Growing Out a Pixie Cut with Fine or Thick Hair

Okay so you love your pixie.

What you don’t love so much is the getting it trimmed back to chic what seems like every other week.

And while rocking an asymmetrical pixie may seem amazingly cute keep in mind one day you’ll get tired of it. Then you’ll face the prospect of growing out all those different lengths.

So off to Google you go searching for “how to grow out a pixie fast” … or “styles for when growing out pixie cut” … or “growing out pixie cut ideas” and other similar stuff.

No doubt it’s smart to arm yourself with tried and true answers to common questions like this about the grow out phase. Here’s just what you need for how to say bye-bye pixie hello bob. Starting with …

What to Expect When Growing Out a Pixie Cut with Fine or Thick Hair

So how long does it take to grow out a pixie cut? Let’s keep it real. You can expect to start see light at the end of the tunnel in about four months. That’s when you can expect to emerge from the dreaded awkward, in-between stage. Beyond that, conventional wisdom says your mane won’t grow into legit bob territory for two or three more months.

So seven months. That’s the quick answer for “How long does it take to grow a pixie cut into a bob?”

Let’s expand on why that is.

The CDC (US Center for Disease Control) tells us hair grows about half an inch a month.

That implies in a year your hair will be six inches longer. Sounds good, right?

Only problem with a pixie you’ve typically got sections of hair of different lengths.

So to keep it looking less awful you’re going to want to get frequent trims to give shorter sections a chance to catch up. Plus this will even out different sections and keep things looking decent.

But that trimming comes at the cost of length.

That’s why this is a journey not a dash.

So rather than expecting a smooth steady progression think stages.

Chin length bob is a common first goal. But getting there can be painful. Because the top layers have quite a way to go to catch up with the bottom layers so they’re more or less the same length.

Headbands, beanies and bobby pins can ease the pain of hair that’s at less than desirable lengths.

Along with plenty of texturizing products to create of the illusion of more thicker hair.

Anyway, that’s about how long it takes to grow a pixie cut into a bob.

I hope having an idea what to expect helps.

Quick Section Navigation

• Growing Out Pixie Cut Month By Month
• Growing Out A Pixie Cut – The Mullet Stage
• Headbands For Growing Out Pixie
• 11 Tips For Growing Out Pixie Cut
• Can You Put Hair Extensions On A Pixie Cut?

Growing Out Pixie Cut Month By Month

Psych! Just messing with you cause no one can lay out what to expect month by month. That’s because it will be different depending on your starting point.

Yeah, progress depends on whether you’re starting from an asymmetrical pixie, one with a long bang, or an undercut. Which is to say there’s no one size fits all advice here. Sorry.

But I can say there’s many weird stages and you just have to be okay with looking weird sometimes. But then you knew that if you investigated “Should I get a pixie cut?” even the least little bit before making your appointment.

So some days it will be like…

JUST. GROW. OUT. ALREADY!

SHEESH.

With that little rant out of our system know that all grow outs will follow a similar path.

Initially it won’t take long to go from a cute, crisply tailored look to something squirrelly and shaggy. That look has a decided ragamuffin vibe to it as the pixie cut loses its shape.

At this point texturizing creams or pastes can at least make it look less slipshod and more done on purpose.

In a few more weeks shaggy will give way to super shaggy. You may notice signs of the dreaded mullet sprouting in the back.

But not to worry. There’s a easily overlooked way to head off that Mighty Mullet Moment explained in more detail in bit.

Obviously you want the hair around your ears to grow at light speed. Even a couple of inches can open the door to more styling options.

Also this will help frame your face. (A little side swept bang is all the better for that.)

Plus some length on the side creates the illusion of longer hair overall.

As things get longer shaping becomes more important on the road to that chin length bob. Routine salon visits can make a big difference here.

Just make it crystal clear you’re in the grow out phase. That way your stylist doesn’t get scissors happy and go crazy setting back your grow out effort months.

Tip: Let your bangs and front grow out uncut. Sooner rather than later it resemble an A-line bob. Some find this cuts time spent struck in the “ugly phase”.

Ideally you want them to focus their snipping energy on more the (lower) back and less, if at all, on the top. Expect the top sections to take about five or six months to catch up with the length of the lower layers

For inspiration here a sequence of six progress shots we found on reddit.com taken over a 15 month period. (Hopefully it’s still up.)

The first one was taken in June. The second September. The remaining four were taken roughly every 90 days. Felt this sequence gives you a good idea of the kind of progress to can reasonably expect.

Growing Out A Pixie Cut – The Mullet Stage

Ah, the dreaded mullet stage. Or what some call 70’s rock band member hair.

This is the point when self doubt about your decision to grow out your pixie kicks in.

And don’t kid yourself. That mullet action is more than hair in the back that’s a little long.

Which would make knowing how do you stop a mullet from growing out of a pixie cut good to know, right? Because nothing you’ve heard about this weird duck tail stage sounds even remotely sexy.

PAY ATTENTION TO THIS! Sorry about the yelling but here’s a must know trick. During your final pixie cleanup seriously considering having your stylist do an undercut at the nape of your neck. This definitely helps.

Doing this will delay the mullet stage for as long as possible and reduce the number of trims you’ll need to keep the mullet at bay. Because you’re cutting the hair back there extremely short.

If you opt NOT to do that then stay on top of it. I’m not saying trim the mullet every two weeks. But keeping it in line with the length of the rest of your hair helps.

Some report having luck with creating a tiny ponytail held together with bobby pins to tame any strands that poke out.

Headbands For Growing Out Pixie

Some days cover up is your best option. You know to hide the crazy complicated struggle-fest you’ve got going on trying to pass for a hairstyle. Because bad hair days are going to happen.

Expect them. Embrace them. Confident that you’ve got a way to deal.

It’s called DISTRACTION.

So on those days when nothing else works one trick is to make use of wide fabric headbands like these from Amazon. They’re comfortable and hide the drama going on with your hair.

Can you say life savers?

11 Tips For Growing Out A Pixie Cut

So not unlike when growing out bangs expect to get frustrated over the pace of your progress. That will at times translate into the urge to get your hair pixied again.

Yes the potential to back slide is real.

Now I totally understand that urge to get it cut! Your style is a style in name only. And nothing you do helps.

But if you’re serious about growing it out don’t give in.

Of course maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones that wears it well no matter what stage you’re in.

But to help you persevere in the face of sometimes overwhelming feelings to make an appointment to get things cut here’s some tips.

#1 Manhandle That Mullet
Some suggest keeping the back short to avoid the mullet thing while the front grows into a side swept bang style. Good advice. You’ll especially want to keep the nape of the neck are cleaned up to keep the mullet stage at least acceptably annoying.

#2 Go All In on Accessories
As already mentioned you can use clips, pins, and headbands to hide awkward or unruly sections on bad hair days. Motto? When in doubt – accessorize. That and lots of hairspray can help get through it too.

#3 Nip and Tuck
When the sides get long enough a cute way to wear it is tucked behind your ears and maybe bobby pinned to stay that way.

#4 Don’t Fear the Mousse
Extra hold styling or thickening mousse can help you through darker days when a highly trained search party couldn’t find much of a style on your head.

#5 Warm Up To Wax
Same goes for wax, styling cream, texturizing gels, or molding paste. Any product like that will let you be daring and different while waiting for the length to creep past your ears.

One day go all punk rocker-girl spikey. The next go for sleeked back look. Or use such products to work messy and pieciness.

#6 Back Away From Hot Styling
Definitely keep your hair healthy. Don’t bleach or hot style it any more than you have to.

Yeah the big thing here is no heat! Because you want to avoid even the hint of split ends.

#7 Prevent Splits From Proliferating
It also pays to micro-trim away the split ends that do show up. You may know this as dusting. Here’s a deep dive look at dusting we wrote that explains exactly how to dust your ends if you’re unfamiliar with it.

#8 Discover the Magic of Oils
Along the same lines you’ll hear about using this oil or that oil. Some oil treatments will keep your hair hydrated which can also help to avoid splits. Again that’s a link to another of our articles telling you how to do it.

#9 Flat Iron Without Frying
If you insist on smoothing things or adding some wave action with heat you can that with a mini flat iron. I know – not heat. So use this tactic sparingly. Oh and here’s our look at mini flat irons.

#10 Are Hair Vitamins Essential?
The jury is out on whether vitamins help. While they may work for you too many say they don’t to recommend them whole-heartedly.

#11 Keep Things In Trim
Remember the regular visits to keep your pixie looking awesome? Well you don’t get to skip the salon chair time just yet.

You’ll definitely want to get your hair cut monthly at this point to even out the layers.

That’s because cutting the hair at the nape of your neck is a must do. At least if you want to avoid, or at least minimize, any mullet-in-waiting action going on back there.

And trust me it has the potential to break out at any moment and usually at the worst possible time.

#12 Track Your Progress
One thing you wouldn’t necessarily think of would be to take monthly progress selfies.

This way when you feel like you’re not making any strides you can look at where you’ve come from and see yes, your hair is getting longer. It’s a little life affirming physiological trick to keep you keeping on.

Can You Put Hair Extensions On A Pixie Cut?

For those days when you simply can’t take the chaos any more can extensions come to the rescue?

As this video proves halo extensions may well be a good way to get a little half up styling fun back in your life. Just not at first.

Spoiler Alert. Your natural hair probably needs to be chin length to pull this off.

If that hasn’t totally turned you off because your hair isn’t yet long enough, hey I’m just the messenger, let’s roll the video.

There are two hacks you need to know to make this work.

The first is the hack she uses to hide her shorter natural hair so it’s not obvious she’s got extensions in.

Then she uses a second hack to make her short hair blend seamlessly with the extensions in the back. It’s simple. Just a twist, a topsy tail and viola she’s done.

I’d tell you more but, well, you know.

For more hair hacks like the 11 shared that make living with your hair easier regardless what you’re going through be sure to follow our Pinterest boards for the latest ideas for looking simply fabulous.