So I have been on a quest to grow my hair back out for years- in fact, since 2004 when I got my first super short haircut, I have been practically urgent to grow it out, only getting it to about my shoulders before either getting sick of it or burning it chemically and chopping it off again.

The reason this always seems to be a pattern is the result of several factors; I greyed young (19) and have ever since been waging the battle of covering my grey new growth because it pops against my dark color, making it very visible, and I can only afford to cover it myself.

The grey being visible wouldn’t be such a big deal if people didn’t comment on it- even people I don’t know.

“Did you know you have some grey showing?”

“Are you balding?”

And, my favorite;

“Girl, you need to do those ROOTS!”

Thank you, stranger in Walmart- thank you.

I tried everything to cover those ROOTS without messing up my hair growth efforts; Natural Instincts, which has no ammonia, dark henna which doesn’t adhere to the grey roots but sure as heck darkens the length of my hair, Schwarzkopf Keratin color which did a decent job of sticking to the grey in it’s own right but came into this story so late in the game that I can’t tell how damaging it is or isn’t.

But my hair was tired; it had been through a lot in the last few years.

I wanted pretty curls for my wedding, which I had, but after the ceremony and pictures were over I started to hear my favorite pixie cut calling my name.

It might be nice, I thought, to start over and really take the lessons I’ve learned to heart this time; oh, and have the added bonus of being able to get a comb all the way through my hair which was not possible when my hair was grown out, the ends were too fragile and fuzzy.

After all, since this Granny hair thing is a trend nobody will notice if I grow out my grey, or better yet, they may think I did it on purpose; the added bonus of this is that anybody who points out my grey hair when I have a full head of it will look silly and I always enjoy when others make themselves look foolish with no help at all from me. 🙂

So I started getting it cut off in stages; a bob first, that was still fuzzy and impossible to comb through.

Next a little bit shorter, something like a few months of grown out pixie; I still had fuzzy spots.

That took us to where we are now.

A legitimate pixie.

These were taken the day I had the cut done, which was exactly a week ago.

I’m loving being able to comb through my hair when it’s wet; which is the only time I do so when it’s short- the rest of the time I rough it up with my fingers and put product in it to give it that mussed look, but it always looks much better on the day after I wash it.

Dirty hair is so much more obedient.

I have had a few friends that follow me on Instagram ask what I use to style my pixie and it is these 3 things;

I even put them on this post in the order that I use them; even when my hair is clean I often have to at least hit the front of it with dry shampoo just to give it a little extra oomph or it will, without fail, lay flat on my forehead and end up greasy.

Ah, bangs.

You’re cute, but you’re mean.

Then I shake a little Schwarzkopf volumizing powder into my hairline in the front and a little bit through the crown toward the back; but to rough up the sides and back I shake the powder into my hand and rub my fingertips together then get my hands into my cut and make it messy.

That’s how I like my pixies best; whether it’s a longer or shorter version of a pixie cut, I want it mussed up.

The messier the better.

So here is what I learned in my hair recovery journey that I can share with you, because while I’m good with my pixie cut and may have ended up back here regardless had I not severely burned my hair with chemicals, I know not everyone would be happy cutting their hair as short as mine.

Also, my journey isn’t over; even with all that I’ve cut off my ends are still fried in places- my color is uneven, and noticeably so. Most of it is a medium reddish brown through the length and there a is a prominent lock in the front that is darn near black (you can see it clearly in the photo I took on my couch sitting in the sun- that dark patch is over-dyed hair, it’s not an illusion).

Now that I have made the decision to stop dyeing my hair altogether for the time being the mismatched color scheme will only get worse before it gets better- starting with my section that is super grey in the front and sides, and on to the back where I don’t have much grey at all. I will be cutting off a lot of box hair-dye sins in the next year.

And my hair will only get shorter before I get to a point that I deem it healthy enough to start growing out again, my goal being a head full of virgin hair before I have my stylist do another thing with my color- because that’s the thing.

I have proven to myself that I can’t dye my hair responsibly- I end up with it being too dark and then I want to lighten it so I use what I have at my disposal which are chemicals I am maybe not meant to work with because I don’t have the knowledge necessary to avoid a disaster.

Sure, color at the stylist is expensive, especially when the word “correction” is attached; the time, the tools, the expertise- they add up quickly.

But they are worth every second in the chair, every hard truth from your stylist and every single dime.

To not end up with hair so fried you can’t comb it?

Yep, I would say it’s worth it.

I will be documenting my grey hair grow out and the different ways I keep my pixie cut fun!

I’m also thinking of asking one of my licensed hair stylist friends to sit down with me for a q&a on the dangers of box dye and how you can keep your locks touched up without having the situation spiral down into a catastrophe- is that something everyone would appreciate and benefit from?

Let me know in the comments here or on our FB page!

Until next time!

Love,

The Chick and her Chickadee