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How can you grow out a pixie cut — without looking unprofessional? Reader L wonders:
Last fall I cut my hair in a pixie cut and although I love the low maintenance cut I'd like to have longer hair again. As you know growing out this cut can be painful. Do you have any suggestions for keeping hair professional during a grow out? Are hair scarves ever Ok? Is it acceptable to get extensions?
This is a really interesting question, and one I don't have a lot of experience with — the shortest my hair ever was was after I did the post-wedding chop and donated to Locks of Love. I can see how growing out a pixie would be a challenge in a professional setting, though. I poked around Google a bit and found some great tutorials from the bloggers at at Unspeakable Visions, Maybe Matilda, and Hair Romance (studying Carey Mulligan's pixie cut growout)– these ladies did it right and looked great while growing out their pixie cuts! That said, here's my $.02 for a corporate setting or other conservative office:
- Keep it short in the back until the front and sides have grown out a bit. As all of the above bloggers noted, you want to avoid the mullet, and keep it looking neat.
- Be careful about drastic changes that aren't easily understood by your bosses, like extensions or frequent color changes. If your bosses are, say, men over 50, this may mean something totally different than if your bosses are women in their 30s, so know your office. But: getting a pixie cut is clear-cut; your hair is getting chopped off. Getting extensions is less so — you leave one day with short hair, and come back with long hair. Is it a wig? Is it glued to your hair? Is it woven in? They don't know and they're going to be distracted by it, which distracts them from your work, and may even cause them to associate YOU with distractions in general. I'd say the same for frequent, drastic color changes. One drastic change (brunette to blond) is acceptable, I think. Multiple drastic changes (blond to brunette to red) may be received as another distraction. Highlights, lowlights, shade changes — all of that is fine. It's even ok to make a slightly wild shade (a bright red, say, or a platinum blond) your signature color. For my $.02, though, I would avoid regularly changing from color to color. As always, though, I'm curious to hear what readers say about this.
- Know your office when it comes to hair accessories. A scarf may be the chic option for bloggers, but your office may respond better to a boring old headband. Do try to avoid anything “little girl” (or, hey, Drew Barrymore in the 90s, such as a bobby pin with a flower glued on one end of it (pictured)).
Readers, have you grown out a pixie cut, or worked with someone who did? Any best practices or tips?
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Anonymous
I’ve been growing out my bangs and having a similar proble. I really do look like I have a mullet if I’m not careful. I’m tempted to cut the bangs again, just because it’s been driving me nuts.
Wanderlust
+1. I just caved and re-cut the bangs and it feels sooooo good
TO Lawyer
Honestly, I think as long as your hair looks neat and like you made some effort, you’re probably ok. (Although I think the advice to avoid a mullet type look is wise).
FWIW, I’ve been growing out a chin-length bob to my normal long, bra-band length over the last year or so and while I get lots of comments, the older men I work with seem to understand the process of growing your hair out. More crazy things like extensions and drastic colour changes, they would probably be confused by.
k-padi
I love my pixie. I am networking more and I was getting a lot more complements on my hair when I was less than a week away from my haircut and when it was a lighter color. So no more drastic changes to my cut or color.
So now that I am job hunting, I have a “longer” pixie where the bangs and sides are just long enough to tuck and keep the back short. Instead of coloring it darker for fall, I am staying with a dark blonde shade. I am kind of bummed because I look exactly like my mother now. I guess Mom did know best!
Ellen
Yay! Finally, an articel about hair length! Thank’s Kat!
Personaly, I would love to be abel to have short hair, but the manageing partner insist’s that I have hair that is NO shorter then shoulder length, and prefereabley longer. So what I wind up doeing, particulearly in SUMMER, is putting my hair up or at the VERY LEAST, wearing schrunchie’s to keep the hair off my neck! FOOEY! Why do MEN insist we have long hair? I know why Alan did, and that was dissgussting, but other men, do they also fantasise about what women with long straight BLOND hair are to them? I do NOT understand it. Personaly, as far as MEN are concerned, I do NOT even care if they are bald, if they are nice, but most are chauvinist’s, with our without hair, and we women should NOT put up with ANY of that, short hair, long hair, pixie, schrunchie, or NOT. DOUBEL FOOEY on men who do NOT respect us for our MINDS!
Hey Nonny Nonny
Yeah, no. I am not going to refrain from getting hair extensions just because my male boss might be CONFUSED by them. Sure, I don’t want to be associated with distractions in general, but eff this. I mean, we’re supposed to be high-powered overachieving women, but “ooooohhhh, nooooo, I can’t get my hair done because my boss might not understand it.” And does this hold true for black women, too? No weaves, no wigs, because the 59-year-old white male general counsel might hurt his widdle brain!
BankrAtty
+100. Thank you.
j
+100000000
S
+1000
kc
I agree with this, but I have to say, there is a girl at work who one day came in with a wig that was a completely different hairstyle and color than normal and it was ridiculous. She looked absurd. But she is known for doing wacky things with her hair, and thats not something I want to be known for.
Breezyred
+1
Medic Maggie
LOVE my pixie. I feel like it totally better represents my personality and lifestyle than longer hair did.
And, in aging, and hormonal changes, my hair, when past chin-length, starts to look pretty ragged. I had it just below my shoulder line before I got it chopped in August, and it just looks so much better.
Having grown out this hairstyle twice now, I agree with what Kat says about needing to keep the back short. Let the front hang heavy & long, but keep the back trimmed up so that it looks like you’re going for a short stacked bob. Make sure you are dealing with a stylist who knows how to deal with short hair–not all of them do!
Another key is styling. Even if you manage not to have mullet-hair, you could still have Carol Brady hair. There is a particularly unappealing photo of me where I have Carol Brady hair and it was the impetus for me to realize that it’s about styling too. At that point, I didn’t know what to do to make it curly (was it even curly then?) but now I go for a tousled messy curly look.
Invest in the right products to maintain your hair. Use a heat-shield if you dry & iron your hair; or find a great paste/cream for curly or tousled hair.
BankrAtty
I love my pixie too! Makes everything I wear look fresh and chic.
CherryScary
I chopped it all off for a pixie right before I graduated. I was never much for doing anything with my hair (naturally straight, but always manages to get some weird kink) so having such low-maintenance hair has been fantastic. Have to cut it more often, but no regrets here! I’ve also had a lot of people say they wish they had the guts to cut it off, but hair just isn’t a big deal for me.
Natalie
I have been slowly growing out my pixie/changing up my short hairstyle. I agree with keeping the front and sides long. It’s easier to transition to an A-line, and I find my back grows much faster than the rest, so keeping it super short helps me go longer between cuts.
I also find simple headbands or a thin grosgrain ribbon (tied like a headband) helps manage the cut at those times when I’m ready to shave it all off!
anon +45
Can I point out another, unfortunately common reason this is relevant? Cancer. When you lose your hair due to chemo & transition from wigs to short hair (aka a forced pixie cut) & are trying to grow it back out, you need all the help looking professional you can get.
Yes, it’s a bit of an office distraction, no, it can’t be helped. Coworkers I was close to, I told the truth, but most people, I just mumbled something about “yeah, needed a change” when they noticed & then changed the topic to something totally different. Male / female, didn’t matter, had the same reaction. That said, the distraction passes very fast — people may notice for a few days, & then they forget about your hair changes. People have work to do.
Anonymous
I had a brain tumor removed and had to shave most of my head. My job is pretty casual so while word definitely spread, no one even blinked when I started wearing scarves, bandanas and hats every day. Of course, once my hair did grow back in, HR had to send around a note saying that hats should not be worn at work. Apparently I started a mini-trend :)
But yeah – my go-to response if I don’t feel like getting into things is that I donated my hair. It’s true and I’ve never had anyone ask follow-up questions to it.
Brooke
I had a super short pixie at one time. Here’s my input – keep the back short. Savor the Victoria Beckham lob stage (my favorite cut of all time and one I’ve been trying to restrain myself from getting again since it’s taken so long to grow my hair out). Once it gets past the stage where you have to trim to avoid the mullet – DO NOT CUT IT. Only get bang trims or whatever is absolutely necessary. Once I realized that I needed to lay off of the 8 week hair cuts my hair really got long. There is hope!
Use your hair dryer & irons as little as possible. Start using Wen (cheaper via Amazon) and wash as infrequently as you can. Dry shampoo is your friend (I like Batiste – it’s $8 at Walgreens or $5 at TJ Maxx and they have it in brown!). Use headbands, barrettes, etc to get you by as long as possible without washing or using heat products. If you can do that that will reduce your need for trims and you’ll have long hair before you know it!
Anonna
Funny – I agree with you on keeping the back short. But, I did the exact opposite when growing out a pixie. I kept up with regular cut and color every 6 weeks, plus mid-term maintenance trims. I talked with my stylist about growing it out, and my frequent cuts helped me keep a nice shape and maintain my color while things grew out. She kept the back short and let the front and sides grow, but kept the back from getting bushy and the bangs from getting too long. Before I knew it, I went from a pixie, to a shaggy pixie, to a short bob. Far less painless then when I tried to do it myself.
AnonInfinity
I completely disagree about resisting the urge to cut it. I had a pixie for many years (loved it; considering going back to it) but grew it out a couple of years ago. I got my pixie cut every 3 weeks because I am neurotic. When I grew it out, I switched to every 4 weeks. My hairdresser would only cut off, like, a millimeter and make sure the back wasn’t growing out too quickly. It did take a long time, but it looked fabulous that entire time–never shaggy or mullet-ish–and I attribute that to the fact I got it reshaped constantly to deal with how it was growing. We talked at length about my hair goal when I first embarked on the growing phase, and I think that helped a lot because she knew what I had in mind. Every 4 weeks might not be right for people whose hair doesn’t grow freakishly fast, but I would keep up whatever schedule you were on before for trims, especially for the first several months.
I do co-sign everyone’s advice to try to keep the back a little shorter because it seems to grow faster. I grew my bangs out to a swoop first, which also helped with the transition.
Anonymous
Pinterest is your friend for visuals of how to do this. Here’s one example: http://www.unspeakablevisions.com/2012/04/pixie-cut-series-part-3-growing-it-out.html
Anonymous
I had a short cut (think Mika Brzezinski) for a while and have been growing it out. Definitely keep the back short until everything is the same length and keep up with the salon visits. Good luck!