there's no need to wear a hair shirt
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
One doesn't need to punish or deprive themselves unnecessarily
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Không cần tự phạt hoặc tự giới hạn một cách không cần thiết
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a shirt made of hair, worn for penance
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “there's no need to wear a hair shirt” mean?
One doesn't need to punish or deprive themselves unnecessarily Literally: a shirt made of hair, worn for penance
Is “there's no need to wear a hair shirt” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.