Some women spend weeks weighing the pros and cons of getting a pixie cut. I, on the other hand, had my best friend chop mine off in my bathroom at 2 a.m. I’ve always been impulsive to the point of stupidity, so when my friend (who also happens to almost have her cosmetologist license) told me I would look good with a pixie, I spent a minimum of five minutes thinking about it, and said, “Let’s do it!”

We went to CVS and bought some cheap shears, and a couple of hours later I was sitting in my bathroom on my brother’s desk chair watching my shoulder length hair fall onto the tile around me. I thought I was confident and then all my hair was in a pile the size of a small dog.

1. People will think you’ve lost your mind- I expected people to be shocked when I came home from college with six less inches of hair. It was pretty hilarious to watch my mom stop mid-teeth brushing to gape at me. It was even funnier to hear my brother compare my haircut to John Lennon’s (honestly a fairly apt comparison.). What I didn’t expect to hurt was my grandmother’s sugary sweet voice asking “Now why did you do that?” and seeing the actual horror in her eyes.
2. You’ll wonder if anyone will ever find you attractive again- That acquaintance you don’t really care about. That guy you’ve been wanting to talk to you. Those creepy guys that stare at you from the next car at stoplights. Will anyone ever look at you again? Will they think you’re even remotely pretty? Will they just assume you’re a small boy? These thoughts are real. When you see guys walking around with longer hair than you have, you’ll start to doubt yourself.
3. Whatever confidence you had will shatter- I assumed that I was a pretty confident person, and that I was comfortable in my own skin. My hairstyle had always been pretty fluid, changing every couple of months, and I thought that meant I was ahead of the game when it came to confidence. Whether you realize it or not, your hair is probably your security blanket. It was my number one accessory, and my simple solution for hiding acne. No longer could I hide behind my hair if I just wasn’t feeling it that day. “I just have a face,” I blabbered to myself, my roommate and anyone who would listen.
4. Your definition of femininity will change- I thought I had a pretty good sense of what femininity was. If you think about it, our culture has its own definition for it. It’s that tall, willowy, blonde with the flowing wavy locks. When you hear the word “bombshell,” you certainly don’t think of a short, squatty brunette with almost nonexistent hair. And that’s sad. Real women are just that – REAL. That’s what femininity is, real womanhood.
5. You’ll rebuild your confidence- Remember when I basically told you to kiss your confidence goodbye? The wonderful thing about completely opening yourself to vulnerability is that your confidence will rebuild itself. You’ll have to learn to come to terms with your face. You know what your face looks like after you’ve pulled and all-nighter? Or when you’re sick with a head cold and your entire face is puffy? A pixie cut will savagely display every single part of your face that you’re insecure about. You’ll have to deal with that, and at some point you’ll be okay with it.
6. You’ll realize you’ve made the right decision- I can’t tell you how many strangers have told me they wished they could pull off a pixie. You’ll probably still feel a twinge of jealousy every time someone walks by with long, bouncy tresses, or when you see girls casually throw their hair up in messy buns. You’ll be envious because sometimes having short hair isn’t just that easy as it should be. Sometimes you’ll wake up with half of your hair flat on your head and the rest stuck straight up in the air. Maybe you won’t have a pixie forever, but even if it’s for just a short time, you’ll learn something. Getting a pixie is a journey of self-discovery. So do it. Make the chop.