Dreaming of Hair in Islam

Hair is read by its length, its state, and what is done to it. Long, well-kept hair is the settled good reading: standing among people, a long life, and something that has been tended over time. Hair that is matted, dirty or falling out turns the reading toward a neglect in the same place — a reputation left untended, or a strength being lost slowly rather than at once. Cutting hair deliberately was read favourably by the older interpreters: a debt discharged, a burden set down, something one is glad to be free of — and cutting it in the rites of Hajj or Umrah is the plainest form of that reading. Hair cut against one's will reverses it, toward something taken. Grey hair is read as dignity and as weight of years, and where it appears early, as responsibility carried before its time. Combing or washing hair is read as putting a matter of one's own in order. Seeing someone else's hair shifts the reading onto that person's standing rather than the dreamer's.

The basis is what hair actually is: the part of a person that is visible to everyone, grows slowly, shows age, and is the first thing tended when a person presents himself. It is therefore read as reputation and outward standing. The reading of cutting as release is not invented either — the shaving or shortening of the hair is what ends the state of ihram and lifts its restrictions, and that association of cutting with a burden lifting sits underneath the older interpretations.

A dream of hair falling is not a warning about health, ageing, or loss, and it is not a ruling on anything. Hair loss that is on a person's mind in waking will appear in sleep with no meaning attached to it. The tradition places most of what is seen in sleep with the sleeper rather than with any message. If the dream distressed you, the answer taught is to seek refuge in Allah, turn onto your other side, and leave it untold.

Hair that is matted, dirty or falling out turns the reading toward neglect in the same place a full head of hair stood for — a reputation left untended, or a strength being lost slowly rather than all at once. It is not a warning about health, ageing, or an approaching loss. Someone whose hair loss is already on their mind while awake will simply see it again asleep, with no meaning attached.