Office Trend - Chop and Bleach

[DweamGoiL]

This is coming from a Brunette observing 2 laides with natural, but varying shades of blonde. They both chopped to a pixie with the side-swept bangs a la Rihanna and bleached to platinum. Don't get me wrong...to each is own and you should do whatever you like with your hair, but it looks so artificial and the maintenance on that must be crazy. Of the two, the one that had the longest hair was at APL so it's not so much the shortness, but the severity of the bleach job that is more striking. Growing up, that was the style my mom wore as she got 'older' so it's just a bit funny to me, that they would choose that style and color to try to look younger *shrugz*

[GetMeToWaist]

I feel like it's influenced by the Miley Cyrus chop, and also celebs like Pink. It does look edgy but I would never do it.

[MsBubbles]

Also, the Big Bang Theory actress. I preferred long hair (extensions?!) on her, but anyway, I guess how she looks isn't up to me! It'll be interesting to see how far the bleached pixie trend goes! Maybe not too far if it's so much upkeep. I enjoy observing hair trends.

[RapunzelKat]

Yeah, I think a lot of people are doing that because of the celeb trend (Jennifer Lawrence, Kaley Cuoco, P!nk, etc...).
It looks nice on some, but I wouldn't want it myself. Like DweamGoil said, so high maintenance! shudder: One of the big reasons I let my short hair grow out was the constant hassle and expense of the frequent cuts and color jobs.

[brickworld13]

P!nk has been sporting some form of platinum or pink pixie for more than a decade. She falls in and out of the spotlight a lot because she never seems to be involved in "scandals."

The maintenance to maintain such a style would drive me utterly nuts. I'm so lazy about haircare. I tried bangs about 18 months before joining LHC, and they always looked awful because I was far too lazy to do anything with them.

[jacqueline101]

Yeah, I think a lot of people are doing that because of the celeb trend (Jennifer Lawrence, Kaley Cuoco, P!nk, etc...).
It looks nice on some, but I wouldn't want it myself. Like DweamGoil said, so high maintenance! shudder: One of the big reasons I let my short hair grow out was the constant hassle and expense of the frequent cuts and color jobs.

I agree. I did a shag years ago I liked it but I love my longhair. I grew it out after a few set backs to where I'm at. I do remember there is upkeep to hair that short and it was expensive.

[arr]

Thats one of the great things about short hair is you can change it up frequently. There are people who really enjoy this, they dont mind the maintenence. They would feel extremely bored with long, undyed, one length hair. i can understand it completely, however im not one of them. I for one am glad there is so much variety, i enjoy seeing the latest edgy looks without having to do it myself.

[Eastbound&Down]

I've had a pixie and the maintanence is exhausting! Don't get me wrong, it's fun for a little bit but I can't wait to get back to at least BSL!

[SkyChild]

I loved my pixie, but it was never bleach blonde. But I could never be bothered/ able to afford the visits to get it redone so after a few rounds of growing-out I decided maybe I should try the other extreme and go really long.

[sarahthegemini]

I really don't see what's so exhausting about pixie maintenance :-/ Trimming regularly isn't a big deal to me and at least it gives you the freedom to bleach the crap out of it if you wish without worrying how long it will take to.grow out the damage.

[embee]

I had very short hair for a while, but could not afford the $ or the time for trims to keep it looking good. So it looked shaggy and wretched and unkempt. Moms with small children get pinched for time and money.

I guess if there's plenty of money and time it's no problem.

[ladonna]

I guess I'm the odd one out since I really like the described hair style. And bob haircuts... I really love.

[brickworld13]

Oh I'm not saying I dislike them. They are really cool. I'm just way too lazy to have it for myself. :flower:

[hanne jensen]

I've always been lazy with my hair. When I maintained shorter hair I'd just wash, wear a towel for an hour and then shake my head. Never used blow fryers or irons or anything. The only time I've ever colored my hair is when I was in a henna period of my life. I quit because I was too lazy to maintain my roots. The henna never took to my hair anyway.

[Phexlyn]

I've never had a pixie, only a chin-length bob and it drove me nuts. Any haircut which requires regular heat styling to look good is too much work for me ;)

But office trends kind of weird me out anyway. Like when suddenly everyone colors their hair a certain shade. Or gets the same haircut. I like getting along well with my colleagues, but does that mean I have to copy their style? I've never understood this "bonding" by looking alike.

[butter52]

ive had a long pixy for years and never minded too much the maintainance. I trimmed it every 2 months or so, took 1 hour and less than 20 bucks.

I like the platinum blonde, Im the kind that feels that if you are going to dye your hair and make it look artificial, then go all the way!

[Dreams_in_Pink]

When people do it because they like wearing short hair, i feel happy for them. I had a friend who always sported a pixie cut; she would say how her long curly hair didn't make her feel beautiful at all (despite the compliments she used to get) and that she was so much happier with pixie cut.

But...when girls go into the salons and ask hairdressers to look like a celebrity, or someone else in their office or friend circle, then there's a problem. It's sad because they will almost certainly regret their decision and go for much more drastic hairstyle changes in order to "fix" their looks. So many people go from brunette to blonde, then back to brunette, then back to blonde hair, which would probably be fried and fall apart at this stage. And then they get extensions in an effort to look "okay". Although all of these sound like fairytale on LHC boards, so many people go round and round this circle.

I think every woman should pause, forget about all the other beautiful, perfect people they see on TV and magazines and look in the mirror and ask "What would make me feel beautiful?" They should follow their own choices rather than following trends or wanting to look like someone else. But then again, this would have a huge negative impact on hair industry as women would finally be pleased with themselves and stop looking for miracle products or extensions. Who would buy relaxers if black women are happy with their hair texture? Let's start a straight hair trend. Who would buy expensive hair extensions? Let's start a pixie cut trend. Who would buy an extra moisturizing repair conditioner? Platinum blonde is very in this season.

[Fira]

I agree with so many of you (embee, Phexlyn, Dreams_in_Pink)...

I am also one of those "to lazy for a pixie" people. I had that a few times, the last time I loved it. I could wear bold lipstick with my super short hair when with longer hair I don't feel comfortable with that and I "do" my eyes more. I think it looked good on me. It did change me, people would not recognize me on the street. But it was to much work for me. I had to wash my hair at least every other day and that drove me crazy (even though it took me 10 minutes to wash and dry). It sounds weird. ;) I had less work with my F thin curls at BSL... :o

I do like this kind of changes - mostly when other people do it.

A few things I would add.
I also do not get the "wanting to look exactly like someone else" thing - I like that everyone is different.
I get that changing hair color and cut is a way to "change something in your life". You may want to change something else but feel that you can't so you change what you can (your look) - and it makes a positive distraction in your life... I used to do that a lot - color or cut my hair just to change "something" in my life. And I told everyone: I needed a change so I did it to my hair.
The way I feel, think and live now, such a thing would not be for me - I do not have the time to go to a hair stylist all the time and I prefer to spend (part of) that money on my child. I am into healthy life and hair care so chemical dye is not popular with me anymore.

But it is interesting - I have noticed a very similar trend with ladies that work for another company in my office building on my floor (several have cut to a bob and bleached). :D

[chen bao jun]

Well, if you are going to bleach (especially to platinum), you might as well get a pixie since your hair is going to fall out anyway.
I had a pixie once and it didn't look good on me. on ME (I'm not saying on everybody, but on me) it was also a lot of maintenance, too much for me to be bothered with. I'm glad I did it, 35 years ago, because it made me realize I can't stand to have that hairstyle and I've never done it again. and my taste is that I don't like bleached platinum hair, not even on Marilyn Monroe (I think she looked soooo much better as a curly-haired brownette); I'd have to destroy my hair to do it because it's still so very black (though I now have some grey in it) and I know from wearing wigs for fun (costume parties) that blonde, red and light brown hair all make me look even more light-skinned than I already am and even less like a black person. I know it doesn't do this to everybody, but it does to me and since my personal taste is to emphasize the African ancestry that I have in my looks, there is NO WAY I am ever going blonde (though I do think many natural blondes are pretty).
My feeling about office trends, or whatever trends: You have to know what look you like yourself to have and stick with it, otherwise you are going to be unhappy (you will 'fit in' but you will be unhappy and its not worth it).

[PinkyCat]

Well I've had both long & short and, for my hair, I really don't need to do much different than when I had it long. I still don't use heat, still put a couple handfulls of various goop in, and still roughly the same amount of dry time.

It probably varies quite a bit with the shape of the cut and your natural texture.

[DweamGoiL]

I've had a pixie when I was way younger. I hated it on me. My face is very round and it looks like a moon with such a short cut. Then, my other issue was bangs. If I didn't wash almost every day, they would just plop right on top of my head and I needed to heat style them or wash every day, but yes, this does vary with texture. Believe it or not, in order to get my pixie to get body, I used to perm it, and yes, I would color as well. But then again, my hair looked dry and pouffy at times and limp and lifeless on good days. Nowadays most people trying to achieve this 'look' want it straight, and most hair does not naturally dry that way, so heat will be required. I remember the days of having to get up an hour early just to fuss with my hair.

[spidermom]

Pixie was very little maintenance for me as well. I did have to wash it more often, but that took less than 5 minutes. I could run lightly gelled fingers through it and was good to go.

When I was training as a manager years ago, I learned that the majority of people feel more comfortable when they're among other people who look and believe very much as they do. Those of us who want to be different are the minority.

[lapushka]

A pixie was terrible. My hair got oily within a couple of days (day 3 I was a greaseball), and needed a hell of a lot of maintenance. There was a time I "shaved" it off myself with a trimmer and that was quite nice to do and have (that "cut"), but no. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Long hair is much easier to take care of. My hair is practically left alone an entire week, except on wash day. Wash day is a little cumbersome, but it's just a few hours of "work" (that my mom does for me, as I'm disabled). And that's it. Shorter hair would need daily maintenance like styling for a few hours and that's just a no-go.

[chen bao jun]

When I was training as a manager years ago, I learned that the majority of people feel more comfortable when they're among other people who look and believe very much as they do. Those of us who want to be different are the minority.

Well, whether for good or bad, I don't necessarily WANT to be different, but I AM different, not matter what I do. It's getting so I see more people who look like me, since there's many more biracial kids than there used to be, but I still wouldn't say it was common. I'm not biracial but I have three bi-racial grandparents out of four which amounts to the same neither fish nor fowl looks. Fifty years ago, nobody in the US, black nor white, could deal with this AT ALL. Add to this a foreign accent, foreign mannerisms and being from a country no one had ever heard of, which exploded all the US stereotypes (my mother, who definitely looks black has tortilla and empanadas as her native foods) and it was very interesting. And of course, when I went back to where I was born, everyone there was like 'oh, you're so American' and I couldn't speak the language.
I think I gave up on 'fitting in' by the time I was 8 years old, but that turned out to be blessing because since then I just decided to do what I like (since I never fit anyone's expectations anyway) and because of that, I've had some great experiences, lots of foreign travel, lots of learning different and unexpected languages--I might not have thought of trying all the different things that I did had I 'fit in' and been comfortable anywhere. Interestingly enough, my 'can't tell exactly what she is' type of looks worked great for travelling to places all over the world--the majority of people in the world being olive skinned and black-haired like yours truly, I tended to always look just a little bit (intriguingly) different wherever I went, but never truly and bizarrely out of place.
What this has to do with having a pixie I don't know, but I think it does have something to do with not worrying if you don't fit in for whatever reason. As I've grown older, I've realized that even when people look exactly like everybody else around them, they STILL tend to feel as if they don't fit in for one reason or another, there's always something, its not just looks. If people felt they truly fit in, they wouldn't worry about it so much as they do, I think--and they wouldn't be so harsh to 'outsiders'. Turning on an outsider as a group is one way to bond, unfortunately and comfortable for every one except the outsider.

[Crumpet]

I've always been lazy with my hair. When I maintained shorter hair I'd just wash, wear a towel for an hour and then shake my head. Never used blow fryers or irons or anything. The only time I've ever colored my hair is when I was in a henna period of my life. I quit because I was too lazy to maintain my roots. The henna never took to my hair anyway.

I could have written this post, except my hair was always below shoulder length. I avoided heat tools out of laziness rather than for good hair. My highlighting experience didn't last long out of laziness more than anything else. I was meant to be a benign neglect long hair!

This hairstyle was all over my climbing gym yesterday. I might not have noticed it except I saw this post and was surprised to see it everywhere. Its a cool hairstyle. People in climbing gyms often look very edgy and cool and this hairstyle complemented a lot of that look. I liked it, but I would fail at it.

CHEN - I always love your posts. They make me happy. Although I look like the old stereotype of an American girl (blonde hair, blue eyes, but with pale skin -- I think we're supposed to be tan!), I spent a large portion of my childhood in Asia and I now work in Africa. Needless to say: I don't blend. I think it makes us stronger to accept being different and not feel the need to make ourselves conform to the norms around us.

[dogzdinner]

hmm, I wonder if short hair is becoming fashionable again? Its true there are quite a few young celebs with short hair the moment.
Ive often gone for a short cut out of laziness. I really couldnt say pixie coz that implies a proper girlie style when infact Ive usually just had my hair chopped into a short masculine type cut then left it to grow! I tend to get annoyed with it about BSL and then just chop it all off again.
(dont knwo what happened this time...I think I somehow missed the annoyance window coz Im quite happy with it longer).;)

[chen bao jun]

Crumpet, I love your posts, too! I 'd love to hear sometime about your experiences. (I also love your name. I love crumpets)