Many seriously underestimate the styling power of hair parts.
So I have to ask, do you know why where you part you hair matters?
Well, for one, some parts will your compliment your face shape and set off specific facial features. Other parts not so much.
Certain parts can take years off your face or completely change the face others see. While some will make you look dated, tired, out of style.
Besides changing your part is a great way to do some effortless hair rehab while adding a bit of mystery to your look. Friends will know you look different just won’t know why.
Fact is by changing nothing more than your part you can literally let you do an about face when it comes to your hair.
That’s why we’ll explore nearly a dozen parting options here. Complete with a how to video.
Don’t worry. These one minute makeovers are super easy to pull off.
Plus it’s so much fun to see your hair and face transform into like a whole ‘nother person looking back at you in the mirror.
When done here you’ll know
- the face shape a given part flatters most….
- the “how to” involved so you can easily rock the look…plus
- ways to glam things up to take your style to the next level.
This video provides more than enough visual inspiration since it shows…
10 Ways a Different Part Can Totally Change Your Look
The fun starts with a the classic
How To Part Your Hair In the Middle or Center
The center part is so universal because it works with how your hair wants to fall naturally.
Plus it puts everything, by that I mean your facial features, all front and center.
About Face: What happens with a clean-cut, down the middle parting is you are training the eye of those around you to focus on the middle of your face.
A dead center part is most transformative and slimming for those with oval, round, or oblong faces where everything is proportional.
Still because this one will lengthen the appearance of your face it will work with just about face shape.
Keep in mind too that the length of your hair also affects the resulting look.
Doing Your Part: As the name suggests this is nothing more than a part that starts aligned in the middle of your face.
The key to getting this one right is to get a crisp part as straight down the center of your head as possible. A feat not always accomplished on the first try.
Glam It Up: How you position the hair around your face also affects the look. Letting the hair fall near the outside corners of your eyes will elongate things.
If you prefer you can take the hair framing your face and position it slightly further back to open up your face.
One More Trick: It’s best to not create the middle part until you’ve dried your hair at least halfway and then use your fingers to lift and separate the hair before letting it fall on its own. This creates as natural a middle part as possible.
Quote: “Don’t be too contrived about finding a middle part since your natural middle part is rarely ever dead center.” Good advice from cupofjo.com
Slightly Off Center Part
Okay but some feel the center part comes off as too serious.
Too severe.
Too Amish even.
Solution?
Add a bit of whimsy and fun to your look by placing the part slightly off center.
Your mane will still throw off a nicely-put-together vibe without looking too strict or stuffy. Plus at a glance it may come off like a center part – just not be one exactly.
So if you are already center parting you really should give this one a try. All the more if your part seldom ventures left or right of center.
About Face: This hair part produces facial balance and works much like a side part.
Plus it performs just a teeny bit of face widening magic while calling out your cheekbones.
Not to mention if you lack model-perfect facial features you might find this to be a more flattering part to disguise that lack of symmetry.
Doing Your Part: Start this one just inside the natural peak of either brow but preferably the one over your smaller eye. This means it will be half an inch or so off center.
You can part the hair on that line for a couple of inches and leave the rest of the center part as is.
Or you can go all the way with your entire part not quite centered. Lady’s choice.
Glam It Up: This part works best with your natural texture aided by a glossifying misting of shine spray for some added sheen.
Quote: From one who tried it “The difference an inch makes is amazing. It’s surprisingly flattering, softening (to) my face.”
T Part
You might think of the “T part” as somewhat like backwards bangs. Which is to say while bangs come forward, with this look the “party-is-in-the-back” with a poof that goes away from your face.
About Face: The added height with this style opens your face while creating the illusion of more balanced proportions. Perfect for a rounder face.
Doing Your Part: Using your rat tail comb and starting with a center part go about half way back on the crown of your head and drag the tail straight to the left and pull the hair behind the part towards the back. Repeat on the other side following the same line.
Glam It Up: To amplify the retro look tease the hair in the back to create a mini bouffant shape and to add more volume. Feel free to go as big as you like.
Then smooth the hair down with your brush.
To set the shape use some extra hair spray.
The final result is a look that has a distinct 1950’s or 60s vibe to it.
Amp the Look Even Further: Take a thinly folded silk scarf placed along the lateral part bisecting your head sideways. Tie it under the hair in the back. Result? A super cute look.
How To A Do A Deep Side Part
It’s been said that the deeper the part the more modern and fashionable it looks.
About Face: This bit of parting trickery naturally draws attention to your facial features like your eyes or brows while bringing additional balance. Which is why is it said to be super flattering to pretty much every face shape.
A more dramatic parting tends to also emphasize one side of your face.
Beyond that it is a great way to hide high forehead or slimming a rounder face.
Not to mention that since it softens harsh angles those with strong jaw line or a square face can look amazing with a deep part like this.
Doing Your Part: Not much to it really. You want your straight-ish part to point towards the peak of your brow arch of your prettiest eyebrow.
Just line up your rat tail with that point and go straight back as far as you like.
And as for which side, you’ll want to play around with it to see which side looks and feels best to you and then go for it.
Glam It Up: Volumizing or thickening spray can be used to add more volume and hold to your roots. Spray this into the side with all the hair misting the roots along multiple lines.
Teasing the underside of the hair can build in even more volume.
Another trick is to tuck all the hair on the side deeply parted behind your ear. You can smooth that hair out by spritzing some hairspray on your teasing comb and working that through the hair.
The resulting effect will open up your face in a different way than other parts do.
An added benefit of this type of part is all the dramatic volume on display – as it is a natural volumizer. That’s because it’s a styling given that more hair on one side equates to a thicker, fuller looking mane.
Quote: According to the Paul Mitchell pros, this look is especially for women with skinny strands as it gives the illusion of fuller hair.
Classic Side Part
Classic in every sense of the word because even if it not’s exactly the “in” look of the moment it’s never very far away.
Pretty much if you have hair you can side part it.
So who isn’t familiar with a side part?
Even better it will easily slip into any style without objection making this one of the more subtle ways to part your hair.
About Face: Naturally slims your face making it perfectly complementary to most hairstyles regardless of face shape.
If you have a fuller face such a part will bring balance to your features.
It can also play down pesky prominent jaw lines while softening the look of square or long faces.
Doing Your Part: You want to begin this on a line from the inner edge of your eyebrow. You can use your index finger for something less formal but for a cleaner look use a rat tail comb.
Just don’t be timid. You want to part it enough to side to matter.
Glam It Up: If you want to ensure you have lift to spare start out by parting it on the other side than you normally do. Blow dry. Spritz with hairspray.
Then flip the hair over and part on your “normal” side. Smooth with your fingers or lightly with a brush.
Over-directing your hair like this produces a ton of unexpected volume.
An Additional Side Benefit: Switching your part from one side to the other can also mask thinning.
How To Do the Mysterious Side Part
With this part you’ll have hair draped across your forehead, maybe even just slightly over one eye almost like side swept bangs. So you might think of this as a faux bang part more than anything else.
About Face: Good for any face shape that needs added face framing.
Doing Your Part: Start with a deep side part. Take the front hair and brush it down and forward. Position the hair so you can still see and hold it there with hair spray.
The way the hair lays across the corner of your eye adds a little bit of mystery and suspense to your face but may require a bobby pin or two for extra hold.
Glam It Up: Pull the hair on the side with the deep part behind your ear to bring out that side of your face.
You can also take a three quarter inch curling iron to that front section that swoops over your forehead. The idea is to add a hint of wave.
Bonus: This is the perfect part for girls with a cowlick at the hair line. So instead of taking your hair up and back, you want to take it a little bit down. This will help you mask that cowlick and get your hair to lay better.
Zig Zag Part How To
Growing tired of your same ole same ole center part? Give it a fresh edgy update by adding some informal yet oh so jagged zig zags.
About Face: This jagged, slightly off-kilter part is charming and flatters most face shapes. It most helps to add some angularity to a round face.
Doing Your Part: Zig zagging is super simple.
Do your normal part – be it of the center or side variety. Taking your rat tail comb less than an inch away from your part and zig zag it back and forth from side to side around the existing part.
You don’t want to lift your comb off your scalp until you get to the very back. Or whatever point it is you choose to stop at.
Then clean up the hair by using your fingers to direct the hair to either side.
Glam It Up: Do what you can to keep each “roughly” the same size – emphasis on roughly.
You might want to keep the zig zagged pieces of hair on the fuller side. Or not.
You want this to look done-on-purpose not some random geez-it-just-happened look. But don’t sweat it too much since loosely defined or some level of messiness is fine.
Then clamp down the final look in place with some light hold hair spray.
Quote: As the site allwomenstalk.com pointed out, “Zig-zagging even gives the illusion of more volume, and who wouldn’t want that? Not to mention it is a great way to hide obviously grown out roots because your hair won’t be parted in a straight line.”
7 Part
This part is so named because you’re literally creating the number seven in your hair line. Similar to the T part but different enough.
About Face: Pretty much the same benefits as a deep side part. Slims a wide face…tones down the jawline….subtly softens a heart shaped face.
Doing Your Part: So start with a deep side part. And about three quarters of the of way in do another part straight across to the other side creating your number 7. Pull the hair behind the across part back creating more volume on the top of your head towards the back.
Glam It Up: You can do as with the T part, tease the hair going towards the back a little bit to give a little bit more volume. And to secure it add some hair spray.
You end up a nice voluminous crown. With enough hair coming forward so as to not create a totally off the face look.
Slipping the hair on the parted side behind your ear opens up that side of your face.
How To Do A Diagonal Hair Part
The illusion created with this one is a softer look.
About Face: Take note of this. The subtle side swoop this part creates towards the front combined with volume boost achieved towards the back produces the illusion of a slimmer face.
This slimming effect makes it a great part for a face perceived to be too wide.
Doing Your Part: Be sure to start at the outside edge of your eyebrow. Then using a rat tail comb divide the hair from the front of one side to the back of the opposite side of your head stopping at the arch of your other eyebrow.
Glam It Up: Nailing an asymmetrical part like this naturally lends itself to stacks of volume to show off. You got it. This one adds a somewhat nonchalant bump to the back of your hair.
So create the diagonal parting with the intent of effortlessly adding mega volume to one side. Or both.
Using your brush, smooth down the side with the most hair while directing that hair towards the back with a brush.
Or if you like give yourself a big, sexy full bodied style. Gently tease the roots on the side with the most hair, then smooth it down and viola – another mini bouffant look!
Or you can always blow dry after adding a dollop of mousse to the roots for a healthy volume boost too.
To keep the part clean, crisp and sharp, lightly spray your flexible hold hair spray.
Bonus Tip: Strive to make the part as straight and clean as possible.
If need be a bit of pomade or smoothing serum emulsified between your index finger and thum can be applied to the hair along the part line to create an even cleaner, more well defined situation.
So simple but gives you a super stylish look that’s like a completely different hairstyle – innocent yet wanton enough. And all you did was change your part.
Then here’s a quick hack to help
Keep Your Hair Around the Part Well Behaved
“To train stubborn strands to lie flat when you change your part, wet hair, part as desired, then work mousse into the roots, says Kristan Serafino, a celebrity hairstylist in New York City. Use a comb to hold down the roots firmly as you blow them dry.”
Another way to hold the part in place would be smoothing serum.
Then let’s follow up with a brief thought to address the sometimes thorny
Which Side?
issue. I especially liked how the site BodyAndSoul.com.au put it:
“There are a few things to consider when deciding what side to part on, like whether one side has more volume, or more flyaway hairs. But when it comes down to it the part should highlight your best side. So if your right cheekbone is more defined, or your right brow arches perfectly, part on the right as this is the side that will be highlighted.”
Couldn’t have said it better.
Then too changing the side you part on for the day can help keep your hair from screaming “didn’t have time to shampoo today, can you tell?” It will look fresh and new rather than like you’re just having another bad hair day.
While we’re at it here’s
The Other Reason to Change Up Your Hair Part
Turns out changing your part is a smart move for the health of your hair. Or as Allure magazine points out
“The longer we wear the same part, the more we wear the hair down in that area and cause breakage,”. Exhibit A: the pesky baby hairs that poke up along your part despite every effort to keep them tamed with hair spray, pomade, or a flatiron.
Parting Thoughts
Parting your hair?
No biggy.
Most of us have a go-to part we turn to most every day.
It’s something you do all the time without giving it much if any thought, right?
Yet how’s that working for you?
If good, okay then.
It not, you may be like married to a part that offers limited styling options.
Or it may be one that doesn’t put your face in a flattering spotlight that illuminates your best features. While you’re blaming the “hair problems” you’re having on some mysterious mane malaise.
Or worse maybe you’re stuck in a hair parting rut. Clinging to the same way of parting as you have since you were, well, a freshman in HS?
Besides your hair part really should be more than just an afterthought you sleep walk through, no?
Why?
Because parting perfection is kinda like hair styling magic. It can trick the eye into seeing an alternate reality.
Not to mention this is about as non-committal a hair hack you can get when it comes to changing up your style. With less effort than you ever thought possible.
Yet many of us never even think to experiment with where we part our mane.
Which is absolutely why you should say yes to exploring different parts as doing so can make or break any look.
To help you part with your styling routine you’ve now got 11 different ways to consider next time you stare into the mirror and wish there something you could do with your hair.
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