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Bangs: Yea or Nay?

by 45 Comments

Hourglass Femme Rouge Lipstick in Fever
All about the side sweep (that’s Hourglass Femme Rouge Lipstick in Fever on my lips, by the way!)

To quote the great Ricky Martin, “She bangs, she bangs…”

Nothin’ like a little Ricky Martin to start your morning. 🙂

Good morning!

Well, I managed to get my booty on the treadmill last night and keep it there for a short time (small victories, right?), and while I was shuffling along to Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream, some of my freshly shorn side-swept bangs escaped from my ponytail, which got me thinking…

Bangs.

Have you ever had a ‘do with dramatic bangs before? When you were considering it, were you nervous at all?

I was. It’s a big change, and you have to deal with new hair products, clipping them back when you exercise, and then growing them out again when you feel like another change. They can be quite a commitment.

A bob, bangs and pink streaks, circa January 2012

It seems like bangs are something you either love or hate.

Hello, Lloyd Christmas
A blast from the past… The Lloyd Christmas.

I’m firmly in the bangs “yea” camp, and over the years, I’ve had a variety of bangs — like ’80s-style big hair bear bangs, Lloyd Christmas bangs, and my current side-swept bangs. I think they’re fun, and I like the way they frame my face. 🙂

How about you? What’s your position on bangs? Do you love ’em or loathe ’em? Or are you impartial when it comes to bangs? Inquiring minds want to know.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Happy Tuesday, babe. I may not be around too much this afternoon because I have a minor in-patient medical procedure scheduled for 1 p.m. at the hospital. It’s nothing big at all — just a small boo-boo on my elbow that hasn’t healed, but I should be in and out of there in two twitches of a tabby’s tail.

I hope all is well in your corner of the world. I’ll see you soon. Have a wonderful day.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Side swept bangs are the best although right now my bangs are too long and I can tuck them in behind my ear but I still need to pin them when working out.

    Good luck with your procedure, I will keep you in my thoughts, I hope it goes well. *hugs*

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  6. Whenever someone says, “I want to try bangs,” I always say “go for it.”

    I mean, it’s just hair. It will grow back. It honestly doesn’t hurt a thing to try it out.

    For myself, I’ve had sideswept bangs for years now. I’ve tried the more blunt, straight bangs before and it never looks right on me. That doesn’t mean I won’t try again, though! 😀
    Trisha recently posted … Laura Mercier Crème Cheek Colour in Praline: Spring 2014

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  7. I love that you were able to pull off blunt bangs. You look amazing in them. However, for me, I had them as a kid, and didn’t look back when I grew them out in the third grade by way of headbands and tight french braids. I like side swept or long front layers better as they are easier to pull back/pin back, and they are still like having full bangs in the sense that they can frame your face when you wear your hair up. Right now my hair is just below collar bone level with long layers at the ends – it’s very easy to put up and I don’t have funky layers sticking out when I do a braid or ponytail.

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  8. I am growing my bangs out right now, but I always seem to come back to them! Best to you on your procedure today. Dr. Tabs prescribes gravy, rubbed into the wound 3x daily. Fix ya right up! 🙂

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  9. I cut my own bangs the night before my grandmother’s 90th birthday in 2009, I hadn’t had bangs at all since 97. They were really cute and I’m glad I did it, but it did require really upping my eye makeup for a bit. I’m currently growing out from a decade with chin length hair, so there’s no way I’d do cut anything drastically right now.

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  11. Love the bangs on you! And the color. AND the glasses…may I ask what is the brand? I need new frames and I really like those. I did bangs last year, but feel the need to accept my curls and do less maintenance now so no longer have them. You always look good.

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  27. I like your beautiful face without blunt cut bangs. You look great either way but I think sexier with long\sideswept\no bangs. Meowwww! 🙂

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  28. I’ve had bangs in the past, straight, feathered, really short (kind of punk I guess because my hair was just past my shoulders), and always hated growing them out. Sometimes older women get them to hide wrinkles and I certainly don’t want to be “that girl”.

    Now my idea of bangs are chin length layers around my face. LOL I won’t say I’ll never have them again but I’m pretty much NAY.

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  29. With a high forehead and heart-shaped face, I really need a li’l “sumthin-sumthin” goin’ on up around there… but it’s more a messy, sweepin’ across thing these days (since I haven’t done a full-on, blunt set of bangs since about the fifth grade). You really look fab with both kinds!

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  30. Side bangs are a definite yes, but full bangs just don’t work on me. My forehead is nonexistent, and I have a cowlick, so they just don’t look great on me.

    I hope everything goes well with your procedure today! Hospital visits are never fun. *Hugs*

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  31. bangs are the best if you have a big forehead like me. although i hate them during the summer when it’s hot and humid, i love them because they frame my face perfectly! you’re lucky to be able to rock different styles, i’m stuck in the full fringe atm and wish i would sport the side swept just like you (again, bulbous + huge forehead. i just can’t do it!)!

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  33. Whilst bangs look fab on you (ya lucky thing you!) I have to say that with my very curly fine hair which poofs out like a dandelion in any sort of damp/humid atmosphere (there’s no way I’d want a miniature poodle sitting on my forehead) ,bangs would be a definite no-no for me!

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  34. Good luck with the procedure! Seems like those little ones are always more stressful than the knock-you-out-and-take-things-out visits. {{{hugs}}}

    Heh, I don’t do boring hair. Actually, I don’t do boring (at least IMO). Last time I rocked a bob, my bangs were V-shaped and sharply pointed in the middle. Appropriately, my hair was black at the time. Went well with the corpse-like skin–MAC can’t match me, I’m too pale–and a daily dose of Prescriptives’s old Cabaret lipstick (a lovely deep red, now rarer than hen’s teeth). Right now, I have a bleached mohawk and I love it. Did I mention I’m 37?

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  35. Registering my first comment to add a huge ‘Yay!” for bangs. I went through a phase of disliking them and when I look at the photos of me then, I notice two things – lots of forehead and serious caterpillar eyebrows. Now I rock a bob with a blunt fringe and it’s hugely flattering. (I’ve also tamed the eyebrows). I love going with statement red lips and cat eyeliner and a fringed bob. It’s such a classic, 20s style look and so grabbing.

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  37. I am in the middle of growing my bangs out. If you are looking for a change give them a whirl. You can pull off either. I just like side swept. Bangs on you better. They frame your face nicely.

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  38. I love bangs, and as much as I am an ideal hair-type candidate for them (straight, thick hair), I have such a hard time committing to and maintaining them. I recently sported the thick, eyebrow-length blunt bangs (a la Zooey Deschanel or Taylor Swift), and then some longer pieces that blended down along my temples to balance my face when my hair was up. They were so adorable, but since they were styled right on my forehead, they’d get greasy in a day, and it seemed like I was constantly dry-shampooing and doing partial washes and then ending saying “screw it” most days. I need to find a lower-maintenance bang that’ll work for me!

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    • I grew up with the lesson that I needed to wash (but not necessarily condition) my hair every day. Since I discovered beauty blogs, a huge new world has opened up involving weekly shampoos, dry shampoo, no-poo, etc. I’ve moved to real soap shampoo (detergents and I have a long, dark history), but I still wash my hair more days than not when I don’t have some sort of not-found-in-nature color in it.

      As far as bangs go, I have straight, fine, but plentiful hair, and I do well with either a shaped bang (like a V or a U) or a really short, choppy one. I also like a short, blunt bang–and I meant as short as it can reasonably go, if not a little shorter. You have to have the right face shape to really pull it off, but if you can do it, you can ROCK IT. My face is round, btw, with a slightly pointed chin (and then another chin–I wear a 22-24); ultra-short bangs (and pixie cuts, and shaved heads, etc.) aren’t just for people with long, slender faces.

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  39. The picture on top is gorgeous! For me, it’s nay to the blunt bangs, they’re a little boring and you are not boring! I love how your hair is now, total awesomeness!

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  40. I admire people who can rock bangs. I do have two pet peeves, though: Bangs that are WAY too short (I’m thinking Mary Alice from the old Food Network show “Ace of Cakes”), or bangs that need to be trimmed so desperately because they actually move when that person blinks. However, that’s just my opinion.

    I tried side bangs 6 years ago, and they didn’t work for me. I have a horrible widow’s peak that turns any kind of bangs into one nasty cowlick. It was a nightmare to maintain, and I could never get them to look right, so I grew them out and never bothered with bangs again.

    Reply

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