Naturally Curly Pixie Cut?

Hello everyone! I’m looking for advice and input from those naturally curly girls that took the dive and chopped it all off.

I’m 43 and have very thick naturally curly (I would say a 2C/3A maybe?) brown hair with a few greys. I have always kept it long, a little past shoulder length. However, I absolutely hate wearing it down. I will at home sometimes or for the very rare special occasion but other than that I rock a messy bun like 98% of the time. I hate the feeling of it on my neck, I hate when it’s around my face, I just generally hate wearing it down.

I’m getting to the point in my life where I want ease and simplicity. I want to love my curls and show them off in ways other than a messy bun. I want to get up in the morning, give my hair a little tussle with my fingers and a bit of product and get on with my life.

I’m leaning towards a medium length pixie (not completely flat on my head but not long enough that it would require a lot of styling, if that makes sense) with that kind of messy fun look.

But I’m scared! I’ve never ever had it short like that. My length requirement was that I always had to be able to put it up. The one thing that keeps me thinking that it might not look like such a huge change is the fact that I always wear it up (meaning, my hair is always close to my scalp anyways) so maybe it might not be that much of a shocker to people? I am also scared about looking older than I am though. I’m scared that it will look like the short hair cut most of the senior ladies get lol.

Any advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated!