Short answer
No. Cutting your nails, hair or beard, or shaving, does not break wudu in any of the four schools, and you do not need to wash or wipe the place again. If you are in janabah, Hanafi scholars say it is disliked to cut hair or nails before ghusl.
Trimming nails, cutting or shaving hair and trimming the beard or moustache do not break wudu, and there is no need to wash the trimmed spot again. Cutting hair or nails while junub is makruh.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Wudu (ablution) is broken by things leaving the body, by deep sleep and by losing consciousness. Cutting nails or hair is none of these. Even if you wiped your head in wudu and then shaved it, or washed your arms and then trimmed your nails, the wudu stays as it is.
Common cases:
- A haircut at the barber: wudu stays. If you are nicked and blood flows, that is a separate matter (see bleeding).
- Trimming your beard after wudu: no need to wash it again.
- Cutting nails: no effect on wudu. Scholars recommend burying or respectfully disposing of the clippings.
- Removing nail polish or false nails: no effect on wudu, but water must reach the nail in future wudu (see nail polish and wudu).
Clipping the nails, removing pubic hair, plucking the armpits and trimming the moustache are part of the fitrah (natural way), which the Prophet ﷺ listed together with circumcision. Hanafi scholars recommend doing them weekly, preferably on Friday, and not leaving them beyond forty days.
In janabah, Hanafi texts say it is makruh to cut hair or nails before ghusl. It is not haram and nothing is spoiled if you do, but it is better to bathe first. The four schools agree that cutting hair and nails does not break wudu.
The evidence
Sahih al-Bukhari 5891
Sahih... الفطرة خمس الختان والاستحداد وقص الشارب وتقليم الأظفار ...
"Five things are part of the fitrah: circumcision, shaving the pubic hair, trimming the moustache, clipping the nails and plucking the armpits."
Cutting nails and hair is a sunnah of the fitrah, not something that spoils purity.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Taharah, section on wiping the head. Shaving the head or trimming nails after wudu does not require washing or wiping again.
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Karahiyah, chapter on circumcision, shaving and nail clippings. Cutting hair and nails while junub is disliked; burying the clippings.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.