One year ago today on the morning of Burbank’s General Election my hair looked like this:

 

In the afternoon, it did not. It looked like this, and this face was a face of “I screwed up. Big Time.”

My rescue partner Babs scolded me that I should never cut my hair on Election Day and yes, I do claim stress as part of it. But mostly, I loved Kaley Cuoco’s short haircut and how professional it made her look. I had been also wanting to do it for a while because I thought a pixie cut would be fun and different. So during an afternoon in April,  I chopped off all of my beautiful red hair.  My stylist was great about it and really talked me through it and finally I decided to go for it. Actually seeing my hair fall to the ground wasn’t an issue for me except when I finally looked at myself in the mirror and realized I screwed up. Like big time. I really, really hated it. I didn’t tell my stylist and put up a front because it was not anything she did. It was a good haircut and the right type of pixie cut for my face but I just didn’t like it, it didn’t feel like me and quite frankly there was nothing she could do to “fix” it besides shape it when it starts to grow out. Literally an hour after I got home, I proceeded to google “pixie cut growout” and started envisioning the long road ahead. Oh my word it’s been a road. Obviously there are many tips out there to have it grow out, the best but the best tip I have is communicate with your stylist what you want to do and get regular trims. Oh, and if you don’t have a stylist get one… at the very least if you go to a super cuts type place try to get the same person! It seems counter intuitive but having regular appointments really did help shape the hair correctly. There were bad hair days and mullet moments but they were minimal. Growing out hair is funny too, one day your hair will look terrible and then the next week it will be totally fine, only to be a mess again the next week. It really is that specific. I’m sure if you are reading this like me and growing out a cut, all you want to see is grow out pictures to how you compare. So here they go!

Month 1: Here is May, approximately one month after the big cut. I really, really hate this picture of myself. I don’t feel very feminine in it (granted I was heading to the Cubs vs Dodgers game wearing a t-shirt and a baseball cap) and I really hate how round and ball like my hair looks underneath this. This is actually the best picture of myself at this time, there are some that I refuse to even put online and cringe whenever I see it.

 

 

 

Month 2: Here is one month later in June at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba. (I had to throw that in here, ha!) Some people have really bad reactions to humidity. I have the opposite, my skin and hair are always amazing in it. It didn’t hurt that I was in full on vacation mode and a couple of Daiquiris in at this point too. Okay, back to my hair. When you are growing it out, you need to let the sides grow out a little and catch up to the back. I had not had the sides trimmed at all, but the back had been trimmed ever so slightly. It was a little shaggy but I really liked it and it was super easy to manage at this point.

 

 

Month 3: July. Here is where my early enthusiasm into growing out the pixie wained and I started to feel like the process was going to take FOREVER. I just had the back trimmed up a bit and as you can see the sides are slowly starting to grow out. There was really not a ton I could do to style it at this point except try to give the illusion of a faux bob with some Aveda Defining Whip and hope for the best.

 

 

 

 

Month 4: As I’ve said before, August was kind of a disaster of a month for me. I didn’t get a haircut and was literally in town for about 3 days this month. During that time I did manage to get a manicure in what I later called “I’m not taking ish from anyone” nails. I’m also in sunglasses so you all can’t see how exhausted I was. The sides were getting just long enough to be annoying and I used the tuck behind the ears method for most of the month

 

 

 

 

Month 5: September. This was sometime in-between trips 2 and 3 of my unscheduled family emergency trips to Chicago (you can just see the exhaustion in my face). I managed to get a haircut in the few days I was actually home. As you can see the sides are finally starting to get longer but there are still quite a few layers. It seemed unnecessary to get a cut but I needed it to look a bit more cleaned up and professional. Right before I got it cut, the back of my hair resembled Carol Brady with her weird mullet shag thing. (Seriously)

 

 

Month 6: October was a weird month because I was hardly home (sound familiar) and so it was pretty hard to find a halfway decent picture of my hair during that time. Plus, most selfies I looked like the walking dead. I actually like this picture because it shows what the sides look like not tucked in and just hanging down. Everything felt really heavy and as you can see while it is growing, there was still a lot of growth to happen. I still felt stuck like nothing was happening at this point.

 

 

Month 7: November in super low lighting (sorry!). November again feels like kind of a stagnant month where not a lot happened in terms of my hair. I still had not been able to get in for a proper haircut (ugh) but I do see that the sides are slowly catching up and the back is starting to do that weird curl out thing.  Clearly I’m not impressed with it and also my forehead looks huge without any side bangs.

 

 

 

 

Month 8: Yay! Let’s all congratulate me that I finally was able to get in for a proper haircut in December a week or so before Christmas and Hanukah and my life getting back to normal! Again, the length looks very similar and it appears that not a lot of grow out is going on. In fact, by first glance, it’s hard to see a difference between September and now. However, upon close inspection, the sides are longer and there is just more hair. The layers are pretty much gone at this point and it’s starting to feel like a short bob.

 

 

Month 9: Something finally happened in January, my hair started to feel and look longer. It because quite clear that my last December haircut really set me up for success because this month the grow out was more apparent and also seemed very clean. I attempted to use a curling iron and put my hair into a pony tail with to no avail. Oh well, maybe in a couple of months.

 

 

 

 

 

Month 10: My last haircut in February really cleaned up a lot of the rough edges. My hair finally feels like a bob at this point and feels like something that I meant to do and not an awkward grow out. It’s still not long enough for a ponytail or curling iron but at least when I blow-dry it, it looks halfway decent.

 

 

 

 

Month 11: Last month (March) I didn’t need a haircut but my hair is starting to look pretty long. This was taken after a crazy day of having a yardsale and when it was doing a weird flip out thing. I’m slowly starting to feel like me and comfortable with my hair again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Month 12: This picture was taken today, exactly one year later from the chop. I have a haircut scheduled for next week to even it out a bit but and get my bangs cut but I’m really happy where it is length wise. The other day I was able to put it in a small ponytail and attempted a curling iron (it did not look great). All in all though while I’m still growing it out, I think growing out the pixie cut is complete. I’m hoping that by the end of the year it will be at my pre cut length.

 

 

So there you have it, the good, bad and ugly of my pixie cut growing out experience. Thank you to my amazing stylist Angie who put up with my insanity and my friends who told me it looked great (even when it was iffy) and didn’t make too many soccer mom jokes, even though you know I rocked it in my minivan!