Like most people, I had bangs when I was a kid. My mom was a fan and for most of my early elementary school years I sported bangs, but later became bang-less during my later elementary years. However, that all changed when, in 6th grade, I decided I wanted to look like Selena Gomez and proceeded to not only get layers and lose half a foot of hair, but also get bangs. I regret that look immensely primarily because I did not know how much care I needed to put into making it look good; I ended up with oily, oddly parted bangs half the time that I ended up growing out during my freshman year of high school.
Isn’t it ironic that during my freshman year of college I took the plunge and went back to sporting bangs? Back in January, after rewatching too many Gilmore Girls episodes during Rory’s bang-era, the idea of getting bangs hit me. It was perfect! I pretty much have had the same hairstyle since freshman year of high school (straight or wavy with the occasional layers) and wanted a change that wasn’t too drastic, so straight blunt bangs would be perfect!! Of course the next morning my mom reminded me of my annoying cowlick and my hair’s tendency to part down the middle, bangs included, but I was determined. A month and a dozen Pinterest blog articles later, I went home one weekend and came back with bangs.
I have to confess, I have only had bangs for roughly three weeks, but I have learned a lot. Not only have a had to get a new hair routine down during midterms week, but I also traveled for spring break after only having bangs for a week. I’ve made mistakes during these three weeks, and I’m sure I’ll make more in the time that follows, but I’ve also ended up with relatively straight blunt bangs (relatively being key: it’s still only been three weeks, give me a break). Here are a few things I’ve learned:
Be realistic
This is an issue that has affected me and I know affects lots of people: it’s easy to look at someone in a Tv show or movie with a certain hairstyle and suddenly think that if you get that same style your hair will look like that all the time no matter what. It takes time and effort to get your bangs to look nice and isn’t something you can generally just roll out of bed and run a brush through. There’s also the issue that blunt bangs don’t always work for everyone; some people’s hair texture doesn’t always work for straight bangs, but they can work for other kinds. Like I mentioned, I have a cowlick and have parted my hair in the middle for years so my bangs are more likely to try and split at the middle. I am able to work and fix that split, but it takes time and effort that you don’t always see people on TV do.
Do research
Before getting bangs, I read dozens of blog articles and was able to stock myself with knowledge and supplies before making that drastic cut. I learned that I should get dry shampoo, styling combs, and a round brush, and that you need to blow-dry your bangs and not let them air-dry. There were some downsides to the research, though, and that leads me to my next tip.
Get them cut at a hair salon if you can afford it
I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to have the blunt bangs or that I would have to spend hours trying to get them to keep from splitting or that I’d have to spend a ton of money on hair products to keep them from splitting. When I went to get them cut, though, I talked to my stylist who assured me that it might take some time but they would eventually lose their tendency to split, and I was able to feel better about getting them cut. It turns out it only takes me five minutes to blow-dry them, and ten minutes to wash and blow-dry, a lot less than the hours I thought they would take.
Like I said, I’ve had bangs for about three weeks and even in bad bang days I haven’t regretted getting them for a minute.