diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index d7f4c41d57..12e9d3465a 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -51409,7 +51409,7 @@ the @code{home-dotfiles-service-type} will only provision dotfiles from this
 subset of applications.  This field will be ignored if @code{layout} is set
 to @code{'plain}.
 
-@item @code{excluded} (default: @code{'(".*~" ".*\\.swp" "\\.git/.*" "\\.gitignore")}) (type: list-of-strings)
+@item @code{excluded} (default: @code{'(".*~" ".*\\.swp" "/\\.git/.*" "\\.gitignore")}) (type: list-of-strings)
 The list of file patterns @code{home-dotfiles-service-type} will exclude
 while visiting each one of the @code{directories}.
 
diff --git a/gnu/home/services/dotfiles.scm b/gnu/home/services/dotfiles.scm
index 1860009275..692b96f487 100644
--- a/gnu/home/services/dotfiles.scm
+++ b/gnu/home/services/dotfiles.scm
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ;;; GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
 ;;; Copyright © 2024 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
-;;; Copyright © 2024 Giacomo Leidi <therewasa@fishinthecalculator.me>
+;;; Copyright © 2024, 2026 Giacomo Leidi <therewasa@fishinthecalculator.me>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
 ;;;
@@ -45,7 +45,9 @@
 (define %home-dotfiles-excluded
   '(".*~"
     ".*\\.swp"
-    "\\.git/.*"
+    ;; This first / is safe until regexp-exec in directory-contents
+    ;; is passed an absolute file name.
+    "/\\.git/.*"
     "\\.gitignore"))
 
 (define %home-dotfiles-layouts