If he chooses to shorten, he must cover the whole head; limiting the cut to part of it or to one side is not sufficient, for Allah says, “with your heads completely shaved or your hair clipped short” [48:27], linking both shaving and shortening to the entire head.

For a woman, only shortening is prescribed: she cuts from every braid roughly the length of a fingertip. Ibn ʿAbbās reports that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Women are not required to shave; they are only to clip,” related by Abū Dāwūd, al-Ṭabarānī, and al-Dāraquṭnī. Shaving is a disfigurement for women; if her hair is unbraided she gathers it together and trims about a fingertip’s length from its ends.

It is sunnah for whoever has shaved or shortened to trim his nails, moustache, pubic hair, and armpits. He may not shave his beard or remove anything from it, because the Prophet ﷺ ordered that the beard be left full and forbade shaving it or taking anything from it. A Muslim complies with what the Prophet commanded and avoids what he prohibited, and a pilgrim is even more obliged to do so, for he is in worship.

As for one whose head has no hair—whether because it is already shaven or because no hair ever grows there—