Who knew that posting one little picture on Instagram with Clara would spark such a “tell-me-more-about-the-bangs” frenzy? You all were curious and asked for a post about my hair. There were even conspiracy theories that the bangs weren’t real and I was pulling a Kim K-style ponytail flip to fake them. Funny, but they are real. I cut them myself on a Saturday afternoon: walked into the bathroom, trimmed them in the mirror, came back to the sofa, and waited for John and Clara to notice. John said they made me look “young and hot,” so I’ll take that. They also conveniently hide my forehead lines—score!
Because I cut them alone in the bathroom mirror, they aren’t salon-perfect, but they read as real bangs in everyday life rather than looking like a child grabbed kitchen scissors. Many of you requested a tutorial, so here it is.
Think of this as a companion to the post where I cut John’s hair. The process is straightforward; the most awkward part was getting these photos taken. I’m terrible at posing for John, so our photo exchange went something like this:
John: click, click, click, “Do you need anything else?”
Me: “Ahh, this is stupid. Never mind! 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?”
Here’s the actual step-by-step:
First, I pulled forward the section of hair I wanted to become bangs, creating a gentle curved shape at the crown, and tied the rest back into a ponytail to keep it out of the way. Although the hair looks a bit ambiguous in the photo, it was completely dry when I started.
I checked a few photos of blunt bangs to see where I liked the length—many that appealed to me grazed the eyelashes. My instinct had been to cut above the brows, which would have been too short, so looking helped. I cut the bangs dry while they hung in front of my face. Cutting dry hair matters for me because wet hair appears longer and heavier and can spring up when it dries, which can ruin the intended length. So dry cutting helped me end up with the length I wanted.
After the initial cut, I wet the bangs in the sink and used a blow-dryer to style them forward. Drying let me spot a few long stray hairs I’d missed; I trimmed those straight across for a cleaner, blunter look. I have a stubborn cowlick, so I tried not to over-focus on perfection—sometimes a few hairs like to cross over from the other side, which is likely why some people suspected the bangs were fake in my Instagram photo.
On humid days or when the cowlick acts up, I’ll part the bangs slightly to one side to make them behave better. Excuse the awkward self-portrait—after the photo session with John, I was past the embarrassment point.
When I want to go back to my usual look, two tiny bobby pins can secure the bangs into a regular ponytail—useful for rainy, humid days when I need to control frizz. So the short trim gives me three options: 1) blunt bangs, 2) parted bangs, and 3) no bangs at all with pins.
I hope this short tutorial helps someone save a bit on a bang trim or at least gives you a laugh at how awkward it was to document. I’m more used to photographing rooms than my face, so posing felt like a high school yearbook throwback—sweaty palms, unsure where to look, weird smiles. Anyone else trying DIY haircuts or sporting freshly cut bangs? Tell Sherdog all about it.