A couple years ago, I wrote about returning to my pixie cut and why I suddenly felt 110% more like myself again. I wanted to come back to it now, almost two years later, because of everything I’ve written, it’s one that continually gets commented on by women who have had similar cycles of ‘I should grow this out’ ‘why did I grow this out?’ *chop* ‘I should grow this out’ drama. Now, admittedly, I have plenty of “should I grow my hair out again” moments, for which I mostly blame the media…
https://giphy.com/gifs/hair-flip-ashley-olsen-twins-120cskyNKbr6eI
But so far, I’ve resisted. It’s been two years and I still think the pixie cut is the best choice for me. If you’re in the pixie cut boat and trying to convince yourself that you don’t need to grow it out, I figured I would write this post to encourage you to at least think about your reasons why to grow vs chop. Yes, that sounds silly, but only to those who haven’t tried to make this decision before/haven’t wasted FIVE YEARS growing their hair out only to realize that Blake Lively-esque hair is unattainable.
Because the reasons I chopped it still remain:
It still feels the most ME. I wrote about this when I first cut it, but over the years, the punk rock version of me has faded almost completely as I shifted into #SeriousAthlete mode a decade ago. But I miss having that sense of style, one that isn’t all about spandex and aero cuts. The short haircut has let me feel edgier again, without adding any studs, pins, new tattoos or makeup to the mix.
I can run and ride and take my helmet or hat off, spray a little water on my head, and be good to go. Yes, I miss having a ponytail or braid out the back of my helmet, and yes, I occasionally feel self-conscious that from the back, I’ll get mistaken for a dude cyclist. But that’s a ridiculous reason to grow my hair!
I DO NOT spend time on my hair. I never have, and I very likely never will. I train a lot, therefore my daily grooming routine is very short because we only have so much free time! Short hair means never having to spend more than 30 seconds on *maybe* doing a quick bang-straighten or blowdrying a cowlick for the fanciest of occasions, and still looking put together.
Yes, you get it cut more and that costs $$. But I get that back in less time spent on it, the ability to dye it myself if I want (even a hair stylist will admit that with a pixie cut, at home dying is totally fine, since there isn’t much hair to deal with and it grows out fast), and the money saved on product (you use less shampoo, don’t need tools, etc.)
I don’t shed (much). When my hair was long, holy crap I left a trail wherever I went. I think I was driving Peter crazy with how much hair was getting everywhere. Yes, it was good practice for when we finally get a dog, but it’s pretty sweet not needing to vacuum or pick hair off of my pillow as often.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2CG8OfF0Q6/
I admit, there are a couple of cons:
Hair envy… But I’ve realized the fastest way to combat seeing someone’s fantastic long hair and wanting to grow mine is simply to have a couple of older selfies of me with long hair on my phone—ones that didn’t make it onto IG or any feed—so I can quickly remind myself that I genuinely don’t look great with long hair (at least, not without a lot of work or the exact right angle).
A *slight* fear of aging. Hey, I’m being honest here. Now that I’m in my thirties, I’m at an age where most women don’t have short hair. In my twenties, plenty of ‘edgier’ women I hung out with had short hair. And of course, a ton of women over 50 rock the hell out of pixie cuts. But I’ve noticed there are a lot less pixie cuts on women in their thirties and forties, so I do feel like I’m prematurely putting myself into the 50+ camp! I don’t care about that very often, but it is a real thing that I think about and I figured it was worth mentioning for the sake of full disclosure.
And one that’s kind of in the middle—I weirdly struggle with bold makeup now, like a dark or bright lipstick, because without long hair to frame my face, it feels much more bold than it did when my hair was longer, even if I was wearing my hair up! So if you are considering a pixie cut, just be aware that makeup does tend to look more dramatic, which is great if you’re into that (I used to be, for sure!). But it can be disconcerting if you’re not really going for high drama.
OK. That’s all I have, 2 years after the fact. Hit me up in the comments with any questions/comments/feelings on short hair!
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