What is the difference between a bixie and a pixie?

A bixie is longer. A pixie is cut close through the sides and back and sits well above the ear. A bixie keeps enough weight to read as a very short bob, usually finishing around the ear and above the jaw, which makes it easier to grow out and less demanding to style.

Is an Italian bob good for a round face?

It is the best of the three for one. It finishes below the jaw with the ends turned under, so the widest visible horizontal line sits below the widest part of the face rather than on it. A French bob does the opposite and a bixie removes the length entirely.

Which of the three needs the least maintenance?

The Italian bob and the French bob are similar, at roughly eight to ten weeks before the shape goes. A bixie is the demanding one, because the difference between the cut and a grown-out version shows within six weeks and there is no length to hide it.

Can I get any of these with curly hair?

Yes, with the finishing line moved. Curl shortens as it dries, so a cut aimed at the jaw on wet hair can finish above it once dry. Ask for the cut to be measured dry, or to be cut a full curl length longer than the line you want.

Bixie, Italian bob, French bob: three cuts, three different jaws

They are sold as three moods. They are really three finishing lines, and each one sits in a different relationship to the jaw. Once that is clear the choice stops being about taste.

Last reviewed 2 August 20266 min readSravya

Editorial portrait showing a softly waved bixie cut

The figures

110k
Monthly searches for the bixie: 3
Finishing lines: 0.85
The jaw ratio that splits them

The short version

A bixie finishes above the jaw and puts the jawline fully on show. A French bob finishes at or just below it, usually with a fringe. An Italian bob sits below the jaw with the ends turned under and the weight kept in. If your jaw is clearly narrower than your cheekbones, all three are available and the choice is taste. If your jaw is close to as wide as your cheekbones, the Italian bob is the one that helps, because it is the only one of the three carrying weight past the widest point.

01The three, defined by where they stop

Three cuts, three finishing lines

Cut	Where it finishes	What it does to the jaw	Upkeep
Bixie	Above the jaw, at or near the ear	Shows all of it. Nothing beside the jaw and nothing below it.	High. Six to eight weeks.
French bob	At the jaw, usually with a blunt fringe	Draws a horizontal line level with the jaw, which reads as width there.	Medium. Eight to ten weeks.
Italian bob	Below the jaw, ends turned under	Carries weight past the jaw, so the widest visible line moves below it.	Medium. Eight to ten weeks.

Stylists describe the Italian bob as the sculpted one, polished rather than undone. That description is about finish. The reason it suits more people than the other two is structural: it is the only one of the three that does not draw a line at or above the widest part of a lower face.

02Which one your jaw is asking for

Shape by shape

Shape	Bixie	French bob	Italian bob
Oval	Yes	Yes	Yes
Heart	Yes	Yes	Yes
Diamond	Yes	With a softened fringe	Yes
Oblong	With crown volume kept low	Yes, the fringe helps	Yes
Square	Only if textured	No, it repeats the jaw	Yes
Round	No	No	Yes
Triangle	No	No	Yes, with volume above the ear

Verdicts follow the same balance logic the face shape tool uses. They are guidance, not rules.

All three are usually chosen from a photograph of someone whose jaw is narrower than the reader's. That is not an accident. Cuts that finish near the jaw photograph best on faces where the jaw is the narrowest thing in frame, so those are the photographs that circulate, and the cut arrives in the salon attached to a face it was never demonstrated on.

The fix is not to avoid the cut. It is to say out loud where you want it to finish, in relation to your own jaw, rather than pointing at the photograph.

Finish it a finger's width below the jaw, not level with it.
One sentence, and it converts any of the three into the version that suits a wider jaw. Naming the proportion gives a stylist something to work with. A photograph of somebody else does not.

Common questions

Sources

Every figure quoted above is listed here with what it was used for and when the source was last checked. Anything not attributed to a source is this site’s own reading and is labelled as such where it appears.

Refinery29
16 haircut trends for spring 2026, from pixies to bobs
Stylist commentary on the softer, more textured pixie and on the Italian bob.
Last checked 2 August 2026
Rising Trends
Top Haircare Trends in 2026 (backed by data)
Average monthly search volume and growth figures for every named cut quoted on this page. Data dated 13 July 2026.
Last checked 2 August 2026

Check it against your own measurements

The number that decides between these three is jaw width divided by cheekbone width. The tool reads it from a photograph and shows the figure, so the decision is made on a measurement rather than on whose photograph you saw first.

Find which bob fits