What can i do from here?

[Barefoot]

I had pixie short hair and let it grow out without cutting it at all. So now it looks uneven and straggly. I don't really want to lose the length as it is just able to put up which I like. So I am after some different styles (the one pictured is my go to style lately, sometimes with the bottom in a pony)

What can I do with it?

[Barefoot]

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b166/froggy80au/IMAG0273-1.jpg

Would help if I added the pic.

[peronella]

you can side-part it and twist it back on both sides, (sorta like french braid style, but twisting, and only taking hair from the outside I don't know if there's a name for this or not) and then fasten it in the back in a little pony, this kinda gathers up the uneven bits along the way ( a couple pins may be needed here and there) and I think it looks pretty, and interesting enough to keep me from getting the boring blahs. I did this from the time my hair was shoulder length to now (bsl), only now I bun it.

I don't know if that will be useful to you, but its kind of my go-to style, I thought I'd share. Your hair is lovely and so are your barrettes! ETA: Oh I see they are Fexi-8's, actually. Well cool. :)

[joflakes]

I just wanted to say that your hair looks lovely, not straggly at all!

[Bunnysaur]

I think it looks just fine. Sure your layers are a little uneven, but I think the layering is kind of cute at your stage.

[Kiwiwi]

Just want to say I think it looks lovely too :-)

[Envari]

At your length I'd probably go for a simple everyday updo with pins for the back and two bobbypins securing the bangs (like the barrettes on your picture). However, I'm not really sure whether it's possible with your hairtype or if it'll just fall down within an hour or two?

[malin_798]

You can try braiding your bangs and pin it back. Like this (link) :)

http://mycharlestonweddinghair.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/bangbraid_thumb_BecomeGorgeous.jpg

[Barefoot]

My hair is fine and smooth, and very very straight. I have trouble keeping most clips/barettes in. If I do it securely, it ends up hurting after a few hours.

Thanks, might try the braids, though mine always end up tighter than the one in the link.

[TeaEarlGreyHot]

Your hair does not look bad AT ALL for growing out from a pixie. I wouldn't cut it right now either. I think that's about the length that I could do a "tails up" with a claw clip. I didn't know about the Flexi 8 or Ficcare then so I used a claw clip. My hair is APL now and since I have layers the only thing I ever do on a daily basis is still a tails up or a cinnamon bun held fully by a Ficcare.

[CarpeDM]

I was expecting to see some awkward uneven and straggly hair, but your hair looks lovely!

I would second the "tails up" with a claw clip. I did that style a lot when my hair was your length, I also did a lot of half ups with claw clips. Happy growing!!

[Envari]

My hair is fine and smooth, and very very straight. I have trouble keeping most clips/barettes in. If I do it securely, it ends up hurting after a few hours.

Thanks, might try the braids, though mine always end up tighter than the one in the link.

That just shows that I have no feeling for the texture of straigth hair whatsoever. Anyway, even though I understand that you'd like some inspiration for everyday wear, I don't think your hair screams "I came from pixie and have no shape of my own in the akward middlestage" at all. It looks lovely :)

Happy growing! :D

[irishlady]

I have some ideas for shorter hair in 2 of my albums, feel free to have a look.

[ravenheather]

I do a tails up with a claw or flexi 8, a french twist with a flexi 8 or sticks or ficcare, or a gibson tuck.

[Barefoot]

I have no idea how to do anything apart from a French braid and plaits. I tried French twists, but they fall out before I can secure them.

[Barefoot]

I didn't even know albums existed. Thanks, I had a look and there are some great ideas I am going to try. I love the Tolkien one.

[torrilin]

My hair is fine and smooth, and very very straight. I have trouble keeping most clips/barettes in. If I do it securely, it ends up hurting after a few hours.

Thanks, might try the braids, though mine always end up tighter than the one in the link.

The hurting is because you're pulling the hair taut, or perhaps even tighter than your hair and scalp can accommodate. I know it seems absolutely crazy, but if you work more loosely and gently, and pick a style where your hair gets trapped in more braid twists, it will hold better. So doing 2 braids or even 3 or 4 might well work better than doing one big one. And styles like French, Dutch or lace braids where hair is added in small sections tend to hold better than plain English braids.

My hair is thinner than yours, and I actually can't get most sorts of barrette hairstyles to hold at all :). They depend too much on my hair having "texture" or "grip".

The other reason to avoid pulling so tightly on your hair is traction alopecia. This is hair loss caused by tension on the hair strands. The more tension, the more easily the hairs will break :(. And since you've got fine hair, I'm sure you know how easy it is to break hairs.

As far as updos go... try splitting your hair into sections. Since you have type iii hair, and I'm a ii who ranges from 2.5-3", you have at least twice as much actual hair as I do. (if you were M to my F, we'd actually have about the same number of hairs, with yours being fatter) So where I might do a bun with a single ponytail, you might need to use 2 to get a workable style at the same length. If you used more sections, sometimes you will be able to get a workable style BEFORE I can in terms of length.

I find 4ypn0tica's (http://www.youtube.com/user/4ypn0tica?ob=0) YouTube videos really helpful. She's a member here with fine and straight hair, so hers does the same slithery stuff I'm used to, and that you're probably (sadly) familiar with. Her thickness is about like mine, so you won't necessarily be able to do a given style at the same length... if she's at BSL, chances are you'd need to be closer to waist to make the exact same thing work. But it'll still be helpful because you can see how she anchors things. And in a few vids, like the Romantic French Twist, she shows ways to use sectioning to make a style work. ATM her hair is past classic, so you will probably find her oldest videos more helpful.

Another vid I really like for showing sectioning is "An Easy, 5 minute little black dress hairstyle" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNcEt-mTVKM&list=PLF328B7C305D1780C&index=4&feature=plpp_video) by LaDollyVita33. Her hair is thicker than mine (probably close to a iii, if not well past), so if I try to do the style the exact same way she does, I fail due to insufficient hair. Thankfully, it's stupidly easy to adapt into something that works with thinner hair too :D. She has a lot of lovely braid styles too, and her hair (by LHC standards) is quite short. Still longer than yours, but you will get there soon!

Torrin Paige has a lot of great super basic braid tutorials, and her thickness is a lot like yours. She practices tons and talks about it, which should be helpful and encouraging :). Her hair ranges in between waist and classic length in most of her videos, so you get a decent preview of what sorts of things you can expect to do. The LHC combo bun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuvMCv-HIao&list=PLF3508F6411A91FDE&index=82&feature=plpp_video) is one where she particularly talks about how she adapted the idea. A lot of hairstyles that look super complicated are built out of standard techniques. If you know the techniques, you can break things down and adapt them. Styling hair is a skill, and Torrin talks about it that way. Just like it can take her MONTHS to go from a request to something she's willing to film, it will take you time too.

[heidi w.]

You can try alternative parts such as a side part, or a zigzag part. You can also braid, kind of french braid style bringing in strands at a time to kind of gather up the bits that are shorter and have them somewhat contained -- for a while. (All day, by day's end, they'll probably become loose or come out, possibly).

You can do very basic buns if you like. You can do half up/half down things, with some hair up in a teensy bun and the rest down.

Lots of options.

heidi w.

[heidi w.]

Now is the time to begin looking at updo tutorials, and find one or two you think might work for you, and try them out.

heidi w.

[Barefoot]

Thanks, (i had to do some deciphering to work out a few things in the posts, but I got them)

I will check out the links and videos later when I am not on my phone. Thanks for them.

[Barefoot]

Ooh, so many pretty hair videos. Thanks. I will try one out soon. I think I will try the little black dress one first.

[PeacenQuietGal]

Just want to say that I do not think it is scraggly AT ALL. Actually I like the way you have it, down with the barettes. I think you can go right on growing, and no need for trim or cut, personally. :)

[Barefoot]

Here is today's pretty hair. I tried a sock bun (after reading how on here) but my hair has too many layers and bits stick out everywhere.

Then I tried the little black dress do linked to earlier, but failed that also, so this is the result after tired arms and I also needed to have my hair out of the way because we are moving house.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b166/froggy80au/IMAG0312-1.jpg

[julliams]

I think it looks fine too. I say leave it as it is and keep growing.

[torrilin]

For the black dress one, the buns at the back probably aren't doable right now. But you should find you can hold the decorative twists in place with barrettes.

The style you ended up with looks really cute tho :)

[holothuroidea]

Just put a bow on it, it's beautiful!

ETA: I just realized that figure of speech could be taken literally in this instance! I don't mean actually put a bow on it (well you could if you wanted to, I'm sure it would be cute!), it just means that it's perfect the way it is- it's "ready to go." Like a present, when it's all picked out and wrapped up you just put a bow on it. :D

[SunlightShines]

I have very fine thin hair and while mine was growing out I would do my usual side part then twist each side back using the smallest claw clips (usually from the childrens section-that's where I get my rubberbands too) to hold the twists along the way. I meet the two twists in the back and use the clips to secure as well. Similar to wrapping a braid around my head only it's twists. I sometimes used butterfly irredescent clips to make it a bit more lively and colorful. I forgot to say that I did the twists while my hair was still damp and later I would take it down for some really nice looking waves. Once my hair got longer and had trouble wrapping the twists around, I would use clips to hold the twists together down the length of a ponytail. Sorry, I don't have any pics to show you!

[BlueMuse]

Could you do a french twist at that length (I've always been bad at them, so it's hit or miss when and if I can do them)? I grew out from a pixie too, and my mother would french braid it for me when it was that length. It did mean that the braid ended at the base of my head, but then we'd just tuck the end up and pin it. It worked pretty well for getting a smooth, pulled back look. I am absolutely useless when it comes to french braids on my own though, so I'm not entirely sure how she did it. Seconding (or is it thirding?) the claw clip twist. I did that one a lot for some variety. Also, you could probably use some slide barrettes for half ups.

[melusine963]

No hair style advice, but I don't think your hair looks uneven and straggly at all. It looks like it has deliberate layers and it seems to suit you very well (from what I can see in the picture).

[racrane]

What I did when I had hair that way was I used mini braids all the time. I loved it. Maybe that would help?

[Seeshami]

When I was working on getting to this length I was so furious with the naughty mess I couldn't even stand to look at it. Mine was pinned up in a pony tail until it one day was magically shoulder length and I realized I didn't use a single pin to get it up in the pony tail and hadn't for months.

In that moment I figured out I could do two braids right behind my ears and then pull them back and join them in a pony tail. I let my layers stick out all sorts of crazy just like I do now and didn't care.

The naughty mess and I have a hate love relationship, I hated it until it was BSL and then loved it, he loved me and did his very best to get long as fast as he could and now he hates me because I'm still not happy with it. :p