When to Cut Your Hair for Growth: Best Days by Moon Phase

The best days to cut your hair for growth fall in the waxing moon, the roughly two weeks between the new moon and the full moon. Cut in that window and the hair comes back faster, and it comes back thicker at the ends. The next growth window runs from 9 to 24 November 2026, and its three strongest days are 21, 22 and 23 November.

For the current month's specific dates, see the lunar hair calendar, and for November day by day, the lunar hair calendar for November 2026.

This is not a wellness trend. It is one of the oldest pieces of practical knowledge women have passed to each other, older than salons. Farmers still plant by it. Your grandmother probably cut by it without ever explaining why. The logic is simple: the waxing moon is a period of drawing upward and filling out, and hair, like anything else that grows, responds to being cut when the tide is coming in rather than going out.

The growth windows at a glance

Every window runs from a new moon to the following full moon. Any day inside a window is a growth day. The peak days are the last three before the full moon, when the moon is past ninety per cent lit and still climbing. All times are UTC.

Growth window	New moon	Full moon	Peak days
9 to 24 November 2026	9 Nov, 07:02	24 Nov, 14:53	21, 22 and 23
9 to 24 December 2026	9 Dec, 00:51	24 Dec, 01:28	21, 22 and 23
7 to 22 January 2027	7 Jan, 20:24	22 Jan, 12:17	19, 20 and 21
6 to 20 February 2027	6 Feb, 15:56	20 Feb, 23:23	17, 18 and 19

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

What you sleep on while the hair does its work matters more than it sounds. The Nidra Button-Down Linen Set, 100% French linen hand-finished in Bali, is the piece I keep for that half of the cycle, and the rest of the house linen is cut with the same idea.

Why the Waxing Moon Is the Best Time to Cut Hair for Growth

The lunar month has two halves. From the new moon to the full moon, the moon is waxing, growing brighter each night. From the full moon back to the new moon, it is waning, shrinking. Traditional hair timing puts every intention on one side or the other.

Cut during the waxing moon when you want length. The old reasoning is that sap rises in plants during this half of the cycle, and the body is understood to behave the same way, holding more moisture, drawing energy toward the surface. A cut made now is a cut made into rising energy. The hair grows back quickly, and it grows back with more body.

Cut during the waning moon when you want the opposite. Waning is the half for reduction: thinning heavy hair, or holding a shape between salon visits rather than racing back to length. Neither half is better. They do different work, and knowing which one you are in is the whole practice.

Is today a good day to cut your hair for growth?

You do not need an app or an ephemeris. You need two questions, and both of them are answered tonight.

First, look at the moon. If the lit part is growing from one night to the next, you are in the waxing half and today is a cutting day. In the northern hemisphere a waxing moon fills in from the right side. In the southern hemisphere, from the left. If cloud has taken the decision out of your hands, use the table above: if today's date sits between a new moon and the full moon that follows it, you are inside a window.

Second, see how close the full moon is. The nearer you are to it without passing it, the stronger the day. A cut three days before the full moon is the classic choice. A cut the day after the full moon already belongs to the other half of the month and does different work.

And if today falls in the waning half, nothing is lost. Those are the oil, mask and rest days, the ones that make the next window's cut worth having. The moon phase hair care guide is built on that same rhythm.

How often should you cut your hair for growth?

Every eight to twelve weeks, taking a quarter inch to half an inch. Trimming does not speed up the follicle, and no cut makes hair grow from the scalp any faster. What a trim does is remove splitting before it travels up the shaft, which is what costs you length over a year. One trim per lunar cycle lands almost exactly on that eight to twelve week rhythm, which is the practical reason the moon calendar works at all: it turns a vague intention into a date.

The Best Days to Cut Hair for Growth in November and December 2026, and January and February 2027

Here are the exact waxing windows for the next four lunar cycles, computed from the astronomical new and full moon times rather than recalled. Any day inside a window is a growth day. The days closest to the full moon are the strongest.

9 to 24 November 2026. The new moon arrives on 9 November at 07:02 UTC and the full moon, the Beaver supermoon, on 24 November at 14:53 UTC. The peak days are 21, 22 and 23 November, and the 23rd falls in Taurus, which tradition ties to shine. The lunar hair calendar for November 2026 lists the month day by day with the sign for each date.

9 to 24 December 2026. The new moon falls on 9 December at 00:51 UTC and the full moon on 24 December at 01:28 UTC, the closest full moon of the year. The peak days are 21, 22 and 23 December, which puts the strongest cut of the month just before the holidays. Of those three, 21 December is the one to book: it is the only peak day in a sign tradition favours. Full dates are in the December 2026 calendar.

7 to 22 January 2027. The new moon is on 7 January at 20:24 UTC and the full moon on 22 January at 12:17 UTC. The peak days are 19, 20 and 21 January, and 21 January falls in Cancer, one of the thickness signs.

6 to 20 February 2027. The new moon falls on 6 February at 15:56 UTC and the full moon on 20 February at 23:23 UTC. The peak days are 17, 18 and 19 February, and 19 February is the strongest single growth day in this whole four month run, for the reason in the next section.

If you track the phases themselves rather than the cutting days, the moon phases for November 2026 and the moon phases for December 2026 give the exact hour of each one.

Growth Versus Thickness: The Moon Sign Also Matters

Within the waxing half, the sign the moon is passing through refines the result. This is the layer most people skip, and it makes the difference between hair that gets longer and hair that gets longer and better.

For length, tradition asks for a waxing moon in Leo or Virgo. These are the classic growth signs, associated with a strong, fast return. And here is the thing no calendar tends to tell you: from November 2026 to January 2027 there is not one waxing day in Leo or Virgo. That is not an oversight. With the Sun in Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn, the waxing moon runs the stretch from Scorpio round to Cancer, and Leo and Virgo fall entirely in the waning half. They return to the waxing half on 19 and 20 February 2027, which is why 19 February is the strongest day in the table: a peak day, waxing, in Leo, the first one in four months.

For thickness and body, cut when the waxing moon is in Pisces, Cancer or Taurus, all of which are available. That means 18 and 19 November in Pisces and 23 November in Taurus; 16 and 17 December in Pisces and 20 and 21 December in Taurus; 12 and 13 January in Pisces, 17 and 18 January in Taurus and 21 January in Cancer; and 8, 9 and 10 February in Pisces with 13 and 14 February in Taurus. Hair cut here tends to come back with more density rather than more speed, and over these four months it is the best option that exists.

Avoid cutting in Aries, Gemini or Sagittarius if growth is the goal. These are the drying, scattering signs in traditional timing, and the return is usually slower and finer. In these windows that means 10, 11 and 12 November and 20, 21 and 22 November; 9 and 10 December and 18, 19, 22 and 23 December; 14, 15, 16, 19 and 20 January; and 11, 12, 15 and 16 February.

If the days that suit you do not match your diary, phase beats sign. A waxing day in a mediocre sign still does more than a waning day in a perfect one.

What the Farmers' Almanac says about the best days to cut hair

The almanac tradition answers this question with a different instrument. Its Best Days tables read the moon's sign, the constellation it is passing through, and largely ignore the phase. The phase system on this page reads the half of the cycle. They are two systems, not one, which is why an almanac can call a day good while the phase calendar calls it ordinary.

Two more things worth knowing before you go looking for the table. The almanacs separate cutting to encourage growth from cutting to discourage it, and they treat those as different sign lists, so a day that is wrong for length can be exactly right if you are trying to hold a short shape. And the published lists do not agree with each other, between the Farmers' Almanac, the Old Farmer's Almanac and the older regional almanacs, so reprinting one as fact would be dishonest. What they agree on is the method.

The useful move is the overlap. Where an almanac marks a day favourable and that day also falls in the waxing half, you have a genuinely strong day, because both systems point the same way. Where they disagree, stay with the one you already trust: two calendars used half-heartedly are worse than one used consistently. The Chinese almanac works on a third basis again, the day pillar rather than the moon, and how that almanac reaches its verdicts is worth reading before you let it overrule a waxing day.

What to Do the Night Before You Cut

Timing does half the work. The rest is what you do around it, and the night before matters more than the morning of.

Oil the scalp, not the lengths. Warm a little rosemary or castor oil between your palms, work it into the scalp in slow circles for five minutes, leave it overnight and wash it out in the morning. Rosemary has the most evidence behind it for circulation at the follicle, and circulation is what a growth cut capitalises on.

Sleep on something that does not pull. Cotton drags at the cuticle all night. Linen and silk let hair move. If you have ever woken with a tangle at the nape that was not there when you went to bed, that is friction, and friction at the ends is exactly what you are about to pay a stylist to remove.

Do not cut on a day you feel scattered. Every hairdresser will tell you the same thing in plainer language: people who arrive rushed leave unhappy. A growth cut is a commitment to the next three months of your own hair. Give it an unhurried hour.

Common Questions About When to Cut Hair for Growth

What is the best moon phase to cut hair for growth? The waxing moon, the period between the new moon and the full moon. Within it, the waxing gibbous phase in the final three or four days before the full moon is considered the strongest for length.

What are the best days to cut hair for growth right now? 9 to 24 November 2026, then 9 to 24 December, 7 to 22 January 2027 and 6 to 20 February. The peak days are 21, 22 and 23 November, 21, 22 and 23 December, 19, 20 and 21 January, and 17, 18 and 19 February.

Is today a good day to cut hair for growth? Only if today falls in the waxing half of the cycle. Look at the moon tonight: if the lit part is growing from night to night, you are in the growth window and you can cut. If it is shrinking, wait for the next new moon.

Does cutting hair during the full moon make it grow faster? The full moon itself is the turning point, so it is treated as strong but brief. Traditional timing favours the day or two before the full moon over the full moon exactly, because after that moment the tide has already turned toward waning.

How often should I cut my hair if I am trying to grow it? Every eight to twelve weeks, taking a quarter inch to half an inch. That is enough to remove splitting before it travels up the shaft, and not so much that you lose the length you are building. Aligning each of those trims with a waxing window means you get roughly one growth cut per lunar cycle, which is a comfortable rhythm.

Why are there no Leo or Virgo days in these growth windows? Because from November 2026 to January 2027 the moon passes through Leo and Virgo in the waning half, not the waxing half. It is astronomy rather than an omission: with the Sun in Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn, the waxing moon covers the stretch from Scorpio round to Cancer. Leo returns to the waxing half on 19 February 2027.

What does the Farmers' Almanac say are the best days to cut hair for growth? The almanac tables work from the moon's sign rather than its phase, and they list different signs for encouraging growth and for discouraging it. Published lists differ between almanacs, so the reliable way to use them is overlap: a day an almanac marks favourable that also falls in the waxing half is a genuinely strong day.

Is there a bad time to cut hair? Eclipses are the one window most traditions agree to leave alone. We covered the reasoning in detail in can you cut your hair during an eclipse. In feng shui practice there are also specific inauspicious days each month that sit independently of moon phase, mapped in the feng shui haircut calendar for November 2026, and the good days and bad days to cut your hair sets the two systems side by side. The new moon itself is traditionally kept for oil and rest rather than scissors.

Does this actually work, or is it folklore? There is no clinical trial proving the moon changes the rate of hair growth. What there is, is several thousand years of practice that arrived at the same conclusion independently across cultures, and a rhythm that gets women to trim consistently rather than sporadically. Consistency is what grows hair. The moon is simply the most reliable calendar anyone has ever built.

Cut on the way up. Everything else you can leave to time.

With love from Bali,
Myrah.

A Piece for This Threshold The Nidra Button-Down Linen Set. Nidra means rest, and rest is where growth actually happens. A longer button-down top over wide-leg shorts, cut from 100% French linen and hand-finished in Bali. Linen moves with hair instead of pulling at it. Shop the Nidra Set

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