Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed all of the services to review their hairstyle policies in response to a letter from the Congressional Black Caucus. 
 
 The lawmakers wrote to Hagel on April 10 in response to an online controversy sparked by the Army’s new grooming regulation. 
 
 The revised Army Regulation 670-1, published March 31, bans most twists, dreadlocks and large cornrows — styles predominantly worn by African-American women. Though it’s meant to help make soldiers’ appearances consistent, some black military women have criticized the update as racially biased. 
 
 “I want to assure you that, while none of the Army’s revised grooming and appearance policies were designed or intended to discriminate or disparage against any service members, I take your concerns very seriously,” Hagel wrote in his response, sent Tuesday. 
 
 Hagel also directed the service secretaries and military chiefs to review their respective policies, specifically: 
 
 ■ Each service will review the definitions of authorized and prohibited hairstyles contained in each of their policies and revise any offensive language within the next 30 days. 
 
 ■ During the next three months, each service will review its hairstyle policy “as they pertain to African American women to ensure standards are fair and respectful of our diverse force, while also meeting our military services’ requirements,” Hagel said. 
 
 The results from these reviews will be submitted to Hagel for potential “appropriate adjustments” to Defense Department policy, he wrote. 
 
 In a statement, Rep. Marcia Fudge, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, thanked Hagel for his “thoughtful” response. 
 
 “Secretary Hagel has committed to careful review of each service’s language and grooming policies to ensure both are clear of offensive language and are respectful of the diversity within our armed forces,” Fudge said. “Members of the CBC appreciate Secretary Hagel for his prompt response to our letter and for seriously considering our concerns.” 
 
 In their original letter to Hagel, the women members of the Congressional Black Caucus wrote: “Though we understand the intent of the updated regulation is to ensure uniformity in our military, it is seen as discriminatory rules targeting soldiers who are women of color with little regard to what is needed to maintain their natural hair.” 
 
 They also said that while Army officials have said the regulation applies to all soldiers, regardless of race, references in the rule calling hairstyles worn mostly by black women “unkempt” and “matted” are offensive and show a lack of “cultural sensitivity.” 

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 WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday ordered the American military to review its policies concerning hairstyles popular with black women, telling critics of new Army regulations banning large cornrows, twists and dreadlocks that he takes “very seriously” concerns that military rules on hair have unfairly targeted black women. 
 
 Responding to a complaint lodged by the 16 women of the Congressional Black Caucus, Mr. Hagel said he had given the secretaries and military leaders of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines three months to review comprehensive military regulations as they pertain to black women “to ensure standards are fair and respectful of our diverse force.” 
 
 Mr. Hagel’s order raises the possibility that the Pentagon will go beyond the initial request of the black caucus that he overturn the Army’s new hair rules. Instead of looking only at the new Army regulations, a Pentagon spokesman said, Mr. Hagel is “opening the aperture” on all of the services, which black servicewomen have said for decades have forced them to conform to norms based on the hair of white women. 
 
 Black women have said that a lack of understanding about the roots of black hair is part of the reason for the Army regulations, which went into effect at the end of March. While black hair comes in all textures, much of it is very curly, making it difficult, unless chemically straightened, to pull into a bun or to let hang loose in a neat, uniform way. 
 
 “Members of the CBC appreciate Secretary Hagel for his prompt response to our letter and for seriously considering our concerns,” Representative Marcia L. Fudge, Democrat of Ohio and chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in a statement. She said Mr. Hagel’s response “affirms his commitment to ensuring all individuals are welcomed and can continue to be proud of serving in our armed forces.” 
 
 Mr. Hagel also ordered the military to review the definitions of authorized and prohibited hairstyles and scrub those definitions of “offensive language,” responding to complaints from servicewomen and the women of the black caucus that the Army’s new regulations include the words “unkempt” and “matted” in reference to braids, cornrows and dreadlocks. 
 
 Army officials initially said that the new regulations simply clarified existing ones by specifically describing hairstyles that were prohibited because of a need for uniformity among troops and because of safety concerns. The Army also said those new regulations had been cleared by a focus group that included black women in the Army, but it declined to give their names or make them available for comment. 
 
 The issue generated intense news media interest after several black servicewomen complained about the new regulations, and said they were already going into contortions to meet existing military rules concerning their hair. In particular, some critics were incensed because the new Army regulations prohibited hairstyles that used the soldiers’ natural hair, while largely allowing wigs and hair weaves. For instance, “natural hair is authorized,” an Army statement explaining the regulations said, but only “so long as it meets the standards” of the new regulations. That statement, critics said, implies that there is something wrong with black women’s natural hair. 
 
 “I’m pleased that the secretary responded in such a forthright manner,” said Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, who first brought the issue before the black caucus. But she added, “We have to be vigilant until we have a final conclusion.”
– The military increasingly has abandoned its one-size-fits-all haircut as the face of the American soldier has diversified, but new rules on hair sparked a furor amid concerns that they unfairly restricted black women. Now Chuck Hagel has ordered a review "to ensure standards are fair and respectful of our diverse force," the New York Times reports. The new rules largely barred women from wearing their hair in twists, large cornrows, and dreadlocks, the Military Times notes. But the review is more overarching than just the new Army regulations, the New York Times notes: It will look at existing rules across all military services after years of complaints of racial bias. The review comes after a request by the women in the Congressional Black Caucus. "I want to assure you that, while none of the Army’s revised grooming and appearance policies were designed or intended to discriminate or disparage against any service members, I take your concerns very seriously," Hagel replied. Over the next 30 days, services will review hairstyle definitions and remove offensive language, the Military Times reports; the full review will last three months, with Hagel making "appropriate adjustments" based on the findings.