A Bang Up Job
Quick note: Tonight we’ll be in Miami at 7:30pm at Books & Books on 265 Aragon Ave in Coral Gables for a talk and a book signing. The event is free and open to the public but to get a book signed this store requires you to reserve your copy and RSVP at this number to get a line ticket: 305-442-4408. We’d love to see you there!
Who knew posting one little picture on instagram with Clara would start a tell-me-more-about-the-bangs frenzy? You guys are a curious bunch, demanding a post about my hair. Haha. There were even conspiracy theories that they weren’t real and I was pulling a Kim K on you guys by flipping my ponytail and faking them. Hilarious! But they are in fact real. Can’t say the same thing about my chest (just kidding). I just got off the sofa on Saturday afternoon, walked into the bathroom and cut them, came back out and sat on the sofa, and waited for John and Clara to notice. They seemed not to mind them (in fact John said they made me look “young and hot” so I’ll take it) and they do very conveniently cover my forehead wrinkles. So… score!
Because I cut them in the bathroom mirror all by myself, they’re definitely not perfect, but they seem to pass as actual bangs in real life, as opposed to looking like a child who took the kitchen scissors to her head. And since many (many) of you guys demanded a tutorial, here she blows.
I guess we should call this the sister post to the how-I-cut-John’s-hair post that I shared here. It’s pretty straightforward so quite honestly the most awkward part was getting these photos taken. Gah, I’m terrible at posing for John. So it went something 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 to buy a lens to make my face artfully blurry.”
John: “Um… ok. So we’re done?”
As for the actual tutorial, it goes like this:
All I did was pull the hair in front that I thought should be bangs (which made a soft curved shape at the crown) forward and then I pulled the rest of my hair back into a ponytail to keep it out of the way. My hair might look ambiguously wet/dry in the picture above, but it’s fully dry.
Which leads us to step 2…
I looked up a few pictures on google of people with blunt bangs just to notice where they stopped. The ones I liked most sort of grazed the eyelashes (good thing I looked since my first instinct would have been to cut them above my eyebrows- eeks!). Then I cut them dry while looking in the mirror with the part of hair that I sectioned out just flopping in front of my face. Cutting them dry is key for me since wet hair can look heavier and longer and then dry and shrink up, thereby ruining your life. Well, that’s a little dramatic, but it can definitely pull a fast one on you, so dry hair seems to work best for ending up with bangs at the actual intended length.
Then I dipped my head into the sink to get my bangs all wet and used a blow-dryer to blow them dry in front of my face. This was helpful because after I dried them a few long stragglers stuck out and I snipped them straight across for a more blunt look. I have a ridiculous cowlick, so I’m trying not to be a crazy about how they fall. Although in this instagram picture there was a funny comb-over effect going on since a few from the other side of my head danced over to that side (hence those few guesses that this was a bang hoax I guess, haha).
Thanks to the aforementioned cowlick, sometimes I pull them apart like this. Just if it’s humid and they’re being wonky. Sorry about this bad self portrait, I was past the point of embarrassment after posing for John, seeing the pictures he took, deleting them in horror, and telling him to back out of the room slowly while whispering “it’s not your fault this is just so awkwaaaard.”
I can still pin them all back with two tiny bobby pins and rock my regular old pony (which I did last night for the Austin signing since it was crazy rainy and my hair + humidity = Frizz-fest 2013). So I guess I get three looks from this little snip-fest: 1) blunt bangs, 2)parted bangs, and 3) no bangs at all thanks to Mrs Bobby and her friend Pins.
Anyway, I hope this quick little tutorial helps someone out there save some money on a bang trim or something. Or just gives you all a good laugh at how uncomfortable capturing these photos actually was for me. It might sound crazy but I’m used to taking pictures of the house, not my mug. So it took me right back to high school yearbook photos and I was all clammy and weird about it. Seriously I didn’t know where to look, how to smile, it was a mess. Anyone else tackling some DIY haircuts at home? Or rocking some freshly shorn bangs? Tell $herdog all about it.
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Are these your earrings? You mentioned Pinterest but not Etsy, so I’m not too sure.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/98385828/delicate-simple-everyday-alhambra-ivory?ref=v1_other_1
The interest in your bangs/clothes/fashion is too funny and makes me wonder whether you’ll have to turn into a fashion blogger of sorts and post a source list beneath your photos. If you can stop freaking out long enough to actually have a few pictures taken of you, that is ;)
Yes those are them I think! Love them!
xo,
s
I have been wanting blunt cut bangs but I’ve been so scared to get them. I feel braver after your post. Maybe I will give them a try too! Your hair looks great!
LOVE,love,love the bangs! Great job!
SO CUTE. I actually just recently did the same thing to my hair just a few weeks ago! Twinsies!
Looks great. I cut mine last spring and they didn’t look right on me… so alas I had to grow them out. Looooove yours though.
Impressive for a home cut! For the less brave Richmonders, I just had Leila at Salon 604 on Belmont Ave cut me some lovely short pie bangs and she did an AMAZING job. Oh yeah and her bang trims are free in between cuts!
They look great! The boy-hair-cut post has been super useful since my husband refuses to get his hair cut by a professional. Somehow, I am more confident using scissors and his haircuts are better than when I used clippers.
But how do you cut your own hair? It sounds like a recipe for crookedness to me! How do you keep it looking “normal” when you are done?
It’s definitely a weird-but-it-works process! Will have to post about that someday!
xo,
s
Oh man! I totally thought they were the pony tail faux bangs. But I’m glad you actually did it! I love them. You should get an award for bravery. I could never do that!
Love the new look! I just trimmed up my son’s hair on Monday. We love his hair in a long and shaggy look but he was starting to look more like a homeless child then the “cool surfer-dude” style we were going for haha. So I got the old clippers out and just started going for it. He HATES going to a salon for his haircuts, in fact I usually have to hold him (he’s 3). So it just works better for us to do it ourselves if he needs a little trim. It looks good now and more uniformed and I think now when it grows out it will grow out the way we are hoping. Now that you know way too much about my sons hair, I will quit babbling!!
Love the bangs…I think the comment in step number two “thereby ruining your life” is too funny! Please do a post on how to trim the rest of your hair. That is one of my resolutions. I want to cut my own hair and save money not going to the hair salon.
You look adorbs with the new bangs, now thinking I should cut mine and cover up the wrinkles too. Cute pic of you and Clara!
As a fellow bang cutter myself here are some tips!
Cut up into the bang instead of across, taking away tiny snips. It will help the bang be full, but not heavy and blunt.
To have the bang kind of softy curve into the rest of the hair, ala ms. zooey d, take the bangs, twist them once over, and cut. The twist will make the outside pieces of the bang the tiniest bit long.
Looks so good on you! I tried bangs a year or more ago and couldn’t stand them hanging around/over my eyes and brows! They’re finally grown out again now. My hair is kind of coarse and wavy though, so bangs aren’t a good style for me anyways. But as I said, looks great on you!
P.S. What brand and color of nail polish are you wearing? I love it!
I wish I remembered the name. Its by Zoya. Maybe Rehke?
xo,
s
they look FAB! if you cant get a tattoo, do something to your hair! I dig.
love the bangs! It’s always fun to change it up a little.
They look great! This line made me pee, well not literally because that would be weird but it made me laugh for reals: “…wet hair can look heavier and longer and then dry and shrink up, thereby ruining your life.” While funny, that is also what they call a true story.
Last fall I cut my own bangs while wet! You can imagine what happened next very very short bangs that were cut crooked. Ahh vanity. I paid for my mistake for a long time, actually I am still suffering :(
Looking good, Sherry! I just got bangs (again) last week! I too have a serious cowlick requiring a side part over my right eye… so mine always are more to the side, like in your parted picture.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I’m of the opinion that bangs look much better w/ long hair. (I did the bangs w/ short hair a few years ago…disaster) You look gorgeous!
Unless careful, bangs with short hair can veer dangerously close to mullet territory.
I recently cut 6 inches + off my hair. I went into the salon with a picture of Heidi (google “Heidi Klum long bob” and the first image is a lovely, shoulder-swept length cut) only to come out with a drastically shorter, just under the chin cut. The point of this comment is to vehemently support Step 2 of this post. Wet hair likes to play tricks. Be ye smart and listen to $herdog.
so, I got bangs a few years ago, cut by my hairstylist, and my brother’s response upon seeing them: “Was it difficult to escape from the polygamist camp?” – so, thus began the process of growing them out again.
Also, I hear you on it being super awkward to take pictures of yourself! I wanted to take a baby bump picture, and after a few tries, I fired my husband from the photographer job and replaced him with a tripod… It’s just so awkward, I preferred to not have a witness.
Very young Audrey Hepburn comes to mind, only prettier. You really do look fantastic!
1) Love them!
2) Here’s a little Wednesday morning humor for you: when I was little I wore bangs most of the time, which my mom would cut and trim as needed. This one particular time, the bangs were quite long and needed some TLC, so she had me sit down (as usual) and snipped away, only to realize after the fact that for some reason (don’t ask me why; my own awkwardness will have to suffice) I had my eyebrows raised the whole time. Needless to say I had some super short, can’t-do-a-think-with-em bangs until my (molasses in January) hair grew out.
So glad you did your research and left your eyebrows out of the length equation ;)
Darn, I was totally guessing this post was going to be called “The Big Bang Theory” oh well!
Haha or “She Bangs!”
xo,
s
I love them!! You must have had SOME idea that people would want a tutorial since you took the in progress pics right? lol
Those were actually all after the fact! I faked (aka “recreated”) it ;)
xo,
s
Adorable! I approve!
Love them. They look great!
Love them on you. And John is right…. you do look young and hot ~ not that you looked old and cold before ;) HA!!
I absolutely love your bangs!
In 7th grade my mom took me to the “Hair Spot” for an $8 haircut. They cut one side of my (very curly/frizzy) hair dry and then wet the other side and cut it to the same length. So, at LEAST an inch of difference once dry. I’m pretty sure I thought it actually did ruin my life – at least I remember crying about it in the Kohl’s dressing room afterwards! 7th graders can be brutally mean even when your hair is the same length on both sides! Oh, a few months after that I caught the chicken pox from my 1st grade brother and had to go back to school when I was no longer contagious, but the “spots” were still healing. Not my best year!
This brings back memories of when I last cut my own bangs. After I did them myself I got the rest of my hair trimmed. The stylest ended up giving me his business card and having me promise to call him the next time I had the urge to cut my bangs again.
Very cute! Tres sophisticated too :)
I love them!! They look awesome on you.
“Cutting them dry is key for me since wet hair can look heavier and longer and then dry and shrink up, thereby ruining your life”
I’ve totally done this to myself when I was younger. Sad sad dorky short bangs resulted.
You, and they, look awesome! And seriously, the camera LOVES you…I mean, look at those eyelashes!!
Love your bangs! I think they are so fun. I usually keep the side swept bangs, but I was already thinking of cutting more dramtic bangs and your post helps me with that decision. And its great cause now you can pin them, braid them to one side if you feel like growing them out. They look really good on you, even with your hair up in a bun, in a pony tail and I am sure down as well. Love them!
Great job on the bangs! They look really good on you =)
Try Joico Humidity blocker, it’ll change your life…ok maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but as a curly headed chica living in the HUMID south, it kind of changed mine. LOL!! I use it on dry hair right before I hit it with the flat iron and my hairs stays nice and smooth….ahhh… AMAZINGNESS
Um, this is what I go through every time I take photos for my blog! My poor, patient husband snaps away on my iPhone, and then I look at them all and try to find at least one or two I don’t hate. It’s actually part of why I started blogging – to tackle the photos-of-myself fear. It will get better! You look lovely – my favorite was the parted bang look. :)
I admit I wasn’t sure if it was a real cut or a faux cut at first. The lighting in the Instagram pic had me unsure. It’s a cute look for you! In college during spring break I was watching Pride & Prejudice, and after admiring their hair I just went over to the mirror and cut bangs. They were OK for awhile, but I only look good when I really fuss with them, and I am decidedly unfussy with my hair. So I grew them back out. You’re definitely right on the dry cut, though. Too-short bangs are not attractive on anyone (I speak from experience).
Oh, also those earrings are super cute!
So adorable! I once cut my bangs wet and it was so horrific that I had to wear a wide headband for a month. Not even bobby and her friends could help. I now stick with a cheekbone grazing guideline for myself…
Looks great! I have done this before! I’m very impulsive like that. I walk in the bathroom and cut my own bangs and come out feeling refreshed haha. I call it the 5 minute makeover.
You look beautiful! I love them!! Great job.
I grew my bangs out in 5th-6th grade (it took two years! Augh!) and it was so traumatic I’ll never do bangs again. Probably. Anyway, you make them super cute and now you’re rocking kind of a Zooey Deschanel vibe. Have you considered picking up the ukelele?
Haha, I might have to give it a try…
xo
s
As a professional hairdresser I must say when I first read the title I cringed. I was scared for you. But ya done good kid! Thank goodness you didn’t go above the brow. I’m not sure how long ago you did this but don’t be surprised/alarmed if they need tweaked every 2/3 weeks. Fabulous bangs like that do need maintenance. But they really do so much for you…who knew!
Aw thanks so much Becky!
xo
s
LOVE the bangs! You look great! I wish I had the guts to do something like that! Not sure if you saw, but your bangs even elicited a little facebook bickering from some of your fans about whether or not they were real! Haha!
p.s. favorite picture of Clara ever!
No way! A bang war? Glad to clear it up with this little post :)
xo
s
You are SO brave!!! They look awesome, good job!
EEEEK! Sherry, I LOVE your bangs! Oh how I wish you had been in my bathroom 10 1/2 months ago when I was 39 weeks pregnant and desperate for a new look. I took a pair of scissors to my hair and ended up with horridly short bangs and NOT the cute look I was hoping for at all! I too have a cowlick in the front right of my hair and let me tell you my delivery photos were not at all awesome despite Mrs. Bobby and friends. Enough about me though, you really rock this look! Love how they bring out your eyes!
O M Gee! I haven’t even gotten past the second paragraph of this post and already I’m giddy with excitement. I too saw that pic on Instagram and thought, “I gots to get me some bangs”. Now, you’re telling me you’re going to break down the DIY steps for me?? Come on! Best morning surprise ever. Holla!
I have to jump on the bandwagon and say you look seriously, ridiculously cute and chic with bangs! You are always a doll, of course but this is a great look!