So you want to know what piercings are allowed in the air force? Well, in this video, I’m going to be breaking that down for men and women. So as far as women go, when you’re in uniform, women are allowed to wear earrings. Those earrings have to be less than a six millimeter diameter. And you can only have one pair of earrings in while you’re in uniform, and they have to be in your lower lobe.
So you can’t have piercings up here on your ears or right here, here, or up at the top. Those earrings also have to have a conservative appearance. So a white diamond appearance or silver gold. Those types of colors, nothing crazy, nothing yellow, green, blue, pink. And as far as other piercings go, they’re not authorized if they are visible.
So if you have other piercings that are not visible while in uniform, then you are authorized. Now, there’s two types of piercings that might be visible in uniform but are covered up, and that’s going to be nipple rings and belly button rings. Technically, according to the AFI 36 29, three are authorized if you cannot tell that you’re wearing them through your uniform. So even when you take off your jacket with a t shirt on, if you can tell that you have those types of piercings, then that will not be allowed. But if you cannot tell, then it is allowed.
If they don’t know, they don’t care. But if they can tell that you have it, they’re going to care. As far as out of uniform goes, for women, the only rule is really piercings that cause a hole that a light can be shown through. So, for instance, these, you can’t shine a light through this hole. If you had an industrial bar, you should be able to shine a light through it because it’s a pretty big bar that goes through there.
So with an industrial bar, for instance, you wouldn’t be allowed to wear that out of uniform because it leaves a hole big enough for a light to be shown through when you’re in uniform. So basically, your piercings out of uniform cannot cause a deformity that shows while you’re in uniform. Also, they do stipulate that you can’t have anything that is unprofessional. So I guess that comes up to whatever they want to deem as unprofessional. You’d have to ask your supervision what piercings are authorized before you go get a new one.
Because the last thing you need you to go do is spend money, get a hole pierced into your body, and then have your command tell you you aren’t authorized to do that. But if you’re off duty, my assumption is you’d be able to have multiple piercings on your ears, your tongue pierced, your nose pierced. But when you’re in uniform, those piercings obviously aren’t allowed. Now let’s get on to men while in uniform. This one’s easy.
You’re not authorized any type of piercings. These not authorized in uniform. Now let’s jump into the policy for men out of uniform, and that is the same policy for women out of uniform. Basically, any piercing that doesn’t allow a light to shine through it is an okay piercing, and you have to follow the same guidelines as making sure that it’s not unprofessional again, whatever that means. So always confirm with your chain of command.
But it says that you can wear piercings out of uniform on or off base. If you guys want more information and to dive deep into the dress and appearance afis, which is Air force instructions, that is AFI 36 29 three. We’ll have all your information on how to wear all your different types of uniforms. What’s authorized while in uniform, what’s not if this video helped answer a question that you had, be sure to give this video a thumbs up and click the subscribe button. If you’re new, we post all sorts of Air Force content on this channel to help you better understand what life is like in the Air force.
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