Good Days and Bad Days to Cut Your Hair: The Four Rules That Decide Any Date

The good days to cut your hair are waxing moon days with the moon in Leo, Virgo, Taurus, Aries or Sagittarius, on a date the Chinese almanac has not marked inauspicious. The bad days are the new moon, the moon in Pisces or Cancer, eclipse days, and any date your split ends cannot wait for.

There is no single good day to cut your hair. Four separate systems each nominate different days, and once you can see all four, you can judge any date yourself in about two minutes.

Most people arrive here through a monthly calendar, follow the dates, and never learn where the dates came from. That works until the month ends, or until two calendars disagree, which they frequently do. What follows is the method underneath every calendar we publish.

Is today a good day to cut your hair?

Ask four questions in this order and you will have an answer in under two minutes.

1. Do your ends need it? If the ends are splitting or the shape has collapsed, today is a good day, whatever the moon is doing.
2. Waxing or waning? Waxing for length. Waning, or the full moon itself, for thickness and hold.
3. Which sign is the moon in? Leo, Virgo, Taurus, Aries and Sagittarius are the working days. Pisces and Cancer are a soft no.
4. Is the date marked inauspicious? The Chinese almanac runs on its own calendar and sometimes rejects a date every lunar calendar loves.

A date that clears all four is a strong day. Three is a good day. Below are the dates that clear at least three for the two months ahead, computed here from the moon's phase and the moon's sign rather than copied from another calendar. Both full moons are listed separately, because the full moon is the traditional peak for thickness but 24 December falls with the moon in Cancer, which the sign rule marks avoid. That is the two rules disagreeing, and you get to pick.

Month	Best for length (waxing, strong sign)	Best for thickness and hold (waning, strong sign)	Avoid
November 2026	10, 11, 12 (Sagittarius), 20, 21 (Aries), 22, 23 (Taurus)	1, 2 (Leo), 3, 4, 5 (Virgo), 28, 29, 30 (Leo)	9 (new moon), 18, 19 (Pisces), 26, 27 (Cancer)
December 2026	18, 19 (Aries), 20, 21 (Taurus)	1, 2 (Virgo), 26, 27 (Leo), 28, 29 (Virgo)	9 (new moon), 15, 16, 17 (Pisces), 24, 25 (Cancer)

The full moon is 24 November at 14:53 UTC with the moon in Gemini, and 24 December at 01:28 UTC with the moon in Cancer. The new moons, the traditional rest days, are 9 November at 07:02 UTC and 9 December at 00:51 UTC. For the full month mapped day by day, the November 2026 lunar hair calendar has every phase with exact times.

The Calendar, Each Month Next month's dates, in your inbox. Before each month begins I send the best days to cut, to oil and to rest your hair. One letter from Bali. Nothing else. Send Me the Calendar

Whatever date you land on, the hours after a cut are worth protecting. I am Myrah Penaloza, a designer and Kundalini Yoga teacher in Bali, and the Tea Ceremony Suka Set is cut and sewn by our artisan families in 100% cotton muslin for exactly that kind of unhurried afternoon.

Rule one: the moon phase decides growth or thickness

This is the oldest of the four, and the one behind almost every lunar hair calendar you will find.

The waxing moon, the roughly fourteen days from new to full, is traditionally used when you want length, because the light is increasing and the tradition holds that hair cut here returns faster. The waning moon, from full back to new, is used for the opposite: slower regrowth, a shape that holds, denser texture rather than more length. Growing out a fringe, cut waxing. Protecting a shape you love, cut waning.

The full moon itself is the traditional peak for thickness and volume. The new moon is treated as a rest day, better suited to oiling and scalp work than scissors. Our guide to cutting for growth by moon phase covers this axis in full, and the 2026 lunar hair calendar maps every phase for the year.

Rule two: the moon sign decides what kind of growth

The moon moves through a sign roughly every two and a half days, and this layer separates two dates that share the same phase.

In the tradition, the fire and earth signs are the working days. Leo is the classic day for volume and body. Virgo suits a cut that has to look precise and stay precise, such as a blunt line or a fringe trim. Taurus is associated with strength and shine, Aries and Sagittarius with speed of regrowth.

Pisces and Cancer are most often marked avoid, because water signs are associated with softness rather than structure, and a cut made in them is said to lose its shape quickly. In the two months ahead this rules out 18 and 19 November and 15, 16 and 17 December, when the moon sits in Pisces, and 26 and 27 November and 24 and 25 December, when it sits in Cancer.

To be honest about its status: this layer is astrological tradition, not measured biology. No clinical evidence shows that the moon's position in the zodiac changes how hair grows. It is a scheduling framework with a long history, which is a different thing from a proven mechanism.

What does the Farmers' Almanac say about the best days to cut hair?

The Farmers' Almanac and the Old Farmer's Almanac both publish Best Days tables for cutting hair, and here is the part most people get wrong: those tables read the moon's sign, not the moon's phase. They are rule two, not rule one. Someone following an almanac and someone following a lunar phase calendar are using two different systems and will often land on different dates.

Each almanac keeps two separate lists. One names the signs it considers best for a cut you want to grow back quickly. The other names the signs it considers best for discouraging growth, which is the list to use for a shape you want to hold. The two almanacs do not use identical sign lists, which is one more reason two calendars can disagree about the same Tuesday.

We do not reproduce either almanac's table here, because those lists belong to them and they revise them. What we can give you is the input they run on, which is the moon's sign for every date. That is in the table above, and mapped in full in our guide to cutting for growth by moon phase.

Rule three: the feng shui almanac decides luck, not biology

The third system is entirely separate from the moon phase, and confusing the two is the most common mistake we see.

The Chinese almanac, the source behind the WOFS haircut calendars people search for by name, works on the Chinese lunar calendar and assigns each day of the lunar month a fortune reading for hair cutting. Some days are marked as bringing wealth or longevity. Others are marked as inauspicious. It does not care about waxing or waning at all. It is a luck calendar, not a growth calendar. We have written a full explainer on what WOFS actually is and where these days come from, and the current month is mapped in the November 2026 feng shui haircut calendar.

The almanac also carries whole periods to avoid, most famously the seventh lunar month, known as Ghost Month. If a date is loved by every lunar calendar and rejected by every feng shui one, this is why.

Rule four: your own hair overrules all three

Hair grows at an average of about one centimetre a month, and that rate is set by genetics, health, nutrition, thyroid function and age. No calendar changes it. What a well-timed cut genuinely does is remove damage before it travels upward, which is why hair trimmed on schedule looks longer over a year than hair left until the ends split.

So: if your ends are splitting, cut this week, whatever the moon is doing. A perfectly timed cut six weeks too late still leaves you shorter than an untimed cut made on time. Timing refines good care, it does not replace it. If your hair needs attention but not scissors, our guide to washing, oiling and resting by lunar phase is the better place to start.

Which day of the week is good to cut your hair?

This is a fifth tradition, and it runs on the week rather than on the moon, which is why no lunar calendar shows it. In Hindu custom, hair cutting is widely avoided on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and in many families also on the new moon and the full moon. Wednesday and Friday are the days most often named as favourable.

Note what that does to rule one. The lunar tradition treats the full moon as the peak for thickness and volume. The weekday tradition avoids it entirely. Both are tradition, neither is measured biology, and when they collide the one you were raised with is the one that will sit right with you.

Say plainly what this system is: religious and regional custom, not a growth rule, and the list genuinely varies by family, by region and by lineage. Two households an hour apart will give you two different answers and both are correct inside their own practice. If your family keeps these days, keep them. They override everything above, because a cut you feel uneasy about is not a good cut.

Two more questions that belong to this tradition rather than to the moon. Cutting hair at night is avoided in several customs, usually on practical grounds that predate electric light. Cutting on your own birthday is discouraged in some and encouraged in others. Neither has any measured effect on how hair grows.

How to check any date in two minutes

Take the date and ask four questions in order.

First, is your hair ready? If the ends are splitting or the shape has collapsed, stop here and book. Second, what do you want more of, length or body? Length means look for a waxing day. Body means look for waning, or the full moon itself. Third, what sign is the moon in? Prefer Leo, Virgo, Taurus, Aries or Sagittarius, and treat Pisces and Cancer as a soft no. Fourth, if you follow the almanac, check whether that date is marked inauspicious, and check whether you are inside a period to avoid.

A date that clears all four is a strong day. Three is a perfectly good day. Hold out for four every month and you will sometimes wait a very long time, and rule four will quietly overrule you anyway.

Common Questions About Good and Bad Days to Cut Your Hair

What are the best days to cut your hair? The best days are waxing moon days in a fire or earth sign that are not marked inauspicious in the Chinese almanac. Cut on a waxing day for length, on a waning day or the full moon for thickness and hold, and prefer Leo, Virgo or Taurus for the cut itself.

What are the worst days to cut your hair? New moon days, days when the moon is in Pisces or Cancer, eclipse days, and any date the almanac marks as inauspicious. The new moon is traditionally a rest day for hair rather than a cutting day.

Is today a good day to cut my hair? Check whether the moon is waxing or waning, which sign it is in, and whether the almanac flags the date. Then check whether your ends actually need cutting, which overrules all three.

Does cutting hair on a full moon make it grow faster? There is no scientific evidence that it does. The full moon is traditionally associated with thickness and volume rather than speed, and the waxing days before it are the ones associated with faster regrowth. Both are tradition, not measured effect.

Why do lunar and feng shui haircut calendars disagree? Because they measure different things. Lunar calendars follow the moon phase and are about growth. Feng shui almanac calendars follow the Chinese lunar month and are about fortune. A date can be good in one and poor in the other.

How often should I cut my hair? Every eight to twelve weeks for most hair types, and every six to eight weeks for a short or precise shape. Pick the best date inside that window rather than stretching the window to reach a perfect one.

Which day of the week should you not cut your hair? In Hindu custom, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are the days most widely avoided, and many families also avoid the new moon and the full moon. Wednesday and Friday are the days most often named as favourable. This is religious and regional custom rather than a growth rule, and the exact list varies by family and region.

What does the Farmers' Almanac say about cutting hair? The Farmers' Almanac Best Days tables read the moon's sign, not the moon's phase. Each almanac keeps one list of signs for a cut you want to grow back quickly and another for a cut you want to hold its shape, and the two almanacs do not use identical lists, which is why two almanac calendars can disagree.

Is it bad to cut your hair at night? There is no evidence that the hour of day affects how hair grows. Cutting hair at night is avoided in several regional customs, usually for practical reasons that predate electric light. The moon's phase and sign on that date are unchanged after dark.

The calendars are not there to tell you what to do. They are there to give you a reason to plan something you were going to rush.

With love from Bali,
Myrah.

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