Meanings
plural bad hair days
- literallyA day when one's hair seems unmanageable.First known use 20th c.
Okay, girls, here's the plan. I'll call Jerry and tell him we need to get to Tahiti A.S.A.P. Clover, you free the Bees and restore their memories. Alex, you figure out how to put an end to this very, very, very bad hair day.
2002 March 23, Michelle and Robert Lamoreaux, “The Black Widows”, in Totally Spies!, season 1, episode 16, spoken by Samantha “Sam” (Jennifer Hale), Marathon Media, via TeletoonSynonyms: hairmageddon
- broadlyidiomaticA day when things seem to be unmanageable or go wrong.
What's the matter with Fred? Oh, he's just having a bad hair day.
1 more example
Okay, girls, here’s the plan. I’ll call Jerry and tell him we need to get to Tahiti A.S.A.P. Clover, you free the Bees and restore their memories. Alex, you figure out how to end this very, very, very bad hair day.
2002 March 23, Michelle and Robert Lamoreaux, “The Black Widows”, in Totally Spies!, season 1, episode 16, spoken by Samantha “Sam” (Jennifer Hale), Marathon Media, via Teletoon
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA day when one's hair seems unmanageable.
Origin
Said to have been coined by British trichologist Philip Kingsley (1930–2016).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
bad hair day. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bad%20hair%20day
“bad hair day.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bad%20hair%20day. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bad hair day,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bad%20hair%20day.
Source: bad hair day on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.