Although the pixie cut is not a new trend, more and more people have been cutting their hair off and calling it quits to the long hair lifestyle. There are many reasons for this, but the root of it all is still the same. Everyone wants change. However, with great change comes great struggle.
1. Your eyebrows can’t have bad hair days. If you struggle with your eyebrows like I do, then you will understand the grief I feel when I don’t have that extra time in the morning to slap on a little eyebrow makeup. It’s easier to hide with longer hair or even bangs, but when you have a pixie cut, you don’t have much op a choice unless you wear a hat. You can either suck it up and work those sliced and diced up eyebrows on your forehead, or you can wake up a little earlier and take care of them….but that’s if you care that much, of course.
2. Getting trims. With a pixie cut, you’ll find that getting trims either leaves you feeling unsatisfied because not much was done or because too much was done. I‘ve walked into the hair salon just to get half of an inch cut off and walked out with a whole new cut. If you have a scissor happy hairdresser, then I feel your pain.
3. Open windows while driving are your worst enemy. Driving down the highway with a window wide open most definitely will not give you the hair from those road trip movies. In fact, this is your best way to achieve hair worse than bed head. You’re hot? I hope you brought some bobby pins or a head scarf, buddy.
4. “Oh my gosh, why would you cut it off?” This question is as offensive as it is annoying. Some people are genuinely curious. Some people are a little ignorant of the fact that one side of your hair reached your shoulder while the other side reached your ear. Then, you have the people who expect you to mention anything about a bad breakup or something of the sorts. This question isn’t as annoying as number 5, though.
5. “So…are you ever going to grow it out?” You hear it from your friends, your family, your exasperated mom who “just wants her pretty, long haired daughter back.” It doesn’t matter if it’s been a year since I cut it the first time: if I haven’t cut it, then the answer is no. However, nothing annoys me more than number 6.
6. “I liked your hair long though.” Can you feel the mental eye roll? If this makes you roll your eyes or suck your teeth, then you feel my pain. I don’t care if you liked it when my hair was purple: I didn’t do it for you.
7. Don’t get me started on the process of styling it. You ever wince and curse at yourself a little bit as you pull out that Godforsaken hot iron? Do those flexirods and small rollers give you a headache the next morning? Nothing compares to washing your hair and then staying in the shower a little longer while you try to decide what your next hairdo is going to be.
8. Switching stylists for one day. Oh. My. Gosh. That feeling you get when you walk into the salon and your usual stylist isn’t there is probably one of the most nerve wrecking things you’ll ever feel. It’s worse when the woman who usually has customers walking out with umbrella hair smiles at you and pats her chair. I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll go another week with the hair curling up at my ears.
9. Having guys try and guess if you’re a lesbian or not. C’mon guys, it’s 2016. Are we not past the whole “are you a lesbian now” thing or am I forever going to look like Ellen Degeneres to you all? And even if I were a lesbian, why should my haircut be the deciding factor? Girls, if you’re constantly battling the awkward stare downs and passing comments, I know that it can probably make you feel a little insecure. You’ll probably want to dress a little ‘girly’ and wear those flashy earrings your mom gave you two summers ago. Heck, I’ve done that. I still do sometimes.
10. Hearing the famous “guys don’t like girls with short hair.” Mental eye roll. Moving on.
11. Looking in the mirror and accepting the fact that you look like an 8-year-old-boy. Throwing on a white tee and some jeans has never made me feel so sure of this. It always leaves me feeling like I need to throw on some makeup and some earrings that say “I, too, am a girl. Hello.”
12. Growing it out. That awkward ear length is enough to make you turn around and cut it all off again. As a person of color, protective styles can only do so much for my short hair: braids slip off, bantu knots don’t stay, and flexirods are too big. Headbands and bobby pins are your best friend for the next 6 months.
So, if you have a pixie cut, know that you're not alone in this change. While you're struggling to slick your growing hair into a ponytail tomorrow morning, know that someone out there with a pixie cut like yours has just been asked if they're boyfriend's hair is longer than theirs. We, as a pixie nation, all struggle, too.
