These Cute and Easy Hairstyles Will Get You Through That Awkward Length Phase

Anyone who’s gotten a pixie cut can attest to the thrill of chopping all your strands off and shaping them into a cute little cropped style. After endless snipping and shaping, that moment before the big reveal can hold the same level of excitement as opening a present on Christmas morning. What no one talks about, though (or at least what no one told me when I got my coily pixie), is how frustrating styling your pixie can be when it starts to grow out.

Many call this the “awkward phase”: when your strands have begun to grow past your neat crop. You’re not quite at bob length yet, but you’re well beyond your .5- to three-inch pixie. For those who are no longer committed to the pixie and want to grow their hair out, this stage presents a dilemma: How do I style my hair in this in-between phase without looking like a toddler?

Styling a pixie while you’re growing it out can be especially exasperating because “hair doesn’t grow evenly,” Sheila Guillermo, a stylist at NYC THE TEAM Salon, says. “A pixie is cut with different lengths throughout the head, so as it grows, those lengths start to compete with each other.” She notes that sides can get bulky, the nape can stick out, and the top may still be much shorter than the rest.

Guillermo says it’s usually around the two- to four-inch stage when many people are tempted to head back to the salon for a cut. But if you’re set on growing out your pixie, you’re not doomed to awkward hairstyles until your hair reaches your shoulders. You also don’t have to rely solely on extensions (or protective styles, if you have textured hair). Ahead, the pros share easy and stylish hairstyles to get you through that dreaded awkward-length phase.

The easiest and most obvious style to rely on when growing out your pixie is a bixie. Somewhere between a bob and a pixie, this retro hairstyle is the perfect default style for that in-between length. To make your bixie look intentional, Rikke Gajda, a hairstylist in Los Angeles, recommends leaning into texture. 

If your hair is straight, create some volume and movement by adding loose waves, curling the longest pieces of hair in the front forward to create bangs.For those with naturally wavy or curly hair, Gajda recommends a texture-boosting spray like the Aluram Dry Texture Spray to “give definition and grit.”

While your pixie will naturally morph into a bixie, “the top can grow faster than the bottom and vice versa, and it’ll create a weird shape that’s not always flattering,” says Gajda. If this happens, you’ll want to head back to the salon for some additional shaping to really polish the look.

If a wavy, textured look isn’t your speed, you can still wear a bixie slicked down and shinier than a new car. Look to Taylor Russell’s flippy bixie for inspo—the wavy side bang is a flirty addition to the style’s sleek body, while the flipped-out ends are a smart way to fake a crop when your hair starts growing past your ears.

Gajda recommends a smoothing cream like the Aluram Smoothing Cream to give this style a glossy, polished finish.

“A side part can make a huge difference,” says Guillermo, who recommends sweeping the front pieces of your hair to the side. “It makes the growing-out stage look more intentional and gives you some flexibility as the bangs get longer,” she says. To make the most of your long side bangs, try a style like Tyla’s tousled, wet-hair look from the 2024 Met Gala. Hairstylist Lacy Redway, who created Tyla’s sultry style, used the TRESemmé Weightless Silk Serum to achieve the glossy, drenched finish.

Your hair may not be long enough to pull into a ponytail, but that doesn’t mean an updo is out of the question. Pulling half of your hair up with a clip and leaving the rest out with flipped-out ends and long, wavy bangs is an easy way to work with uneven lengths—as stylishly illustrated by Gracie Abrams.

The past year of Emma Stone’s life has been a masterclass in growing out a dramatic haircut. Her hair has transformed from an edgy buzz cut to an elegant bob, with seemingly no awkward phase in sight. This slicked-back look is one of the best ways to work with bulky length, according to Guillermo. “When the hair is difficult to control, work with it. A little styling cream or pomade can smooth the hair back or to the side and give you a polished look,” says the stylist.

Once your hair grows a little past your ears, you’ll have more styling options—but don’t get too excited, you’re not quite at a full-blown bob yet. That’s okay, because you can finesse a tucked bob. The look creates a soft, rounded effect that’s more graceful than a bowl cut but follows the same general idea: framing the face with a curved shape.

Guillermo recommends pairing this style with a deep side part, like Jessie Buckley’s champagne-blonde mini bob. “A deep side part is one of my favorite tricks because it can completely change the shape without cutting anything,” says Guillermo.

When all else fails, and you’ve wasted 30 minutes trying to wrangle your ear-length hair into a cute style, reach for a classic headband. “Headbands, clips and scarves are underrated during a pixie grow-out,” says Guillermo. “They’re an easy way to control pieces around the face and ears while adding some personality to the look.” Plus, you’ll look like an early-2000s rom-com starlet, and that’s always a win.

When your hair hits jaw length, you’ll finally start to feel like you’ve made some progress. To avoid the drab-looking bob that sort of just hangs there, try a tucked-in micro bob. Unlike flipped-out ends, which make a mini bob look light, playful, and straight out of a Y2K music video, curved, tucked-in ends give the hair a more demure and refined appearance.

Those with curls and coils may find that growing out a pixie isn’t actually all that hard—and that’s thanks to shrinkage. Textured hair tends to look shorter in its natural state, which can help maintain the appearance of a short crop even as the hair grows out. “Defining the curls and focusing on the overall shape is more important than trying to make every piece the same length,” Guillermo says. Jourdan Dunn’s springy curls prove that a round or tapered shape can be especially flattering when styling short curls and coils into a baby ’fro.

Teyana Taylor’s soft, tousled pixie should be studied meticulously—especially if you’re looking for ways to work with an ultra-short haircut that’s growing out unevenly. The actress maintains the rounded shape of her pixie by artfully arranging C-shaped waves around her head. This technique conceals uneven lengths and helps you fake that polished pixie shape just a little while longer.