Can Muslim women cut their hair short?

A bob for the summer, a pixie cut after years of long hair, a trim after childbirth, a fresh start after an illness: many Muslim women want to know whether cutting their hair short is allowed. A Muslim woman may cut her hair to any length she likes. The wives of the Prophet ﷺ themselves wore their hair short, and the scholars drew the ruling from their example. Hairstyle, like much of dress, follows the custom (ʿurf) of each place and time.

Can Muslim women cut their hair short in Islam?

Abu Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, one of the great scholars of Medina, visited Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) to ask about the Prophet’s ﷺ bath, and he recorded a detail about the Mothers of the Believers:

«وَكَانَ أَزْوَاجُ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَأْخُذْنَ مِنْ رُءُوسِهِنَّ حَتَّى تَكُونَ كَالْوَفْرَةِ»

“The wives of the Prophet ﷺ used to cut their hair until it was like a wafra.”

Sahih Muslim 320

The wafra (وفرة) is hair that falls to the earlobes: a short cut by any standard. Imam al-Nawawi (d. 1277), commenting on this report in his Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, wrote that it is evidence that women may shorten their hair. He relayed the suggestion of Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ that the wives did this after the Prophet’s ﷺ death, when they had set aside adornment, to lighten the care of long hair. Either way, the women whom the Quran calls the mothers of the believers wore their hair cut to the ear, and the Companions saw nothing wrong in it.

The Prophet ﷺ also said, “Whoever has hair, let them honor it” (Sunan Abi Dawud 4163, graded hasan sahih by al-Albani). Honoring hair means keeping it clean, combed, and cared for, at whatever length a person chooses.

Does short hair make a woman resemble men?

Ibn ʿAbbās reported that the Prophet ﷺ cursed men who make themselves resemble women and women who make themselves resemble men (Sahih al-Bukhari 5885). The commentators explained this as taking on the dress, adornment, and manner that a society reserves for the other sex. What a society reserves changes from place to place and from one century to the next, which is why the jurists measured it by custom.

Short hair today belongs to women as much as to men. Women in every Muslim country wear bobs, layers, and pixie cuts that are recognized everywhere as women’s styles, and a woman wearing one is seen as a woman. The Mothers of the Believers wore their hair to the earlobe, a length many men of Medina wore too. A haircut chosen for beauty, comfort, or health is a woman’s own decision. For the parallel question about men, see Can Muslim men have long hair or braids?

Can women cut their hair in Hajj and ʿUmra?

Cutting the hair is itself an act of worship at the end of the pilgrimage. The Quran describes the believers entering the Sacred Mosque:

مُحَلِّقِينَ رُءُوسَكُمۡ وَمُقَصِّرِينَ لَا تَخَافُونَ

“With heads shaved and hair shortened, without fear.”

Quran 48:27

The Prophet ﷺ gave women their own form of the rite:

«لَيْسَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ حَلْقٌ إِنَّمَا عَلَى النِّسَاءِ التَّقْصِيرُ»

“Women are not required to shave; for women there is only shortening.”

Sunan Abi Dawud 1984

A woman gathers her hair and cuts about a fingertip’s length from the ends. The rites of the pilgrimage are explained in What is Hajj?

Can women cut their hair during their period?

Yes. Some later books advised against cutting hair or nails while in a state of major impurity, or told women to keep the cut hair and wash it later. No verse or sound hadith says this. Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) wrote in his fatwas that he knew of no evidence in the sharia for disliking it. A woman on her period may cut, trim, dye, and style her hair as on any other day.

Shaving the head for chemotherapy, alopecia, or lice is permitted by every view, and is cared for with the same tenderness as any treatment. A report that the Prophet ﷺ forbade women to shave their heads (Jami’ al-Tirmidhi 914) has a weak chain. Al-Tirmidhi noted that its transmission is inconsistent (muḍṭarib) and placed it among the rites of Hajj, where the scholars hold that women shorten their hair instead of shaving (Jami’ al-Tirmidhi 915).

What else can Muslim women do with their hair?

• Color it. Dyeing hair is halal in every color; see Is it haram to dye your hair?
• Style it. Braids, curls, straightening, and layers are matters of taste.
• Cover it or uncover it. Covering the hair is a woman’s own choice; see Is hijab mandatory?
• Add to it. Extensions and wigs are discussed in Are hair extensions haram?

A closing word

Allah describes the care with which He made every human being:

وَصَوَّرَكُمۡ فَأَحۡسَنَ صُوَرَكُمۡ

“He shaped you, and made your forms beautiful.”

Quran 64:3

Cut your hair short or let it grow long, and look in the mirror with gratitude to the One who made you beautiful.