I grew a big, bushy beard in the 1990s and was told that “the beard must go” if I wanted to remain on the Theocratic Ministry School. The elders said that it was “regionally determined” and that “we are ultra conservative.” (My folks had been away in Québec for a week, during which I had let my beard grow, and I decided to keep it.) It was in a rather small town.
Meanwhile, a Jamaican brother in the other congregation already had a goatee – and had already been on the ministry school for some time.
When the elders advised me that “the beard must go,” then I actually went to high-end city lawyer’s office and had them courier a very detailed opinion letter to our presiding overseer / coordinator of the body of elders, my dad, and the Canadian branch legal department!
As a result, fortunately for me, the branch office called our presiding overseer and actually told HIM off! According to my dad (a well-known and long-time elder), the Bethel told our presiding overseer to the effect that that is not how we do things. My dad informed me that I had, in effect, won my case!
The very idea that the local elders felt that they could – and should – micromanage every little detail of their congregation’s lives, right down to their dress and grooming, left a most definite and pronounced bitter taste in my mouth – which was to eventually validate and inspire my departure from the Jehovah's Witness sect (at least mentally, for now).