When people meet me, one of the first things they always say is something along the lines of, “I love your hair!” and “I wish I had the guts to do that! You’re so brave!” Like getting a pixie cut is something that takes great sacrifice. There are a lot of things in this world that take more courage than getting a few inches of hair cut off, but for some reason many think that what I’ve done with my hair is something to be greatly praised, and I’ve never entirely understood that.
I didn’t cut my hair for any significant or dramatic reason. I’ve always had extremely thick and curly hair, down to about my shoulders. And not nice, easy curls—my curls were frizzy and hard to manage. If I tried to dry and straighten my hair, it took hours. Nothing I did with it looked good to me, and I didn’t have the patience to try and figure out a style or product that would help it. It was frustrating and unflattering.
The urge to cut my hair short was in the back of my mind since middle school, when it really sunk in just how unmanageable my hair was. However, I was fairly stubborn, and stuck with the same style into high school. The most I would change throughout the years were my bangs.
I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I decided to go for “The Big Chop,” but I finally decided I had enough my sophomore year of high school. The first cut I got took me from shoulder length hair to a bob that ended at my chin.
My next haircut a few months later went even shorter, to somewhere around my ears. I kept this length for a while before I took a page out of Emma Watson’s book and went for the full pixie cut, and I haven’t looked back.
Since then, I’ve shaved my head a couple of times and had various different styles of pixie cuts, but I haven’t let my hair go past my ears. It’s been almost six years since that first cut, and I’ve never felt more beautiful and confident. Sure, I’ve been mistaken for a boy more than a few times, my ears get cold in the winter, and my bed head can be downright terrifying, but I can’t imagine growing my hair out again.
If you’ve been thinking about cutting your hair super short, please, just go for it! There are short hair styles for every face shape. Talking to a hairdresser at your local salon is the first step. They’re trained to help you find the most flattering cut. If your hair is long enough, they can point you in the direction of some great wig-making organizations, like Wigs for Kids. Worried you can’t do much with it for formal? A cute headband or sparkly clips are the way to go.
Getting the chop shouldn’t be seen as something incredibly brave or scary. It’s a relatively simple haircut, and a totally painless process. Plus, if you don’t like it, it’s no big deal. That’s the great thing about hair—it grows back! But I believe that everyone should take the plunge at some point, whether it’s for charity, a personal reason, or just for fun.