A pixie cut with highlights is a short crop with streaks of colors for added dimension. Stylish and easy to wear—this hair idea is a fabulous fashion accessory that you can pull off every day!
Sylvie Prud’Homme is a skilled stylist in Toronto, Canada, who proves the pixie’s versatility. She points out, “The cut only needs to be executed with care and consideration. It can look soft and romantic, edgy and bold, and everything in between!”
Head and face shape, hairline, hair type, and texture—are the factors to take into account. Go to a short hair specialist to ensure you get a great chop and educate you on at-home styling care.
Highlights only look great in a pixie if done in very fine sections. Otherwise, they may look like the dreaded tiger stripes on a short-length chop.
If you have pre-existing highlights and want to try a pixie, get a shadow root to soften the previous color.
If you have a pixie hairstyle and want some accents, opt for a balayage to achieve a more natural effect. A full pre-lightening service is another option if going for blonde.
Pixie cuts require frequent shaping every 4-6 weeks. “In case you can’t go to the salon regularly, a longer length is more suitable,” says Prud’Homme.
Reading our expert guide will also give you all the know-how to pick the perfect pixie cut that suits you like a charm.
Find more hair inspiration from this gallery. Listed here are the hottest ideas to wear a pixie cut with highlights!
#1: Layered Pixie with Highlights
A layered pixie with highlights is a perfect hair style for women wanting dimensional color without maintenance. Pixies are an excellent way to show color while also giving a shapely haircut.
#2: Tapered Short Pixie with Soft Highlights
A short pixie haircut with a tapered shape around the ears and nape gives your profile a lovely shape. This also enhances your high cheekbones. To add a feminine touch, keep the top part of your hair longer. This style is also versatile. You can also add soft, subtle highlights to this hairstyle.
#3: Stylish Loose Curly Pixie Hair
If you prefer to keep your hair natural, a loose pixie style is a great choice. It’s especially suitable for naturally wavy hair. You can enhance this style by adding curls with an iron. I recommend applying a soft paste to the loose pixie to define the added curls.
#4: Chic Pixie Cut with Partial Highlights
A chic and modern hairstyle for older women with short hair is a chic pixie cut with partial highlights. This cut is ideal for those who want to maintain a chic look without sacrificing style. Partial highlights add dimension and depth to the overall look. This short cut can be versatile, as it can be styled in various ways, from sleek and polished to tousled and playful. Not all face shapes may suit the pixie cut, so ask for advice from an experienced hairstylist.
#5: Soft Pixie with Natural Color
Try this soft pixie with natural color! This look is trendy and great for any age! Remember that if you want this cut, you must book regular haircut appointments at the salon.
#6: Brunette Sweeping Pixie with Blonde Highlights
Highlighted pixies are best for women who want to show off depth and dimension in their haircut. A partial highlight that follows the crown, sides, and fringe is a gorgeous design. Keeping the nape area darker creates depth. And it steers away from a striped look with highlights going lower on short hair.
#7: Dimensional Pixie with Light Brown Highlights
Try a dimensional pixie with light brown highlights if you want more contrast in your hair. I highly recommend having your stylist add some texture to your hair. It’s better if your hair is texturized because it will be easier to style.
#8: Cute Lixie Cut with Blonde Highlights
Look super cute with a lixie cut with blonde highlights. If you’re going to test out the waters of a shorter cut, try a medium-length pixie haircut first. Taking length off your locks will make your hair look fuller and healthier. A shorter cut is more maintenance, so you must get it cut every 4-6 weeks to keep its shape and style.
#9: Brunette Long Pixie with Blonde Highlights
Get a long pixie with blonde highlights if you like your hair short and dark and dimensional. Ask for your colorist to add highlights rather than balayage to give you a better lift on your dark base. Balayage will also help you avoid any blonde at the back, the shortest part because it will look spotty.
#10: Glamorous Pixie with Silver Streaks
A glamorous pixie with silver streaks will enhance any pixie cut. In my experience, having silver streaks are best for women who already have naturally gray hair and like to stretch out their color appointments. To keep this color looking bright, don’t forget to use purple shampoo or conditioner, just use your products every 3 washes.
#11: Feathered Bixie with Highlights and Lowlights
Feathered bixies with highlights and lowlights are dynamic, dimensional, and daring. Add character, dimension, and movement to a pixie cut with highlights and lowlights. Brighten up a pixie cut with platinum highlights and see the extra tones work together to compliment your skin tone better. There is so much versatility with a bixie cut, it can be customized to almost any texture, type, color, style, or goal.
#12: Short Pixie with Ombre Highlights
A short pixie with ombré highlights can add a bit of texture and contrast to the ends of textured layers. Short pixie haircuts are great when there are color contrasts because the color does all the work when building texture for styling.
#13: Soft Pixie with Side-Swept Bangs and Balayage
A soft pixie with side-swept bangs and balayage is the perfect combo for a classic cut with a modern twist. Try this length to open up your face and bring focus to your eyes. Ask your stylist to do a few balayage pieces if you want to add a dimensional pop. Don’t forget your 4-6 week maintenance appointment to keep your haircut looking fab.
#14: Highlights on a Messy Mixie Cut
Highlights on a messy mixie cut can bring women over 40 a brand new youthfulness. The texture of a mullet pixie is a funky and sassy combination of layering techniques that make it easy to care for and style. Wavy hair thrives with cuts that need texture.
Related: Short hairstyles with highlights.
#15: Asymmetrical Pixie with Highlights
An asymmetrical pixie with highlights is a great way to utilize a short hairstyle to bring attention and balance to the face. Pixies with highlights frame the face beautifully while adding depth and dimension to the hairstyle. By studying each individual face, an asymmetrical haircut can work to create the illusion of more balanced facial features.
#16: Curly Pixie Crop with Blonde Accents
A curly pixie crop with blonde accents is a great way to bring a bright pop of contrast and interest. Pixies and highlights can be easily customizable based on how much light and dark contrast works well with each skin tone and hair type.
#17: Undercut Pixie with Highlights
An undercut pixie with highlights is often best achieved with a technique called hair painting. Hairstyles with highlights can be done in many different ways, but ultimately hand painting on short hair gives control of placement as the hair naturally lays, rather than directing the strand to a foil.
#18: Brunette Pixie with Lavender Highlights
A brunette pixie with lavender highlights works great for cooling down overly warm skin tones. Combining a pixie cut with purple highlights can really brighten the tone and keep it cool-toned. Often, a brunette pixie cut with highlights can start to pull warm tones due to the natural color pigments in brunettes, so violet tones can keep that warmth intentional and at bay.
#19: Ash Blonde Tousled Pixie for Fine Hair
Utilize an ash blonde tousled pixie for fine hair to really increase the volume and texture. Fine hair is known to fall limp, so by combining an excellent ash blonde tone to brighten and expand, combined with a tousled style to keep it loose and volumized, you can keep your fine hair looking fluffy, light, and voluminous. A light brown pixie cut with highlights is a very natural and subtle way to accentuate the pixie haircut.
#20: Layered Pixie with Highlights for Black Women
A layered pixie with highlights, for black women, has been a staple short hairstyle when considering the longevity of styling after a visit to the salon. Often, a style is created at the salon appointment, and the longer the hairstyle lasts, the better.
#21: Edgy Pixie with Balayage Highlights
Nothing beats an edgy pixie with balayage highlights and shaved sides. Balayage pixie hair is a great way to achieve natural-looking highlights that have a low-maintenance grow-out and great style longevity. Fine hair can be volumized and look thicker with textured layering.
#22: Pixie Bob with Highlights for Thin Hair
Try a pixie bob with highlights for thin hair that needs a bit of a boost. A bixie is a short style that can complement many hair types. Fine or thin hair can fall flat with a straight pixie, so the extra length of a bixie can give more texture and volume.
#23: Grey Highlights on Choppy Pixie Hair
Show off your grey highlights on choppy pixie hair when you are ready to embrace the tinsel. A pixie cut with grey highlights is a great way to embrace the changes in hair color and texture.
#24: Partial Highlights on Tousled Pixie Hair
Try partial highlights on tousled pixie hair to brighten up and add interest to a short haircut. Pixie style hair leans more on color to emphasize movement and texture because the shorter hair cannot have as dramatic length differences. To combat a boring pixie cut haircut, and make styling easier, simply add some dimensional highlights around the face.
#25: Blonde Pixie with Dark Roots
A blonde pixie with dark roots is a staple color combo to compliment a short cut. Blonde hair expands light, giving the illusion of more volume and the dark root allows for less maintenance with color growing out. Add beachy waves for a perfect sun-kissed pixie hairstyle.
#26: Highlighted Long Pixie with Choppy Layers
A highlighted long pixie with choppy layers can be customized to frame any face. A dark brown pixie cut with blonde highlights can be combined with long choppy layers to create any shape or frame that works with each individual face.
#27: Spiky Pixie with Painted Highlights
Brighten up a spiky pixie with painted highlights to customize the exact placement and desired effect. Women over 60 who want to add brightness to their faces should try a few painted highlights near their faces. Something as simple as updating a brown pixie with caramel highlights can drastically lift the overall appearance and expand the volume. Painted highlights are a key way to look 10 years younger without any work.
#28: Two-Tone Pixie Undercut
Freshen up your locks with a two-tone pixie undercut. Highlights on pixies are a great way to add dimension, complement skin tones or eye color, and even switch up the overall look of a haircut.
#29: Short Textured Pixie with Highlights
A short textured pixie with highlights is an easy way for women over 50 to freshen up their style and take 10 years off their look. Highlighted pixies give a youthful lift to facial features and can help bring a lifted new dimension to the style.
Related: Short pixie haircuts for women over 50.
#30: Black Pixie with Muted Pink Highlights
Try a black pixie with muted pink highlights to bring some subtle edginess to a flat hairstyle. A pixie cut with pink highlights is a great way to try out a fashion color without committing. By using a muted pink, it remains subtle enough to look natural in some light while still bright enough to give that flair of color.
Related: Black hair with highlights ideas.
#31: Pixie with Golden Copper Highlights
A pixie with golden copper highlights compliments warm skin tones beautifully. Foil highlights are the most controlled technique for highlighting hair, which means that it’s the most customizable. Highlights bring brightness and can even aid in creating that ideal oval face shape. Warm-toned highlights work to brighten and warm up the facial features and overall color of the hair.
#32: Tapered Pixie Cut with Babylights
A tapered pixie cut with babylights is a perfect way to brighten up a short hairstyle. Pixie cuts are a low-maintenance hairstyle for those who like to wear their hair naturally. Add babylights for a sunkissed, beachy style.
#33: Highlighted Pixie on Wavy Hair
A highlighted pixie on wavy hair is the perfect short beachy style. A wavy pixie is a more modern adaptation to a very short inverted bob. Bringing the graduation up higher brings the hair off the nape for a lighter and more airy volume. By adding natural volume at the crown and tight graduation at the nape, you can achieve the appearance of a more elongated neck.
#34: Blonde Highlights on a Razor Cut Pixie
Blonde highlights pop on a razor cut pixie with side-swept bangs. Haircuts with highlights have an extra level of dimension and movement and when combined with a great razor cut the hair can seem to just naturally fall into perfect place with little to no styling effort. Side-swept bangs are a great way to frame the face without needing to put work into regular styling.
#35: Pixie with Bangs and Subtle Highlights
A pixie with bangs and subtle highlights is a great way to transition into lighter styles. Volume at the crown of a pixie helps hold the style and gives the desired shape of the haircut. Adding graduation at the nape works well to accentuate volume in the crown as well.
#36: Short Dark Hair with Blonde Bangs
The combination of short dark hair with blonde bangs is absolutely stunning on almost any hair type. A dark pixie cut with highlights added in creates a bold color contrast that can really make eyes pop no matter what color.
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