Best Cropped Wigs: Our 7 Best-Selling Pixie and Cropped Styles, Who They Suit, and Fitting a Crop on a Small Head

On our site, cropped is the shortest length band: hair that sits above the ears and finishes at or above the nape, usually under 4 inches at its longest. Short is the next band up, to about the jaw, and covers bobs. A pixie cut is the classic crop, short all over with a bit more length on top and often a fringe; most of the wigs on this page are pixies, and when people search for pixie wigs, the cropped wigs category is where they land. Within cropped you’ll find smooth pixies, textured or spiky crops, crops with a full fringe, crops with a side-swept fringe, and asymmetric crops longer on one side. If you want something at the jaw, our short wigs and bob wigs are the next step up.

In the order we sell them. Each is linked, and each tells you whether it comes in petite, because for a crop that matters.

A crop shows your face, your neck, your ears and your hairline, and hides nothing. That’s its charm and its catch, so here’s the honest version.

• Face shape. Oval and heart-shaped faces wear crops easily. Round faces want height and texture on top (Fenja, Risk) rather than a flat crop. Square faces want a fringe and softness (Winner, Foxy). Long faces are the hardest match for a crop and usually look better with a bit of length at the sides, which is a short wig rather than a cropped one; our face shape guide goes through all six.
• Neck and ears. A crop shows both. A long neck is lovely in a crop; a short neck prefers a crop with a slightly longer nape (Disc). Ears that stick out want a crop with hair over the ear (Allure, Disc) rather than a close one (Foxy).
• Features. Crops suit strong features, good cheekbones and big eyes, because there’s nothing else to look at. Fine features suit the softer crops.
• Glasses. Crops and glasses get on; the arms don’t catch and the fringe sits above the frames. A side-swept fringe is the easiest with glasses.
• Confidence. Some of our customers have worn crops for twenty years; some try one and find they want their hair back round their face. If you’re not sure, a crop with a longer fringe and some length at the sides is the half-way house, and the beginners’ pixie in our best wigs for beginners guide is chosen for that reason.

Here’s the thing about crops that the other guides miss. On a bob or a long wig, a cap that’s a touch too big is invisible: the hair covers the nape, the ear tabs and the edge. On a crop there’s nothing to cover anything. If the cap is too big, the nape gapes or rides up, the ear tabs stand away from your head, the hairline sits too far back, and the wig turns when you turn. That’s why four of our five best-selling crops are petite caps, and why we’d never sell a crop to a small head without talking about size.

Wig caps come in petite, average and large, and the brands measure them slightly differently (the table below). Petite caps fit heads of roughly 20 to 21 inches round, average 21.5 to 22.5, large 23 and up; most adult women are average, but a surprising number are petite, and if you’ve ever had an average wig slip, you’re probably one of them. Petite isn’t only for small frames: hair loss shrinks the circumference you’re fitting, because there’s no hair under the cap, so plenty of customers who wore average over their own hair go petite without it. The styles above that come in petite are marked. Our petite size wigs category is the whole list, and the Petite Wig Company makes nothing else.

If a crop is nearly right, the adjustable straps at the nape take in about an inch, and a wig grip band round the hairline stops the turning. If it’s more than an inch too big, go down a size rather than strap it in; a strapped-tight cap on a small head bunches at the nape and shows on a crop. If you’re between sizes, ring us: we’ve fitted hundreds of crops in the shop and we’ll tell you which brand’s petite runs small and which runs big.

• Circumference. Tape round the head: across the front hairline, above the ears, round the nape at the natural hairline, and back to the front. This is the number that decides the size.
• Front to nape. From the front hairline over the crown to the nape hairline.
• Ear to ear over the top. From the top of one ear, over the crown, to the top of the other.
• Temple to temple round the back. From one temple round the back of the head to the other.

The first measurement is the one to go by; the others tell us whether a wig that’s the right circumference will sit well, and they’re the ones to give us on the phone if a wig feels wrong.

If this is your first wig, a crop makes the next six months simpler than anything else would. It weighs the least, so it’s the most comfortable all day and the coolest in summer. It washes in five minutes and dries in an hour on a stand, where a long wig takes a night. It can’t tangle, because there’s nothing to tangle. It holds its style through a wash without any help, because the style is cut into the fibre. It costs least per wear, because a crop worn daily lasts as long as a long wig worn daily and costs less. And when you take it off, it sits in a drawer. Our washing guide covers the five minutes, and the one thing to add is a mist of conditioning spray every few wears, because a crop is all ends.