General Islamic Matter - Shaving Baby’s Hair

Shaving Baby’s Hair

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Category: Religion - Islam
Forum Name: General Islamic Matter
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Topic: Shaving Baby’s Hair

Posted By: Shussain
Subject: Shaving Baby’s Hair
Date Posted: 11 March 2018 at 6:37am

As salamwalaikum. Please do divert me to relevant thread if this has been asked before and I do apologise in advance if it has.

Alhamdulilah i have blessed with a baby girl . She is now 5 weeks old. There is currently a disagreement between myself and my wife on wether the baby’s head needs to be shaved. There a a number of views on this ranging from it being compulsory to shave the babies head within a week of birth to the rule only applying to boys and even then it is not compulsory and is Sunnah. My wife is from Lebanon and she does not know of any of her Arabic family friends that observe this practice whilst I am from a south Asian family and all of my family and friends shave the baby’s head .

Please can someone clarify?

Jazakallah

Replies:

Posted By: Dr. Aslam
Date Posted: 12 March 2018 at 6:23am

Wa alaikum Salam,

Thank you for this question.

In seven sunni books of ahadith, there are some 21 statements attributed to the Prophet about Aqeeqah. There are a few practices involved in this sunnah

1. Sacrificing a sheep or goat on the seventh, 14th or 21st day of the birth or later depending on the financial conditions of the family. It is said that for a boy two sheep and for a girl one sheep is sacrificed.

2. Naming the baby.

3. Inviting the family members and friend to celebrate the birth.

4. Removing the hair.

All ahadith mention sacrificing sheep. But only a few mention removing the hair.

I suggest that you also consult a doctor to see if the baby's skin can take the shock of sharp razor at this early infancy. The sunnah would not recommend any practice that is harmful to anyone especially the babies.

Hair can be removed anytime and there is no sin in the delay. animal can also be sacrificed anytime but before puberty. But the baby should be named and the birth should be announced as quickly as possible.

In case you decide to shave off her head

Please make sure of the following

Make sure that you do it during the day because most children are less upset and cranky during daytime.
Make sure that the baby is comfortable, and you have items that will distract him/her.
Lather the baby’s head with soap before you start shaving the hair off.
When shaving a baby’s head, it is advisable that you do not use a razor because it can easily cut the scalp or worse still, remove some skin. Instead, you can use a trimmer. Unless your tradition calls for you to remove all the hair, a short buzz is good enough.
Use clippers if you want to cut your baby’s hair short.
Shave the hair in small parts and be sure that you complete each section before moving forward.
To distract the baby, keep on a conversation with him/her. This will also make it easy for you to carry out the shaving process without interruptions. If the baby is not calm, try feeding him every now and then.
Once you are through with the shaving, give the baby a warm bath so that all the fallen hair is washed off.
Apply disinfectant on your baby’s head and afterwards, a moisturizer on the shaven head. This will keep the scalp from itching and drying.

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Best Regards,
Aslam Abdullah