Four years ago today...

It’s my Pixieversary! As in, on this day 4 years ago, I cut my hair off.

I often see the famous Coco Chanel quote that “a woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life”, and that is exactly what I did. I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it, not even my stylist Michele until I got to the salon. I walked into the salon sick to my stomach (half nerves, half excitement) and walked out a different person. As soon as I got in my car I had a photoshoot (see below) and called my bestie to tell her what I had done and how ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE I was with the new me.

Now here we are, 4 years later and I’ve had just about all styles of undercuts I could imagine. Maybe you’re reading this because you also have short hair, or because you’re thinking of getting yours cut. I’d like for this post to be a guide for the things I’ve learned having short hair over these years.

1. Short Hair is Feminine

I have never in my life felt more feminine, sexy and powerful than I do with short hair. Since I was in middle school I kept my hair pretty long, so it wasn’t until cutting it that I realized I was hiding behind it. I believe this is different from person to person, not everyone hides behind long hair, not everyone is going to have the feeling of liberation like I did cutting my hair. But let me tell you, that feeling of liberation changed my life.

2. You Have to Style It

Growing up watching old romantic films, all of the women with short hair seemed like it was so effortless. I thought oh great, I’ll be able to roll out of bed and have effortless ‘French Girl’ hair! (Haha- I was wrong. So, so wrong.) And then I was introduced to something called Pixie Bed Head. It’s a phenomena that happens to women with short hair when they go to sleep with a beautiful, smooth blow out and wake up with troll doll hair. So I’ve adapted to running a curler or wave of a blow dryer onto my hair daily, especially when I have my hair cut shorter (for me, the shorter my hair, the more my cow licks take control). Luckily, short hair takes nearly no time to style! I can go from sopping wet to perfectly coiffed hair in under 10 minutes (5 if I’m feeling fiesty).

3. Products Are Your Friends

Living in Florida at the time, I had to learn this lesson fast to try and combat the humidity. Here are some of my product tricks and recommendations:

* Add Mousse to wet hair before drying to extend the style and give you extra hold. My favorite is R+Co Aircraft. It’s a pomade mousse so it gives the hair a bit more texture.

* Keep a paste on deck at all times to help tame the sides of your undercut. Another R+Co product I love for this is Mannequin Styling Paste. It dries matte so doesn’t make the hair look oily, but won’t flake up or dry the hair out either.

* Add something slippery like a hair oil, serum, or gloss, especially any time you are using a product with hold in it. Adding something slippery, like DesignMe GlossMe (code LOUWHO saves you some $), gives the hair a bit of slip to it when styling so that it’s easier to run your tools through the hair, and will add moisture back into your ends.

* Dry shampoo before bed. Just trust me on this one! You’ll get at least another day out of your blowouts. While we sleep, our scalp oil and sweat saturates the hair making it lose it’s shape or look greasy. Adding just a bit of dry shampoo helps to prevent it so you can go longer between restyling and washing. A favorite dry shampoo of mine is from waterless because it doesn't weigh my hair down.

4. The Possibilities Are Endless

Platinum hair, purple hair, rockstar hair, etc. The biggest advantage to having short hair in my opinion is that you can experiment with it a ton. I would never have bleached my entire head when my hair was down my back- but one thing you realize with a pixie is how fast your hair grows back! So I take the liberty of constantly reinventing myself, without worrying about hair damage or long-term effects because I know it’ll grow back in no time.

5. Some People Cant Stand It

I’m not quite sure what goes through a person’s mind when they think that it’s their right to tell someone else how to look. I just can’t really wrap my head around it to be honest. We all have our own bodies, so should be minding our own, right? Haha that’s what I thought too. But there are some people out there who, for whatever reason, cannot stand the fact that a woman would choose to cut her hair off. If you have come in contact with any of these people, or anyone who felt the need to tell you how ANY part of your body should look, rest assured- the issue is not your hair or your body, but in their own narrow mindedness. Keep doing you boo boo!

I’m not sure if I’ll ever grow my hair out again to be honest, as of right now, I have no desire to. But maybe a few more years down the line, I’ll have grown into a new me again. That’s the beauty of life, year after year, minute by minute we have the power to keep growing and reinventing ourselves. Now, please excuse me while I pour myself a glass of champagne to celebrate!

X,

Sarah

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