Is it permissible for a woman to cut her hair to the shoulders?

Question:
May Allah reward you with good. Also, she asks Your Eminence, Shaykh Salih, about a woman cutting her hair for the purpose of adornment, where she does not intend to imitate anyone and does not know of any imitation either, but rather in the style she herself desires. Is it forbidden to cut the hair to the shoulders in that case, or not?

Answer:
The better and more desirable course is to leave the hair as it is, because cutting it disfigures it. Her statement that she does not intend to imitate anyone is questionable, because this style of cutting was not known until these new fashions came, and the women in these lands saw the women from outside these lands, either seeing them directly or seeing their pictures in the media, and they began to imitate the characteristics that appeared to them. This is undoubtedly imitation, and it is undoubtedly an imported custom, because it was not known in these lands.
It came only through imitating the women of the outside. As we mentioned, a woman’s beauty lies in her hair, its tresses, and its length. She should only cut it if she needs to cut it due to an illness, or because maintaining it is too costly and she cannot afford it, or because she is advanced in age and the length of the hair is a burden on her. In that case, there is no harm. If she cuts it out of necessity, there is no harm. However, if she cuts it for adornment, the adornment lies in keeping it. Yes.