This article by Todd South originally appeared on Military Times, the nation's largest independent newsroom dedicated to covering the military and veteran community.

The Army has updated its grooming policy on facial hair, now requiring soldiers with nonreligious exemptions to be supported by a medical profile and memo from their chain of command.

The update reinforces the requirement that soldiers be clean-shaven when in uniform or in civilian clothes on duty, with temporary exemptions for medical reasons and permanent exemptions for religious accommodations, according to an Army release.Soldiers who require exemptions must also maintain presentable copies of their required documents when in uniform or in civilian clothes on duty. That applies to both temporary medical exemptions and permanent religious exemptions.