision. 

 

"I do not think it was hair that stopped people from wanting to enter the military before, but I can well understand why someone would want to keep the ponytail when they are here." he told the newspaper. 

 

In a sense, the regulations are a return to an older tradition.  A short ponytail or 'queue' was practically mandatory for military men across Europe until the early 19th century.