I want to BE MacGyver, not LOOK like him

June 5, 2009 8:45 AM

I shaved my head last Thanksgiving during a bout of cancer (In remission now, though!). I'm slowly growing it back out again (chemo has retarded the actual growth), and I'd like to avoid the transitional mullet-phase. Any suggestions as to how to do this?

I am a female. My hair was once down to the small of my back, thick and annoyingly curly. It's growing back just as thick as before (though the individual strands are thinner) and straight/slightly wavy.

Currently, my hair is about an inch, inch and a half thick. It all appears to be the same length, but therein lies the problem: the hair at the nape of my neck extends down about an inch. The hair at the top and the back of my head also extends down about an inch, but looks shorter, because generally, female hairstyles have longer hair on top so that it lines up with the bottom (Did that make any sense at all?)

Right now, it just looks like a scruffy boy-cut, which I really don't mind. But I fear it's only a matter of time before the mullet appears.

posted by litterateur to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

Best answer: Congrats on being in remission! Find a good and somewhat expensive hairstylist in your area. They charge more because they have more experience and better skills. They will know how to cut your hair through that difficult growing out phase. I had a messy boy cut and decided i wanted to look like a girl again and went to someone who was at a trendy salon and paid about $65. I didn't have to go that often but when I did the stylist was able to make my hair look nice rather than the weird transitional phase. Good luck!
posted by sadtomato at 8:51 AM on June 5, 2009

I've grown out a shaved head, and you're correct, the back looks longer than the front at times. I found I had to get the back trimmed shorter so as to let the rest of it catch up.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:55 AM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Best answer: First of all, I am so happy that you've recovered.

I've grown out very short hair, and counter-intuitively, during the growing out process, you actually have to go and get it trimmed up every two or three months. The hairdresser will trim straggly longer bits until the shorter parts have a chance to catch up, and make your hair look more styled. Babies, who also have to start from scratch, usually get their hair trimmed at quite a young age for this very reason.
posted by orange swan at 8:56 AM on June 5, 2009

My experience was the same as the folks above. Keep it trimmed. Mullets look good on no one.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:10 AM on June 5, 2009

How about a Selma Blair type of thing?
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:11 AM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Congrats on your remission!
I went a different route, since I couldn't afford haircuts as much as I would have needed them to avoid a mullet: I wore the CUTEST tiny pigtails until my hair got long enough to not look mullet-ish.
posted by emilyd22222 at 9:18 AM on June 5, 2009

My post-chemo hair not only grew back as a mullet - it was coarse, curly and unmanageable to boot. Fortunately, you WILL get your "real" hair back eventually! I made regular trips to my (excellent and expensive) hairdresser and tamed the curls with Bumble and Bumble's Sumo Wax and a straightening iron. I also deep-conditioned it regularly so it wouldn't be quite so frizzy.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:38 AM on June 5, 2009

Keep cutting the back until the bangs reach your chin, then grow it all out. This will get you from Kurt Cobain to this guy mullet-free.
Yes, I realize you're a girl.
posted by coolguymichael at 12:13 PM on June 5, 2009

Congratulations! :)
posted by LittleMissItneg at 6:19 AM on June 7, 2009