bad hair day

English

Said to have been coined by British trichologist Philip Kingsley (1930–2016).^[1]

bad hair day (plural bad hair days)

(literally) A day when one's hair seems unmanageable. [from 20th c.]
- 2002 March 23, Michelle and Robert Lamoreaux, “The Black Widows”, in Totally Spies!‎^[2], season 1, episode 16, spoken by Samantha “Sam” (Jennifer Hale), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:
  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.
(idiomatic, by extension) A 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.
- 2002 March 23, Michelle and Robert Lamoreaux, “The Black Widows”, in Totally Spies!‎^[3], season 1, episode 16, spoken by Samantha “Sam” (Jennifer Hale), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:
  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.

^ “Philip Kingsley, celebrity trichologist – obituary [print version: Philip Kingsley: Trichologist who treated Audrey Hepburn and Laurence Olivier and coined the term ‘bad hair day’, 17 September 2016, page 35]”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[1], 2016 September 16, archived from the original on 16 September 2016.