There is no inconsistency between these two descriptions, for hair sometimes grows longer and at other times is trimmed shorter; each narrator simply reported what he observed.

Abū Dāwūd said:
“Ibn Nufayl narrated to us; Ibn Abī al-Zinād narrated to us, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, who said, ‘The hair of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was longer than a wafrah yet shorter than a jummah.’ (1)

It is also established that during the Farewell Pilgrimage he ﷺ shaved his entire head, and he passed away eighty-one days later—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him always, until the Day of Judgment.

Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān said:
“ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim and Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd both narrated to us: Sufyān narrated to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, who said: ‘Umm Hānīʾ related that the Prophet ﷺ entered Mecca on one occasion with four ghadaʾir (2)—that is, braids.’ ”
Al-Tirmidhī transmitted the same report through Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah.

In the two Ṣaḥīḥs it is authentically reported, through Rabīʿah from Anas, that after describing the Prophet’s hair he said, “It was neither perfectly straight nor tightly curled.” He added, “Allah took him while there were not yet twenty white hairs in his head or beard.” (3)

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (4) records, through Ayyūb from Ibn Sīrīn, that the latter said: “I asked Anas, ‘Did the Messenger of Allah apply dye to his hair?’ He replied, ‘Only a few grey hairs were ever seen on him.’ ” The same wording is related by al-Bukhārī and Muslim via Ḥammād ibn Zayd, from Thābit, from Anas. (5)

Ḥammād ibn Salamah, from Thābit, reported that Anas was asked, “Did the Messenger of Allah turn grey?” He answered, “Allah did not mar him with grey; there were only seventeen or eighteen white hairs on his head.” (6)

Muslim also narrates, through al-Muthannā ibn Saʿīd, from Qatādah, from Anas, that the Messenger of Allah did not apply dye; he only