Accidental Pixie Grow-Out!

So, I've been busy working on all kinds projects, and blogging in my brain! But I'm finally sitting down to type this part out.

I've got another magazine-released pattern in the works, so keep your eyes open for the announcement! I can't say much yet except that I'm really, really excited about this one!

In the meanwhile, I've also been working on trying out some other patterns and I'll post about those soon. Basically I've followed some other patterns for a project here and there and I want to post my edits here on the blog.

Today's post, though, is about hair. I got a haircut, but I wanted it pretty short but the stylist didn't get it quite how I wanted it. It was okay, but I've got curly hair and I thought it made my hair shape very triangular. So she offered to fix it and I went back and the re-cut was even worse in a new way! I guess I'm not good at explaining what I want! And maybe it wasn't a style that works with my hair? Either way, with my wavy hair, it looked like a great-grandma haircut with a flat spot. So I hated it. I've never hated a haircut before... My hair usually is pretty flexible with various bad cuts, but I guess it met its match.

Top photos are the first attempt
Middle photo is what I was going for
Bottom photos are the re-cut.

I found another hairstylist and got her opinion, and she trimmed it up so at least it would look like an intentional pixie. This adjustment made me think of Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music."  Not my preferred style but at least it had style!

It's been a year since then and my hair has grown a lot! I wanted to show how long it can grow in a year. Here are some pictures... I have a hard time making it totally straight even when I try!

Top Left: Pixie Straight; Top Right: Pixie Curly
Bottom Left: Year Later Straight; Bottom Right: Year Later Curly

Plus, I've learned a lot about my wavy/curly hair! It's curlier than ever which has been fun, although it looks shorter than it really is thanks to "shrinkage" (that's a curly-term for how long your hair looks versus how long it actually is). I have been shampooing with actual shampoo only once or twice a week, and instead doing co-washing ("washing" with conditioner). I've been on a medication that dries me out, so I've been co-washing every day for now.

I've noticed that for my hair, mousse works best in the Winter (I've used got2b mousse or Dove style+care mousse), and in the Summer a curl cream or cream gel works best (I've been using Pantene controlling curl creme or Garnier Fructis curl sculpt conditioning cream gel). I've also found that one of these products will work in my hair for a few months and then suddenly it doesn't work as well, so I switch it up. I also use double-prong hair clips to lift up the hair near the roots and pin them in place so that when my hair dries it lays away from my eyes (otherwise my hair dries in front of my face -- not fun!). I take the clips out when my hair is nearly dry.

So, I guess I want to say that if you end up with a haircut you don't like, get it to look good-enough-for-now and then give it some time.  I even had a wedding to go to a couple months after those pixie pictures.  It worked out; I received
lots of compliments! I took pictures once a month to remind myself and document how much it was growing, such a good idea when I was thinking it hand't grown at all!

(P.S. I'm not affiliated with any of these hair products or hair stylists. Any information shared is exactly that: information shared.)