Going virgin by cut or?

[eamane]

These last weeks I have been thinking about getting a fresh start with my hair. Right now it´s at waist, and it has been approximately this long for about 3 years. I have had two kids and have shed tons of hair postpartum and have now quite a few different lengths. It´s been chemically dyed several times and then henna and indigo in between.
Right now I´m so fed up with my hair and I never do anything fun with it, since my kids were born it´s almost always in a braid.
I´m thinking about getting a real pixie-cut to get rid of all bits and pieces and all chemical dye. I have never had that short before and I would cut just to grow natural or at least get fresh hair. The only thing is, my roots are grey and that, I do not want! I´m not ready to go grey as of yet...

Some input please? :heart:

[Kris Dove]

I did this to get rid of my black dye and go back to my natural blonde, and honestly, I wouldn't have gone this route again as that in-between stage until it was long enough to pony, it was a mess and I felt pretty crap about my appearance.

Since you probably aren't going to back to your virgin colour as you don't want greys, perhaps dying all over your hair something close to your natural colour would be a good option for you, then from there you can decide how much you want cut off after assessing the damage, taper, etc. A slightly shorter than shoulder length bob or longer is pretty easy to grow out as it's long enough to pony.

[Xandergrammy]

I'm done with short hair, and my hair during the growing out stages is a nightmare, so I decided to not cut at all. I'm not willing to give up any length. You don't say how old you are, but there are many people of all ages growing out their grays here if you ever decide to go that route. :flowers:

[christi.adell]

Well ultimately it's your call but I've been pixie several times and it's a loooooooooong road.
Plus I've been stuck at short for awhile now because of something similar.

My natural hair has lots of grey, so I cut it off to start over. Well it starts growing out and I think I look old (I'm sure I don't really) so I dye it. My hair looks crappy dyed (or so I think) so I cut off again to start over. It's a viscous cycle.

Plus all the awkward stages between pixie and long-enough-to-pony are horrible.
I'm talking Mullet-ville horrible.

This all sounds doom and gloom but I just hate short hair and have been stuck here for so long.

[manderly]

I agree with everyone else. If you want to cut drastically to removed old damage, try to do so in a manner that avoids all the horrible growing out phases you'd have to endure if you went for a pixie. It ain't worth it to SO many people and you'll probably be miserable with it (this is assuming you want to remove damage, not actually rock a pixie. We've had members cut to pixie because they WANTED to and love it, so I'm not knocking the pixie.....just as damage repair it ain't worth it).

[Mutinous]

I would cut about six inches off. I would see how much damage that cuts out, and whether it solves some of the unevenness you have. I would than maintain here until it gets better and more even. Worst case scenario, if you hate losing the length, at least you won't have to start over from a pixie cut.

At the end of the day if its what you want to do, I say go for it. But that is a lot of length to lose, and if you are going to dye your hair anyway, you may as well do the whole length of it!

[eamane]

Thanks for all your replies!


I'm done with short hair, and my hair during the growing out stages is a nightmare, so I decided to not cut at all. I'm not willing to give up any length. You don't say how old you are, but there are many people of all ages growing out their grays here if you ever decide to go that route. :flowers:
I´m 35, or will be this weekend :p but I have been partly grey since late 20-something. I just don't want to grow it out yet, I love the color I get from henna-indigo but with two small kids the time is very limited and not enough.
I hate that I don't have time to care properly for my hair :(
Right now, I'm thinking about going to a hairdresser to get a real cut...

[Madame J]

One thing to think about with henna vs. chemical dye when you have kids is that henna isn't going to damage your hair if you have to leave it on longer than you planned. And it takes a long time, but most of that is inactive time. So if you slap some dye on your head and wait until you're supposed to rinse in 10 minutes, and then your kid makes some grand mess, or hurts himself, or something, and you have to drop everything and take care of that, would you rather have henna on your head or chemicals? At least with henna, the stain might be redder than you want, but it's not going to damage your hair.

As far as a pixie goes, if you decide to cut, I would suggest you keep it long enough to put up. The in-between stages of a pixie involve lots of bobby pins and time wrestling my hair into a state that it didn't cover my face. And that's not even talking about making it look good -- just be out of the way. I can't imagine how annoying that would be with kids to take care of. I did cut to pixie to remove all old dye, but then I grew it in natural, greys and all. If you're not ready to grow in grey, there's probably not much point to going all the way to a pixie.

[myrrhmaiden]

I just want to say I agree with the consensus not to get too heavy handed with the cut. Perhaps try a shoulder length-ish cut first, then you can decide if you still want to go shorter? Remember, you can always go shorter. I'm also going to advocate you take that extra time for yourself to do your hair. You deserve pretty/pamper time. Especially if you give so much of your time to momming. Moms deserve it more than anyone in my opinion. Mix it up, then go about your business. Slather it on, wrap it up, then go about your business. You can do it. :D

As a side point, I always think well kept long silver hair looks so magical. I'm rather looking forward to mine...if I can ever stop coloring!

[spidermom]

Go ahead and get it cut, but I strongly urge you not to go as short as pixie because then you'll have a lot of short layers to cut out. Maybe go to armpit length or even shoulder length because then you can still put it up to get it out of your way, you won't have a bunch of short layers to even out, and it will even up some of the regrow from shedding. Good luck!

[eamane]

Ok this is what I ended up doing:
Before my hair looked like this, a really bad pic though:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u_OogwGgvrg/Sxl7anjVwqI/AAAAAAAAANQ/IDBXb5q6gDY/s320/IMG_7268red.JPG

And after a visit to the hairdresser and a bottle of dye:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u_OogwGgvrg/Sxl7T1DI6CI/AAAAAAAAANI/ptYxOynA62I/s320/IMG_7270red.JPG

I do want to henna but right now it feels like to much :rolleyes: I'll get back to that when my kids are older...

[Leena7]

Pixies are fun if you like how yours comes out. They are liberating and quite elegant and otherworldly in their own way, however, they take FOREVER to grow out. I have had two pixie cuts and it takes about 6 months for my hair to be a presentable chin length bob. Six months isn't such a long time, but my pixie was shaggy to begin with. Also, waist to pixie might be a shock, especially if you have never had hair that short before. I would suggest cutting to a bob rather than a pixie if you want to go short because the growing out phase is much less awkward. But if you have your heart set on a pixie, go for it. You only live once so do what you want to do. The hair will grow back, even if it takes longer.

[Leena7]

I was a little late on that one. Oh well, your hair looks nice anyway!

[Hannah83]

Ok this is what I ended up doing:
Before my hair looked like this, a really bad pic though:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u_OogwGgvrg/Sxl7anjVwqI/AAAAAAAAANQ/IDBXb5q6gDY/s320/IMG_7268red.JPG

And after a visit to the hairdresser and a bottle of dye:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u_OogwGgvrg/Sxl7T1DI6CI/AAAAAAAAANI/ptYxOynA62I/s320/IMG_7270red.JPG

I do want to henna but right now it feels like to much :rolleyes: I'll get back to that when my kids are older...

Well, I can't see the first one, but iv'e seen it irl so I think I now. :pAnyway, it looks beautiful, and It's still long and you can braid and put it up. I need to trim a little to, but i'm ignoring my ends right now. Are you happy with it?

[spidermom]

It looks uneven from left to right to me, right side being significantly longer/thicker. Do you think it's just the way your hair is arranged for this particular picture?

[deko]

I'll recommed that if your're going to cut you hair short you leave it to the lenght that you can manage a some sort of updo. Even a ponyail. Else it would be very hard to keep growing your hair long.

[Bunnyhare]

One more in accord with the rest of the posters here...i have had to grow out from layers and it is a nightmare. I am almost to waist with some, but a few are still collar bone length..if you really want to cut then do it! but i would agree that a pixie is hard to grow out, lots of layers, can't pull it back for a LOONG time....I would start to the length spidermom suggested, at least armpit length so you can still pull it up. then you can see if you want to go shorter...Best wishes for whatever path you go!

[eamane]

Well, I can't see the first one, but iv'e seen it irl so I think I now. :pAnyway, it looks beautiful, and It's still long and you can braid and put it up. I need to trim a little to, but i'm ignoring my ends right now. Are you happy with it?
Thanks :) I think I'll like it at least :p Anyway, it'll grow back....


It looks uneven from left to right to me, right side being significantly longer/thicker. Do you think it's just the way your hair is arranged for this particular picture?
It doesn't feel uneven so I think it's just the way it's arranged right now. I will have to get help to take better pics soon :)

Hannah: Hairdate soon? ;)

[Hannah83]

Hannah: Hairdate soon? ;)

Yes, I think it's about time! :D

[Bellona]

I agree with spidermom too -- if I had to do it over again, I would have cut my waist length back to APL instead of a weird pixie-ish style. Now I have horrible looking layers everywhere. If you want a dramatic change go for really short, but maybe choose a chin length bob or something a little more growing out friendly? I'm not going to lie, short hair is really fun, but growing out layers is NOT! :)