A Pixie is the New Black

Once at a party, a boy came up to me and said: “You did it! You’re so brave! You go girl.” like I had saved a child from a burning building. He was pointing to my hair.

The stigma that cutting your hair short is somehow less feminine, or emotionally traumatizing, or extremely risky bothers me. Because yes, it is intimidating to go short if you’re so used to long hair that you can’t see yourself any other way. But I never considered myself as brave.

I know a lot of people are afraid to cut their hair short because they think that they’ll look like a man, or they’ll be less sexy or someone will judge them—and it is true that short hair cuts are meant for certain face shapes—but cutting your hair isn’t about fear, it’s about liberation.

Since I’ve cut my hair off, I have felt more sexy, more confident, and more me than I have in my entire life. I wake up every day and I think to myself how glad I am that I cut it. True, it’s intimidating, and maybe some people are a little put off by it at first, but I’ve never once had someone say something directly rude to me about my hair.

And actually, the people that I get the most compliments from are the people that so many girls are afraid will think they’re unattractive—boys. And I’m not just talking about mature men; I’m taking frat boys too. On an average night, at least one guy will come up to me at the end of the night and say something awkward like “I’ve been wanting to say this all night but your hair is amazing. You’re so cool to do that.” Or sometimes people do stranger things like ask to pet my head (not lying!).

The point is, this thing that is so stigmatized as bringing only negative attention brings so much positive attention. People are attracted to the confidence that a pixie and shorter haircuts automatically give off; because girls with short hair can’t hide behind their hair, they’re just themselves and they’re comfortable with it and that is unbelievably attractive. So if you’ve been wanting to go short for a long time, but you’ve been afraid to actually do it, let the fear and your long hair go, and see how much lighter you feel without it.

Photo by Shidika Goode