>>Hair regulations are meant to reinforce uniformity in the military, but many women — specifically Black women — have said that the stringent regulations don't take into account different textures and lengths of hair. >>Earlier this year, Lt. Col. Andrea Peters, a Black instructor at West Point, wrote at Military.com that when she was a cadet, the regulation at the time included a photo which showed "a white woman with her hair uniformly laying down and pulled to the back of her head in a bun." >>"That image reinforced the same European standard of professionalism and beauty that had become mine as a girl; the natural me was not good enough," Peters wrote. >>She said she felt pressured to perm her hair in order to "look professional, 'squared away' and 'beautiful' at the Academy and in the Army." >> For those not familiar with textured hair, specifically a Black woman's hair, this means I was rushing to straighten my hair with a home no-lye relaxer made of calcium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide as the active ingredient," Peters wrote. "The relaxer burns the scalp, often leaving sores or irritated, tender skin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The United States Military being composed of United States Citizens makes it just as prone to demographic collapse.