bad hair day

American  

noun

1. a disagreeable or unpleasant day, especially one during which one feels unattractive.

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bad hair day British  

noun

1. a day on which one's hair is untidy and unmanageable

2. a day of mishaps and general irritation

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bad hair day Idioms  

1. A day when one's appearance, especially one's hair, does not look attractive. For example, What have I done to upset Martha? Nothing, she's just having a bad hair day. Originating as a humorous statement, this term was soon broadened to mean simply having a bad day, that is, a day when everything seems to go wrong. [Late 1980s] Also see not one's day.

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Etymology

Origin of bad hair day

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

Paul wanted his audience to think of “anxiety” as the mild sense of dread you might experience when contemplating going to work on a bad hair day.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2025

The next morning, Ms. Bastardo selected a song to use as a soundtrack for the six-second clip, a catchy tune about a bad hair day that had started gaining traction on TikTok.

From New York Times • Apr. 4, 2023

One reveller had a very creative solution to their bad hair day.

From BBC • Jun. 26, 2017

And in an interview, a “trauma-sensitive yoga” instructor talked through her “hair trauma”: “I grew up with really curly, frizzy hair in Miami, Florida. When you’re 13, a bad hair day is overwhelming,” she said.

From Washington Post • Aug. 12, 2016

We miss the note, we have the bad hair day.

From Salon • Jan. 7, 2015