Hold Up! Pixie Haircut Mania Hits, Proceed With Caution

The pixie haircut is having a moment right now, with many celebs opting to embrace the all or nothing style — one which has a high margin of error.

A pixie cut looks amazing on some people and… less fortunate on others, and even if you sweep your hair back or up, it’s hard to tell how the specifically sharp and distinctive look will affect your head until locks are already shorn and commitment is already made.

Pamela Anderson’s new pixie haircut and Jennifer Hudson’s just before it have renewed interest in this high-stakes style, one which has indeed been a good gamble for a few throughout hair history… Mia Farrow, anyone?

We admit our pixie-phobia runs deep and long, connected to an early in life sudden and subsequent mom-mandated Kindergarten rendition of the style. Since that point, nothing shorter than a bob has been on the hair menu. (There was also that thing with seeing nuns outside their habits for the first time and being horrified their hair did not match the lines of the head covering. Catholic childhood trauma!)

But the appeal of the pixie cut cannot be pegged to one specific phobia, nor should society really worry too much about the pervasive attachment to long hair overall. Even on its own merits, the pixie isn’t a decision to be taken lightly.

For instance, Pamela Anderson’s pixie cut is a head-turner… but Anderson also has beaucoup bucks. (We seem to recall Tommy Lee once building her a personal Starbucks.)

Anderson and Hudson can opt for expensive hair infusions should the pixie work out — but us average Janes need to endure the painful grow-out period… particularly the part in which hair is immovably stuck between pixie and bob. There is no salve for that, and it just has to be lived through. Ugh.

Second would be the fact that while you can see your facial lines in a ponytail or pinback, you really don’t know what your face shape looks like after a pixie cut until you’ve got it. Ditto for the rest of your head, and the reaction of your hair texture to the texture of the cut. It’s hella risky, proceed with caution.

Third is facial width factor — even if everything else lines up, pixie cuts add ten pounds. To your face.

Last is the versatility issue — a pixie may look good, but it’s just a pixie cut, all the time. No updos. No wearing it curly or straightening it. No facial layers. All pixie, all the time.

Did Pamela Anderson’s pixie haircut give you the short hair itch, or do you have snip-a-phobia, too?