Almost Cut My Hair

Almost Cut My Hair was recorded at Wally Heider Studios on January 9, 1970 and is the third track on Déjà Vu, at 4:31. It is about keeping long hair as a sign of defiance and protest during the 1960s counterculture. Crosby sings lead and plays electric rhythm guitar. Stills and Young play electric lead guitar, Nash plays organ, Greg Reeves plays bass and Dallas Taylor drums. Unlike most of the album, the quartet and the studio musicians recorded it at the same place and time.

Crosby told Rolling Stone that he kept it on the album over Stills's protestations, because Stills thought the vocal was bad. He has also said it was the most juvenile set of lyrics he had ever written, but that it has a certain emotional impact. It has been credited with popularizing long hair as a visible sign of affiliation with the counterculture, and became one of his signature songs. A demo of 5:26 is on the 2021 anniversary edition of the album.