In Defense of My Pixie Cut

Monday, July 21, 2014


After having had hair that ranged from long to super long, I kissed my usual floppy ponytail {that swings behind my head} goodbye in 2010. The one thing that USED to make me feel quite ultimately a girl… my long, straight, might I add, silky, darn hair. This led to four years of various pixie cut inspirations, pliable molding clay/hair styling wax experiments and at one point, tears whilst learning to let go of the cloak of hair that once protect me. These days though, it’s just my cheekbones against the world and I’m perfectly okay with that. For someone who has had short hair for a while, I think I’ve heard almost every awkward, sometimes crazy notions/comments there are in regards to this pixie do. Among which:

Silly Notion #5: People mistake you for a boy 
Yup. That one evening I took the jeepney with my co-teachers on the way to the mall. I was wearing a casual denim capris, collared white tee and a pair of sneakers when I saw this woman seated in front of us staring straight at me in utter bewilderment like 'is she or is she not'. Then I started talking to one of my co-teachers to assure her I'm a girl and that, I think, settled everything. I Think. This happened once or twice and couldn't be more grateful for breasts and dresses and hoop earrings and make-up and my source of utter sassiness; RED LIPSTICK.

Silly Notion #4: Pixie cut doesn’t look feminine 
Because we all grew up surrounded by images that equate long hair with femininity but it only takes the right cut and styling to prove this notion wrong. Some days, I’d throw in a short dress/black tights combo and I’m good to go. Most days though, I just wear confidence like an invisible crown and work it like I'm supposed to. I guess I'm in the habit of challenging the idea of traditional femininity every now and then.

Silly Notion #3: ‘But men like long hair
You don’t say? {Insert sarcasm here}. Because, I don’t know, anything that I do with my looks should always please men? HECK. NO. If long hair is what you’re into, move along, dude. Move. Along.

Silly Notion #2: Chopping off your hair as an expression of a significant life change
Overtime, I grew tired of telling people it wasn’t so. When people say this to me, I just smile at them politely because I lack the energy to explain myself. But for the record, I chopped off my hair because I just wanted to. It can’t get any simpler than that. No, I didn’t go through a rough break up, nor did I ever want to liberate myself from something and I seriously didn’t go through a life phase of some sort. I cut my hair short because I just wanted to, the same way you want a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream and cocoa powder on a rainy morning.

Silly Notion #1: Some assumes you’re a lesbian
Perhaps the silliest of all. There's this unfortunate stereotype about women with short hair and their sexual orientation in our culture today. I honestly didn't know that not having a boyfriend and sporting a pixie cut is all it takes to make the team. Let me tell you this one thing though: just because you’re short haired, doesn’t mean you’re attracted to women already. Some are, and well, that’s really their choice and should be respected in the very same way my choice should be. But guys, I'M STRAIGHT. I’m very much attracted to men... with scruffy beards in particular, preferably with Napoleon’s brain, who loves to engage in sensible conversation, whose poignant thoughts and ideas can challenge my own {but really, any guy who can leave his handprint on my heart is fine by me too}. I’m tragically heterosexual like that even though you think my pixie cut says otherwise.

You Might Also Like

0 comments