diff --git a/src/uu/ls/src/display.rs b/src/uu/ls/src/display.rs
index eb61816a8e3..a286433cfd9 100644
--- a/src/uu/ls/src/display.rs
+++ b/src/uu/ls/src/display.rs
@@ -747,6 +747,7 @@ fn display_item_name(
                                 target_path.file_name().map(Cow::Borrowed),
                                 config,
                                 false,
+                                false,
                             );
 
                             // Check if the target actually needs coloring
diff --git a/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs b/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs
index 392aed0972e..470c5bcbdee 100644
--- a/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs
+++ b/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs
@@ -816,6 +816,7 @@ pub struct PathData<'a> {
     p_buf: Cow<'a, Path>,
     must_dereference: bool,
     command_line: bool,
+    is_dot_dir: bool,
 }
 
 impl<'a> PathData<'a> {
@@ -838,6 +839,7 @@ impl<'a> PathData<'a> {
         file_name: Option<Cow<'a, OsStr>>,
         config: &Config,
         command_line: bool,
+        is_dot_dir: bool,
     ) -> Self {
         // We cannot use `Path::ends_with` or `Path::Components`, because they remove occurrences of '.'
         // For '..', the filename is None
@@ -904,6 +906,7 @@ impl<'a> PathData<'a> {
             p_buf,
             must_dereference,
             command_line,
+            is_dot_dir,
         }
     }
 
@@ -976,6 +979,15 @@ impl<'a> PathData<'a> {
             PathDataDisplayName::Custom(ref cow) => cow,
         }
     }
+
+    fn file_name(&self) -> &OsStr {
+        match self.display_name {
+            PathDataDisplayName::SelfReferential => {
+                self.p_buf.file_name().unwrap_or(self.p_buf.as_os_str())
+            }
+            PathDataDisplayName::Custom(ref cow) => cow,
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 impl Colorable for PathData<'_> {
@@ -1164,7 +1176,7 @@ pub fn list_with_output<O: LsOutput>(
     let initial_locs_len = locs.len();
 
     for loc in locs {
-        let path_data = PathData::new(loc.into(), None, None, config, true);
+        let path_data = PathData::new(loc.into(), None, None, config, true, false);
 
         // Getting metadata here is no big deal as it's just the CWD
         // and we really just want to know if the strings exist as files/dirs
@@ -1278,6 +1290,7 @@ fn collect_directory_entries<O: LsOutput>(
             Some(OsStr::new(".").into()),
             config,
             false,
+            true,
         ));
         entries.push(PathData::new(
             dotdot_path(path_data.path()).into(),
@@ -1285,6 +1298,7 @@ fn collect_directory_entries<O: LsOutput>(
             Some(OsStr::new("..").into()),
             config,
             false,
+            true,
         ));
     }
 
@@ -1305,6 +1319,7 @@ fn collect_directory_entries<O: LsOutput>(
                 None,
                 config,
                 false,
+                false,
             ));
         }
     }
@@ -1375,6 +1390,7 @@ fn enter_directory<O: LsOutput>(
             None,
             config,
             entry.command_line,
+            false,
         );
 
         if !entry.is_first {
@@ -1404,12 +1420,9 @@ fn enter_directory<O: LsOutput>(
         write_directory_entries(entries, config, output)?;
 
         if config.recursive {
-            let start = if config.files == Files::All { 2 } else { 0 };
-
             for child in entries
                 .iter()
-                .skip(start)
-                .filter(|p| p.file_type().is_some_and(FileType::is_dir))
+                .filter(|p| p.file_type().is_some_and(FileType::is_dir) && !p.is_dot_dir)
                 .rev()
             {
                 let child_path = child.path().to_path_buf();
@@ -1473,8 +1486,8 @@ fn sort_entries(entries: &mut [PathData], config: &Config) {
         Sort::Name => entries.sort_unstable_by(|a, b| a.display_name().cmp(b.display_name())),
         Sort::Version => entries.sort_unstable_by(|a, b| {
             version_cmp(
-                os_str_as_bytes_lossy(a.path().as_os_str()).as_ref(),
-                os_str_as_bytes_lossy(b.path().as_os_str()).as_ref(),
+                os_str_as_bytes_lossy(a.file_name()).as_ref(),
+                os_str_as_bytes_lossy(b.file_name()).as_ref(),
             )
             .then(a.path().cmp(b.path()))
         }),
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs b/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs
index 52191c0c9f8..81edec8d87f 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs
@@ -3661,7 +3661,7 @@ fn test_ls_version_sort() {
     );
 
     let result = scene.ucmd().arg("-a1v").succeeds();
-    expected.insert(expected.len() - 1, "..");
+    expected.insert(0, "..");
     expected.insert(0, ".");
     assert_eq!(
         result.stdout_str().split('\n').collect::<Vec<_>>(),