bad hair day

noun

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

bad hair day

noun

1. a day on which one's hair is untidy and unmanageable
2. a day of mishaps and general irritation

Word History and Origins

Origin of bad hair day¹

First recorded in 1990–95

Idioms and Phrases

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 .

Example Sentences

He would worry that they weren’t having a good time, just as he would worry that if he was “having a bad hair day” it meant that he “had a brain tumor.”

From Salon

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

“And I never have a bad hair day.”

From New York Times

Bad Hair Day Ms. Stone reported that her hairdresser was 45 minutes late on her wedding day, which resulted in “throwing my wedding dress on five minutes before the wedding started,” she said.

From New York Times

“It’s like blaming the canary for the bad air in the coal mine, or blaming the mirror for your bad hair day. Appraisers reflect the market; we do not create it.”

From New York Times