Can I cut my hair or nails while fasting?

Detailed answer

Cutting your hair, shaving or trimming your nails does not break the fast and is not disliked while fasting. Nothing in the Quran or Sunnah forbids grooming during the days of Ramadan. You can visit the barber or hairdresser, trim your beard or moustache as you normally would, and clip your nails at any time of day.

Where does the confusion come from?

Two other situations do have restrictions, and people sometimes mix them up with Ramadan:

• Ihram: a pilgrim in ihram for Hajj or Umrah must not cut hair or nails until the rites allow it.
• The first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah: someone who intends to offer a sacrifice (udhiyah) for Eid al-Adha is told not to cut hair or nails until he has sacrificed (Muslim).

Neither applies to Ramadan or Eid al-Fitr.

What the Sunnah says

The Prophet said that five things are part of the fitrah, our natural cleanliness: circumcision, removing pubic hair, trimming the moustache, clipping the nails and plucking the armpit hair (Bukhari and Muslim). Anas reported that a limit of forty days was set, so these should not be left longer than that (Muslim). Grooming is part of the cleanliness that Islam loves.

In practice

• A small cut while shaving or trimming does not break the fast. See bleeding while fasting.
• If a hair falls into your mouth at the barber, simply spit it out; something that enters the mouth by accident does not break the fast.
• A fresh haircut and trimmed nails before Eid fit well with the sunnah of looking clean and wearing your best on that day. See the sunnahs of Eid al-Fitr.
• Even someone in I'tikaf may groom: the Prophet had his hair combed while in I'tikaf (Bukhari and Muslim).

So there is no reason to delay a haircut or let your nails grow long because of Ramadan. Keeping clean and tidy while fasting is part of the good character this month encourages.