Who would have guessed that posting one simple photo on Instagram with Clara would spark a full-on demand for details about my bangs? You all are a curious bunch, and suddenly everyone wanted to know what I did with my hair. There were even funny conspiracy theories that my bangs weren’t real and that I was pulling a Kim K—style ponytail flip to fake them. Hilarious, but not true. They are real. (I’ll leave the chest commentary to your imagination.) I literally stood up from the couch on a Saturday afternoon, went into the bathroom, cut them, came back, sat down, and waited for John and Clara to notice. They didn’t seem to mind—John even said they made me look “young and hot,” so I’ll take it. Bonus: they conveniently cover my forehead wrinkles. Win!
Because I cut these bangs alone in the bathroom mirror, they’re not salon-perfect, but they read as real bangs in everyday life rather than looking like a kid grabbed the kitchen scissors. Many of you asked for a tutorial, so here it is.
Consider this the companion post to the time I cut John’s hair, which I shared here. The process is simple; the hardest part for me was modeling for the photos. I’m awkward in front of the camera, so escorting John through the shoot was like this:
John: click, click, click, “Do you need anything else?”
Me: “Ahh, this is stupid. Nevermind! We’re done.”
John: “What? I only took three photos? You sure?”
Me: “Ok, what about one like this? Ahh, too close. Back up! back up! Maybe we need a lens to make my face artfully blurry.”
John: “Um… ok. So we’re done?”
On to the actual tutorial:
First, I sectioned off the portion of hair I wanted as bangs. I pulled that front section forward, which created a soft curve at the crown, and gathered the remaining hair into a ponytail to keep it out of the way. My hair in the photos may look somewhere between wet and dry, but it was completely dry when I cut it.
Which brings us to step two.
I searched online for images of blunt bangs to see where they typically land. The styles I liked grazed the eyelashes—luckily I checked, because my instinct would have been to cut them above my eyebrows, and that would have been a mistake. Crucially, I cut them dry. Wet hair appears heavier and longer, then shrinks when it dries, so cutting wet can leave you with shorter-than-intended bangs. Cutting them dry gives you a more accurate sense of the final length.
After the initial cut, I dampened just the bangs in the sink and dried them while holding them in front of my face. That helped reveal a few long stray pieces, which I snipped straight across to sharpen the blunt look. I have a stubborn cowlick, so I try not to obsess over how every piece falls. In one Instagram photo, a few hairs from the opposite side drifted over and created a comb-over effect—probably why some people joked the bangs were fake.
Because of the cowlick, sometimes I separate the bangs with my fingers to create a softer part when humidity makes them act up. Sorry for the awkward self-portrait—I’d already endured posing, reviewing the shots, deleting the horror photos, and asking John to back out of the room slowly while whispering that it wasn’t his fault I was awkward.
I can also pin the bangs back with two small bobby pins and wear a regular ponytail—handy for rainy days when humidity turns my hair into a frizz-fest. So this little DIY trim gives me three looks: 1) blunt bangs, 2) parted bangs, and 3) no bangs when pinned back.
Hopefully this quick tutorial helps someone save a trip to the salon or at least gives you a laugh about how uncomfortable it was to shoot these photos. I’m used to photographing rooms, not my face, so the whole thing felt like a high school yearbook session—clammy palms and all. Anyone else attempted DIY haircuts at home or recently debuted fresh bangs? Tell $herdog all about it.