Woman Defends Her Pixie Haircut By Explaining That Short Hair Doesn't Equate To Having A 'Mental Breakdown'
Changing your hairstyle does not mean you are in crisis.
Alexa_Space / Shutterstock There's nothing quite like getting a total hair makeover. Whether it's a huge change in color, style, or length, changing your look is a fun way to temporarily express yourself.
It's a common misconception, however, that any woman who wants to cut her hair from long to super short is only doing it because they are going through a crisis of some sort. TikToker Ashley Elliott is spreading the word that sometimes a major change is just because it's fun and feels good.
Elliott defended her decision to get a pixie cut, explaining that short hair on a woman doesn't mean she's having a 'mental breakdown.'
A few days before getting the pixie cut in question, Elliott and her sister decided to make TikTok documenting their haircuts. The first trip to the salon resulted in just a trim, but the sisters joked several times about Elliot shaving her head, something she later revealed was a dream she always had.
After the trim, Elliott decided it was time. She was finally ready to cut her hair super short and take it back to its original blonde hue.
She shared inspiration photos on TikTok that ranged from a super short bob to a full pixie.
“This has always been something I wanted — to chop all my hair off,” she explained. “I just want to start fresh; I have no hair.”
She was tired of her style and tired of her red box-dyed color.
After her appointment, she shared her fabulous short new look with TikTok, but she wasn't done yet.
A couple of days later, Elliot decided to go shorter and blonder.
Whenever you make a huge style change, it's easier to do it in steps and Elliot was no exception. She lived with her pixie cut for a few days and decided she was ready to go even shorter after realizing how great the style looked on her.
Additionally, she needed another color treatment to fully get the boxed red hue out of her new blonde, look which is pretty normal when you are making an extreme color change.
Viewers were concerned that Elliot was going through a ‘mental breakdown’ after the multiple style changes.
Since these changes all happened within a week, viewers were concerned that she was going through a "mental breakdown," and many claimed her divorce was playing a role in the style changes.
Elliott assured outspoken commenters that her only motivation was that she wanted a change in her appearance.
“No, I’m literally so good,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to just chop all of my hair off.”
The only reason she waited so long to do it was she was afraid it would look bad, but once she realized how great the style looked she went with it!
Elliot emphasized that she was amazed by the fact that the societal assumption when a woman cuts her hair is that her life is falling apart around her and that's the reason for the change.
Mental health therapist Jody Smith told Hair.com, “Changing your look around positive events in your life is positive and healthy because you are not doing it to seek outward validation but instead, you're doing it because you are feeling positive and want to build on an already healthy foundation in your life.”
It's clear that Elliot was feeling good and wanted to express those feelings with a style she had always dreamed of trying.
While the concern over her mental health was not nefarious, it was frustrating. Frustrating that a woman can't make a change in her appearance, specifically cutting her hair short, without the assumption that something is wrong.
Society has ingrained beliefs about long hair and its association with femininity and youth, but it's high time women own their own styles and embrace changing their looks for themselves alone.
Lauren Reams is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news.