Just when I thought we’d figured out what all the big hairstyle trends were going to be this year, a familiar look from a few decades ago is throwing a gamine wrench into things. [Editor’s note: It might look more recently familiar too—parts of this story were originally reported way back in 2021, when the bixie made its first modern-day resurgence.] Although I honestly don’t remember it being called the bixie in the ’90s—and I remember pretty much all the great portmanteaus I’ve encountered in my lifetime—the bixie is back, and it’s ready to delight, dazzle, and potentially confuse.
It’s called the bixie because it combines elements of two distinctly recognizable hairstyles—the bob and the pixie—and creates a new hairstyle in a gray (but very cute) area. “It’s a shaggy bob with a mix of layers to add dimension and texture,” says hairstylist Andrew Fitzsimons. Think of the influx of short haircuts in the mid- to late- ’90s—the ones that weren’t cropped enough to be called pixies, but weren’t long enough to be considered bobs. (At the time, I think we just called it “short hair”?) So many stars were doing it: Winona Ryder, Meg Ryan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Halle Berry, Rachael Leigh Cook, Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore, and the Aussie soap opera star turned pop singer who inspired my own college crop, Natalie Imbruglia.
It was an undeniably adorable look that eventually fell out of favor. My theory is that it evolved from a carefree look to a more heavily styled, extremely angular look that felt pretty cool when Victoria Beckham did it and a little less so when Kate Gosselin did. (Is there any haircut more indelibly associated with the phrase, “I need to speak to your manager”?) But a wave of celebrities (like Florence Pugh, Halsey, and Rowan Blanchard) and countless content creators have brought back that original, lower-key, bob-meets-pixie vibe, and with it, an inevitability: We’re all going to be getting bixies in 2024.
“The bixie haircut is growing in popularity today because it feels like a more customized take on shorter hairstyles,” says Devin Toth, a hairstylist at Salon SCK. “In essence, a bob’s a bob—no matter what kind it is—and can be heavy. A pixie’s super-short length limits customization. A bixie, however, lives in-between the two with more length to work with and a style that doesn’t feel as weighty.”