If you’re like me, the idea of curly bangs used to bring up imagery of “Flashdance” or mom and aunties in their wedding photos. Today, however, bangs are seen as more modern than retro, and every year more women with all different hair types are rocking the look in trendy ways.
After seeing some of my favorite celebrities and style icons wear curly bangs over the last few years, I decided to take the plunge and try them out. It’s been a year since I first swapped face framing layers for short fringey bangs and then later straight across bangs, and while there are definitely some days I look in the mirror and think to myself, “Girl why did you do this?” most days I really love them. Here’s a few things I’ve learned over the past year that help keep the “Girl, why?” days to a minimum.
- Do your research. There are many styles of bangs that you could try out, and the right style for you depends on your personal style, face shape, and curl type. I began with short fringey layers that were a safer way to break into the bang world, and eventually moved to a bolder straight across style after feeling more comfortable with the idea of bangs. Look up photos of bangs with different lengths and volumes and also how someone with curly bangs manipulates them to style in different ways. The easiest way to research a style is to find a “hair twin” with bangs. If you like how it looks on them, surely you will like how it looks on yourself. My main bang inspo was Sophia Roe, a healthy food and lifestyle advocate I follow on Instagram with a very similar hair type and length (at the time”> as me. I also often played around with folding my hair over itself or taking my layers and laying them across my forehead to see if I liked the look.
- Let yourself warm to them. It’s normal to think you don’t like how a new style looks just due to the fact that you aren’t used to it. When I got my nose pierced 5 years ago, I was practically mortified when I looked in the mirror, and was sure I was going to take it out. After about a week though, I started to love how it looked on my face, and now I can’t imagine myself without it. I had a similar experience with my new bang cut initially. I thought they looked silly at first and that they didn’t work on me, but again I stuck it out and after some time and patience learning how best to style them, I started to love them.
- Don’t ever cut them yourself. Just don’t do it. I know it seems like an easy and quick thing to attempt, and I’ve definitely seen friends with straight hair successfully do it, but I promise going to a professional is worth it. Often times if you call your stylist or a salon they will do it for free or for very cheap, especially if you add it onto a trim or haircut. I call my stylist for bang trims every couple months, and she does free them of charge since they only take a couple of minutes. Cutting bangs is different from trimming your own hair and requires specific skills and scissors in order to be done right, especially with curly hair.
- Add face framing layers with your bangs. If there is a big difference between your bang length and the rest of your hair, the style can tend to look more dated than modern. Ask your stylist to add some shorter layers to help blend your bangs with the rest of your hair. This way you can style your bangs with a middle part and to each side (shown below”>, or across your forehead as shown in the first picture. These layers also work well to soften or dress up a look when you want to put your hair up and need some extra curls on the sides of your bangs. One of my favorite lazy hair day looks now is putting my hair up, and leaving my bangs and a few longer curls on the sides of my face down.
- Style them separately. Not much unlike how you would take care of your dog differently than you would a cat, your bangs sometimes need specialized care. My bangs for instance, need to be brushed and styled while wet so they keep their curl and don’t frizz, whereas the rest of my hair can be styled while damp. I usually style my hair as soon as I get out of the shower, focusing on my bangs first so they are still wet, and then moving onto the rest of my hair. Additionally, I often finger coil some hairs in my bangs and leave the rest of my hair to do its own thing. I have found that when my bangs have ringlet curls, the rest of my hair doesn’t matter as much.
- If it’s a bad bang day, you can always pin them back. Unfortunately, bangs are not immune to frizz or funky curl patterns from time to time. One of my favorite styles on a bad bang day is a middle part and twisting my hair back into bobby pins on one or both sides. I always keep a few bobby pins in my purse in case my bangs decide to go rogue. This is also a good style for when they are a bit too long and you need to keep them out of your face until you have time to get a trim.
Bangs were the perfect way to change up my look in an inexpensive, trendy, and fun way. Have you ever had curly bangs or would you be willing to try them? What was your experience with them? Share below!
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