High school baseball players in Japan sporting shaved heads are no longer the norm in a clean break from past tradition, according to a new study. In fact, nearly three-quarters of high school baseball teams no longer mandate the clean-shaven cut as an increasing number of schools break from the strict rules and discipline that were once a part of school athletic culture. Although 26.4 percent of high school baseball teams still instruct their members to shave their heads in 2023, the figure dropped sharply from the 76.8 percent in 2018. Compared with 2018, teams that allow students to have a crew cut increased from 8.9 to 14 percent while those with no haircut rules jumped to 59.3 percent, up from 14.2 percent.