How To Cut Bangs

How To Cut Bangs - Skip the Scissors!

Learning how to cut your own bangs is essential once you get this flattering cut. Trust me. I’ve been sporting this style for decades.

When my fringe grows long enough to cover my eyes, I get impatient! And I can’t be bothered to make an appointment with a hair stylist. So I developed my own technique that is quick and easy.

GET THIS! I don't use scissors. Instead I use clippers, specifically a bikini trimmer like this one. Scissors tend to lift the fringe, whereas clippers just snip the hair on contact. Lots more control and precision. The narrow width of a bikini trimmer is a big advantage.

Step 1: Assemble your tools: fine tooth comb, bobby pins, and the bikini trimmer

Step 2: Wash and dry your hair how you normally wear it. Sporting bangs usually means you blow-dry them, no? In any case, you're cutting dry hair. No one needs to go through the heartbreak of trimming wet bangs!

Step 3: Separate your to-be-trimmed bang hairs from the rest of your hair and secure with bobby pins. Now comb your bang hairs down, so they are all laying in the direction you normally wear them. In my case, that's straight down.

Step 4: Notice how the business end of your trimmer has all those little slicers. When you place the slicers perpendicular to your hair, they act like tiny scissors.

Step 5: Decide how short you want your bangs. Here I'm trimming my bangs to a longish, below-eyebrow length. Line the trimmer up with your nose. Make the first cut right in the middle.

Step 6: Not bad! Now comb the adjacent 3/4 inch section over between your brows. Line up the trimmer with your nose again. Also line up the little slicers with the ends of the hairs you just trimmed. And cut the new section only as short as the previous section.

Step 7: Work on one side at a time. Repeat Step 6 as you work from the center towards the outer edge of your bangs. This creates a nice bowed shape. Even though you make straight cuts only, your bangs end up nicely curved. Shorter in the middle and longer on the sides.

Step 8: You're halfway there! Now repeat the process on the other side. Always work from the center to the outside edge.

Step 9: Comb your bangs and check your work. If you have any strays you can carefully trim them with the trimmer. Only trim hair that you have placed between your brows. You don't want to accidentally cut your eyebrows or eyelashes!

Step 10: All done!

• This technique creates a nice bowed shape: shorter in the middle and longer on the sides.
• You can use the trimmer above the brows and make the straightest blunt bangs ever! Or follow the shapes of your brow arches for V-shaped bangs.
• For a piecey look: Once you've finished Step 10 use traditional hair shears to cut tiny little V's into the edge.
• This technique is only recommended for trimming your bangs. If you don't currently have bangs but you'd like some, go to a salon to get a professional cut. I went to Suite 5 Salon and Bradley was awesome!
• Hot tip: a reputable stylist will trim your bangs for free once you've had the initial cut. Just don't forget to tip.

Notes on this post: 

My bangs were driving me crazy, but I really wanted to share this technique with you. Like now. So I shot all the pictures for this post and did all the retouching, cropping, layout and photo-editing on my iPhone 5. I used Afterglow, Pic Stitch, and PhotoGrid. 

I'm wearing a thrifted Perry Ellis sweater, similar to this, this, this, or maybe this. I guess Etsy is calling them Hipster Sweaters now?