What Does It Mean to Dream of Cutting Hair?
If you get a bad haircut in your waking life, you can at least console yourself that it will grow out eventually.
If you get a bad haircut in your dream, all you have to do is wake up. Your dream of cutting hair can, however, give you a lot to think about.
Cutting Hair Dream Summary
Cutting Hair Dream Symbolism
A dream of hair can symbolize beauty and strength. A dream that emphasizes the act of cutting hair, however, focuses on what you do with whatever your natural potential for beauty and strength may be.
Cutting hair is an act of taking control over nature. If your dream of cutting hair has a positive emotional atmosphere, this could symbolize that you are working with nature in a harmonious way that encourages the best kind of growth to come forward.
A dream of cutting hair that feels good could also symbolize getting a fresh start. Something important about your identity may have shifted for you recently, and you might finally be ready to share this development with the world.
However, cutting hair can sometimes be done in an abusive way. A dream of cutting hair with this kind of negative emotional atmosphere could symbolize that someone is trying to overpower you, or that you are trying to overpower someone else.
Common Dreams of Cutting Hair
- Dream of someone cutting your hair
- Dream of cutting your own hair
- Dream of cutting someone else’s hair
- Dream of an unfinished haircut
- Dream of hair breaking off
- Dream of a child cutting hair
Cutting Hair Dream Symbolism
Power
In the Bible story of Samson, his physical strength came from his lifelong religious vow to not cut his hair. When his romantic interest Delilah learned his secret, she had his hair cut, and then his enemies overpowered him and blinded him.
If your dream of someone cutting your hair has a negative emotional atmosphere, it could refer to a situation where you feel like someone is taking away your power. Hair can symbolize attractiveness, and someone might feel threatened by how attractive you are.
Alternately, if you are the one cutting someone else’s hair in a dream that has bad vibes, it might symbolize that you are aware on some level that you are trying to overpower them. You may have convinced yourself that you are justified in taking this approach to whatever conflict you have with them, but it should be a last resort for extreme situations.
Control
On its own, the growth of hair can become a bit chaotic. The act of cutting hair, however, exerts control over this chaotic process of nature.
A dream of cutting hair might therefore symbolize a situation where you are intentionally shaping how things go instead of letting them unfold on their own. If it feels good, it could refer to something like getting your schedule under control so you don’t feel overwhelmed.
A dream of getting a haircut that requires a lot of ongoing maintenance and styling, however, could symbolize a situation where you are making your life harder than it needs to be by insisting on controlling every little thing.
Fresh Start
Even a routine haircut usually takes off the damaged ends of hair and evens out growth, giving you a refreshed look. If you get a haircut in an entirely new style, though, you can really reboot your image.
Dreaming of cutting hair can therefore symbolize that you or another person in your life is getting a fresh start. Cutting is an intentional act that doesn’t just happen on its own, so a dream emphasizing cutting shows that whatever change this person is making is intentional, regardless of whether it seems impulsive or carefully planned.
Common Dreams of Cutting Hair
Dream of someone cutting your hair
The meaning of dreaming of someone cutting your hair can vary based on how you feel about it in the dream. If you are happy to get a routine haircut in your dream, this could symbolize that taking care of your body is a priority for you, as described further in hairdresser dream symbolism.
If you are happy to get a haircut in a style that is new to you in your dream, this could symbolize that you would like to change how you are perceived by the world. A hairstyle can sometimes communicate things like financial status, gender, or sexuality, and you may want others to know something important about you on that scale.
Like military buzz cuts, however, haircuts can also show conformity to a particular group. Your dream of getting your hair cut could therefore symbolize that you are trying to get rid of whatever holds you back from committing yourself fully to a new relationship or organization.
If you dream of someone cutting your hair in a way that is intended to punish or humiliate you, though, this could symbolize that you feel bullied or controlled by others in your life. You may be afraid to look good because that seems like it would draw the attention of people who don’t have your best interests at heart.
If you dream of getting a haircut done with good intentions that just doesn’t turn out the way you wanted it to, this could symbolize that you feel misunderstood by others. You might also have difficulty bringing an image you have in your head into physical reality.
Dream of cutting your own hair
Cutting your hair in a dream could symbolize that you are taking control of your life and getting rid of what does not serve you. You may be proud of your ability to rely on yourself.
Dreaming of cutting your own hair, as opposed to having someone else cut your hair, could also symbolize that you are a little too self-reliant. You might benefit from letting others into your life more.
Dream of cutting someone else’s hair
The meaning of a dream about cutting someone else’s hair can vary based on whether this is something you regularly do. It is common for people to dream of whatever they do all day, so, if you work as a hairstylist, a dream involving cutting someone’s hair could just be processing your routine activities.
If one of your regular family responsibilities is cutting the hair of others in your household, like your spouse or your children, dreaming of cutting their hair could be viewed similarly to other dreams of chores like washing dishes or doing laundry. You might feel like your responsibilities are weighing on you, or that you are being held responsible for more than your fair share.
If you dream of cutting someone’s hair even though they don’t want you to do it, this could symbolize that you are not respecting their personal boundaries. While you might have convinced yourself that you have a valid reason to take control over their life, you probably need to back off.
If you dream of cutting someone else’s hair, and they are happy with the result, this could symbolize that you are helping someone in your life to be seen more clearly by the world. You may feel that others have judged this person too harshly, and you want the truth about their inner beauty to be known.
Dream of an unfinished haircut
A dream about an unfinished haircut could symbolize that you lack patience for some boring chore in your life. You might feel like you can get away with just walking away from a partially done job, but your slacking might be more visible to others than you realize.
Dream of hair breaking off
A dream about hair breaking off could be troubling, as it might be provoked by the feeling that you lack control over something important in your life. If the dream has a positive emotional atmosphere, though, it may symbolize that something that no longer serves you will depart from your life, and you might not even have to take initiative to make this transition happen – whatever it is, it’s ready to go on its own.
Dream of a child cutting hair
It is common for children to experiment with everything they can get their hands-on, and sometimes they wind up cutting their own hair or the hair of another child. Dreaming of a child cutting hair could symbolize that you are concerned that someone in your life is making a big decision that they don’t have the maturity to fully understand.
You might even feel the anxiety of this sort about a big decision you have to make, like you think you are not qualified to make it. However, you may need to do something in order to move forward, and, if it doesn’t work out the way you want, you can at least grow from it.
Conclusion
Whether or not you are happy with the result, cutting hair is an intentional decision. The dynamics of power and control involved in intentional decisions can be difficult at times, but engaging honestly with them may be necessary for you to get the clarity and renewal you need in your life.