Wondering if bangs will change your life?
We understand that making the decision to get bangs isn’t easy. After all, some can add a few minutes (or more!) to your morning hair styling routine.
Deciding to do them yourself is even harder.
Scary even. Knowing how unforgiving bangs done wrong can be.
Then there’s curtain aka Bardot bangs.
This face-framing bang may just be the near perfect way to ease into having a fringe.
Curtain bangs, for the un-obsessed, come out of the box with an undone, messy, almost sultry attitude to them. They ooze cuteness and blend effortlessly with the rest of your hair. Meaning they can be tucked away on days you don’t exactly feel like bangin’ it.
While certain things should be left for experts, like setting a broken arm, spaying your cat, or anything to do with electricity, you can pull off DIY curtain bangs that actually look great.
Of course you may be wondering what about curtain bangs and cowlicks. We show you how to fix bangs with a cowlick. Cause nothing ruins a perfectly good fringe faster than a horrible hairline cowlick, right?
Anyway, given the curtain bang craze this detailed video is a good one to start out with. The technique is simple and while no DIY hair cut is fool proof, if you take it slow, this might be the one to guide you.
It’s Easy – How To Cut DIY Curtain Bangs Like A Pro
Yeah here’s how beginners can learn to cut curtain bangs like a pro. This video is full of all sorts of little tricks that are helpful and good to know.
To do our part we’ve listed out the steps and the time stamp of where they are demo’d in the video.
Obviously you’ll want to watch along with the text to see what she does so you can apply it to your hair.
But we laid out the “game plan” with time stamps for two reasons.
First to make it easy to find the segment that answers a question you might have.
And two this video looks a lot like it is sponsored by Dyson – which some will find annoying.
Just saying. We suspect this because she makes sure to heap praise on their tools throughout. You’ll just have to watch around all the shilling if you want to get the otherwise useful ideas she shares.
The Game Plan
0:45 It all starts with a center part – done for symmetry and balance.
0:50 Next use a comb find the top of your head. Where your comb lays flat that’s the ideal spot to start your bangs. This is usually two to three inches back from your hairline.
1:08 Part out the triangle. For this you’re using the arch of your eyebrows and that point you just identified two to three inches back. Run a diagonal part from the ideal spot down to the arch.
You might think of this as the hair designated for your fringe. The arch marks the width of this bang section. The top of your head indicated by your comb is the depth.
Do what you can to get the amount of hair even on both sides.
Oh and if you’re unsure whether to include or exclude some hair the safer path is to exclude it. Clip the rest back and out of the way.
Tip: The further back you go on you head the thicker your bangs will be. Some go too far back into their head at first when selecting the starting point. Until you gain some experience you may be better off to take less hair then it looks like you need to see how that works out.
2:05 Wet the bangs to insure a clean crisp cut.
Comb through your bang so you have like a sheet of hair in front of your face.
2:29 Now your length guide is your chin. Run your comb underneath the damp hair and slide it down to about your chin. Slip your index and middle finger around the hair just above the comb and clamp down.
Go ahead and cut the hair UNDER your fingers. You’re being a little conservative and cutting the bang a little longer just to be on the safe side.
Tip: Don’t pull the hair too taut especially if it’s wavy or worse curly. Otherwise you may end up with bangs that are shorter when dry due to shrinkage.
2:54 Split the bangs into two sections in preparation for angling. (You’re angle cutting to create the swoop effect curtain bangs are known for.) For this you’ll use the diagonal parting as your directional guide.
What does that mean? Let me explain. You want to cut the ends to be parallel to the part from your eyebrow arch to the top of your head. Remember that? Which means your fingers should be parallel to the part with a slight bit of over direction.
When she releases the hair do note how this creates a lovely little angle to the section.
5:01 Blow dry the bangs. (Time to brace for the soft sell on the wonders of the Dyson dryer.)
Tip: Blow dry the bang straight down. She suggests using high heat and low air speed with the nozzle for best results. You may need to play around with the settings on your dryer to figure out the combo that produces the best results for you.
The idea is to dry the roots so they lay flat.
6:08 Now dried, split the bang back into two sections. To style just a bit take one section and over direct (to the opposite side) while blasting it with the dryer armed with a nozzle. Keeping it taut with a small round brush. Then release.
7:14 Time to texturize by point cutting into the ends.
Finally for a more finished look, she slide cuts from the bangs down to the longer ends to aid in blending. Remembering to BARELY put any tension on the scissor as you glide it down your hair.
Got it? Don’t look now but you should end up with the highly desired swoopy bangs.
If the mere thought of carving out your own bangs turns you into a nervous wreck just cut a little at a time so you don’t cut too much. You can always go back and trim them back a bit further.
See? Cutting “see-through” bangs doesn’t have to mean “shear” terror.
Okay so who hasn’t seen this warning “Don’t try this at home” flash across their TV screen as two strange looking guys in flannel shirts set out to catch a wild wood chuck with the their bare hands.
The same might be said for doing bangs at home. Bangs are notorious for how easy they are for beginners to botch.
If you need convincing we’ve got a how NOT to do it video for you.
How Not To Cut Curtain Bangs Yourself
Ahhh, the creativity of YouTubers.
Truth is sometimes our good intentions get the better of us as this video shows.
We put the ten minute video out of its misery after about three minutes of random snip snip snipping. You can just tell this isn’t going to end well.
We’re not singling this girl out for ridicule.
No, it’s more like this video is a an object lesson of how NOT to approach cutting curtain bangs yourself.
For one thing proclaiming “we’re going to work with what we got” isn’t a plan for success when it comes to the scissors you’re going to use.
Meaning hair cutting shears only please. But only if you want to avoid frayed ends or a mangled cut that doesn’t come out quite right. If you need help you might check out our quick guide that explores what kind of scissors you need to cut hair.
Yet this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this sentiment of using what scissors you’ve got on hand expressed.
Uttering “I don’t know where to start” is another admission you need a video like the first one above to use as a step by step guide.
Finally you know you’re on the wrong track when the circus clown music kicks in to compliment the running commentary.
So quiz time. Which of these things did she do wrong? You should be able to tell after watching the Game Plan above.
She didn’t have a plan to follow. (see The Game Plan above)
She didn’t create the triangle to limit the width of her bangs.
It appeared she was randomly point cutting.
She didn’t compare both sides when there might have been enough length left to cut to even things out without going too short.
She didn’t know when to stop.
Yeah, you’re right. Pretty much everything she did was wrong. Don’t be that girl.
To drive the point home here’s…
5 Dumb DIY Curtain Bangs Moves To Avoid At All Costs
Pay attention if you want to avoid living life wearing hats. Here are five mistakes to avoid should you get ambitious and opt to try some spontaneous self-snipping.
So yeah. Even though these Bardot beauties are considered apprentice bangs do listen up if you want to avoid weeks of regret!
Dumb Move #1: You don’t get sectioning right
Why this is dumb: Failing here can produce a super heavy, hard to work with fringe.
The problem comes when you start your curtains too far back towards the top of your head.
Stylist hangout BehindTheChair.com notes there are three basics to curtain bangs success.
- Getting sectioning right.
- Getting length right.
- Getting texture right.
Let’s focus on sectioning for now because the triangle thing (as seen in the first video) is crucial.
Fact is beginners tend to start too far back from their hair line.
Sure with fine hair that can add bulk which may not be a bad thing.
But do that with thick hair and watch out. The resulting fringe can come off heavy, too bulky and possibly be too much for your face.
The other way to go wrong is to pull hair from much beyond your eyebrow arch.
Why? Well, that expands the width of your fringe. Doing so can make your face (read: forehead) look wider than an aircraft carrier. It can also cause the edge of the bang to get lost.
Dumb Move #2: Zeroing in on the perfect length right away
Why this is dumb: Another rookie mistake is going for the perfect length with the first cut. Those who try this usually end up with bangs that are too short.
It’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make when cutting any fringe – going for the perfect length with that first snip. Especially if cutting damp or wet hair.
It’s almost always best to temper your enthusiasm and optimism.
In part because as you know wet hair shrinks as it dries.
So it’s much smarter to start snipping so your first try falls, I don’t know, no shorter than around the bridge of your nose. If that’s too long adjust from there by point cutting shorter after things have dried and you see when things stand.
Better to leave some surplus length to work with for the point cutting to come. Plus you can also snip more later.
Dumb Move #3: Using any ole pair of scissors instead of hair cutting shears
Why this is dumb: Given their lack of sharpness those office scissors you borrowed but never got around to returning are simply not sharp enough to get a nice clean cut. Too often than means ends that are uneven, frayed and/or crushed.
Great curtain bangs need to be blended. In order to blend you need healthy ends softened by point cutting.
Dumb Move #4: Failing to point cut
Why this is dumb: Like I just said bangs like these want to blend. So don’t cut straight across. Point cut so the fringe blends without harsh, abrupt tell-tale ends.
Point cutting means cutting into your hair with the scissors held vertically rather than cutting across horizontally. Since point cutting lets you take off tiny bits of length at a time it’s a very forgiving approach.
Dumb Move #5: Cutting curly hair damp or wet
Why this is dumb: Doing so almost guarantees your bangs will end up too short.
That’s because the curl in them will cause them to spring up when dry as wet curls will stretch out on you. You can’t tell how much length you’re gonna lose when they’re wet.
This is no time for unpredictability.
I hope this isn’t news. But that and pulling the curls with too much tension when cutting simply isn’t smart.
Those with curls will always, always, always be better off cutting their curly bangs dry.
But it should be welcome news that wavy bangs like these are about as low maintenance as you get. They make for a more carefree fringe than even those done on straight hair.
Curtain Bangs Rule to Live By: They always look way better styled. If you have no idea how to style them let us offer our styling curtain bangs guide as a good place to start.
Remember things can go two ways here.
One you look so hot you regret not doing the bang thing sooner.
Or second, well, you know. You take solace in the fact that in a week or two you’ll be used to the new you. Plus you’ll be two weeks closer to being back to looking like the you you’re used to.
If you appreciate help like this to get your bangs game locked in then you’ll love our Pinterest boards. Why not take a sec and follow us to make sure you get what you need to rock trends like this while they’re still trending?
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