Cut Your Own Bangs

Are you tired of making the trip and paying the money to go to a salon just to have your bangs cut? Well start saving time and money now by cutting your bangs yourself! Whether you cut yours blunt or to the side, shearing your own locks is an easy task that you shouldn't be intimidated by.

Steps

Cutting Side Bangs

  1. Part your hair. Take a fine-tooth comb and brush your hair until it is smooth and tangle-free. For side bangs, you will need to create a side part. Part your hair to the side it naturally falls on.
  2. Pull hair forward. Taking the tip of a comb, draw a part an inch or two behind your hairline, perpendicular to your side part. (In other words, from side-to-side, rather than front-to-back.) If you are looking for thicker bangs, you can draw a part farther back. This will help separate your bangs from the rest of your hair.[1]
  3. Find the highest tip of your eyebrow. This is generally towards the center of your eyebrow, or the highlight of the brow, and it will help you gauge the width of your bangs. If you are starting off with bangs from scratch, measure a line upwards from the highest tip of your eyebrow to your hairline. Make a part where that line ends. Move the hair on one side of the part towards the middle of your forehead and pin the hair on the side of your head back to keep it out of the way.
    • After you have done this step, you should now have a section of hair in the front center of your face that is separated from the rest of your hair.
    • If you already have bangs, you should have a width already determined, so take your preexisting longer bangs and part them towards the middle, also separating them from the hair line.
    • You can also create wider bangs by making a line upwards from the end of your eyebrow instead of the highlight of your brow.
  4. Pull your bangs up and look at them from the side. They should be about one to two inches thick. If you want thicker bangs, pull more hair forward from the horizontal part behind your hairline, and if you want thinner bangs, do the opposite by pulling less hair forward from your hairline part.
  5. Pin back the rest of your hair. Pull back the rest of your hair with a clip or bobby pins to separate it from your bangs. This will make it easier to cut your bangs without worrying about cutting the rest of your hair.
  6. Make sure your bangs are straight. This may require you to dampen your hair with a spray bottle if your hair is naturally curly and your bangs have some bounce. Lightly mist your hair with a spray bottle and comb through so that your bangs are flat. If your hair is naturally wavy or straight, cutting bangs in dry hair is best so that you won't cut them too short.[2]
    • Never soak your bangs or make them completely wet. Your hair is longer when it is wet, so anytime you cut wet hair, when it dries it will be shorter. To avoid cutting bangs that are too short, try to cut your bangs with slightly wet or dry hair.
    • If your hair is very wet before you cut your bangs, blow dry them until they are 95% dry. When blow drying, make sure you are brushing bangs straight down, or in the opposite direction of your part. Don't blow dry bangs downward in the direction they normally would lie. This will create a "rainbow effect" in which your bangs have a high arch to them. It's difficult to cut bangs when they are like this, so it's better to create some volume in the opposite direction.
  7. Determine the length of your bangs. Before you cut your bangs you'll want to decide how long you want your bangs. You may want bangs that cover your eye, or you might want bangs that start above your eyebrow. If you're not sure, you can always start with longer bangs and cut them shorter.
  8. Cut at an angle. To achieve side swept bangs, you'll want to start at the side of your bangs that will fall in the middle of your forehead (the side of your bangs where your part is). Point your scissors diagonally towards your ear, with the shortest part of your bangs in the middle of your face and the longest part next to your ear. Hold your bangs between your pointer and middle finger to create a line. Starting on the part side of your face, cut the hair below your fingers.[1]
    • If you aren't sure how long you want your bangs, start by cutting at the tip of your nose and ending in a diagonal at the bottom of your ear. This will create long, side swept bangs.
    • Make sure you are using scissors specifically designed for hair, as this will give you the best cut.
    • If you want shorter bangs, start near the top of the nose, in line with the eye, and cut at a downward diagonal towards the middle of your ear.
    • Always cut bangs longer when you start off -- you can always cut them shorter as you go, but you don't want your first cut to be too short, because there's no way to rewind from there. You can try cutting in 1/2 inch increments to make sure you don't cut too much of your bang off.
  9. Create a natural look. After you have cut your bangs you may notice that there is a very straight line in your bangs. This tends to look awkward and unnatural, so you may want to give your bangs a little definition. Take scissors and cut parallel to the strands of hair in your bangs, making small snips at the tips of your bangs.
    • If your hair is really thick or you want your bangs to have an even more natural look, you can use a razor made for hair or a hair thinning tool to thin out the ends of your bangs.
  10. Style your bangs. Use a blow dryer and a round brush, brushing your bangs up from the roots towards the ceiling or towards the back of your head. You never want to blow dry your bangs by brushing them straight down as this will leave your bangs with little volume. You can also run a flat iron through your bangs by pulling the flat iron upwards at your roots to create volume.
    • You can also blow dry your bangs in the opposite direction of where they naturally fall to give them more volume. As they are close to being dry, flip them back over and blow dry as usual.

Cutting Blunt/Straight Bangs

  1. Part your hair, creating a triangle in your roots. Because your bangs will be straight across, you won't need to part your hair to one side as you usually do. Take a comb and place the tip of it an inch or two above your hairline, in the center of your head. Then, draw a downward diagonal line from the center of your head to the end of your eyebrow, and repeat on other side. Pull your bangs section towards the middle to separate it from the rest of your hair.[3]
    • After you've done this, you should have a triangle-like shape with the point a few inches above your hair line and the sides of the triangle coming down along the sides of your forehead.
    • Once you've created a part, you'll want to comb your bangs forward and then pin the rest of your hair back or put it in a ponytail to keep it out of your face.
  2. Dampen your hair if necessary. If this is your first time cutting your bangs, it might be a good idea to keep your hair dry so you can cut it the exact length that you want it, but if you are just trimming your bangs, it could be good to spritz some water onto them so your hair is going in the right direction and lying flat on your forehead.[3]
    • You can also try using a flat iron on your bangs to make them straight. It's important that your bangs don't have any wave to them, because you want to be able to get them as even as possible on your forehead.
  3. Determine the length and angle of your bang. Straight bangs can come in all different styles, so you'll want to figure out exactly how you want them to look before you cut them. Some people like their bangs to go straight across their forehead above their eyebrows for an edgier look, and others like longer bangs that angle down as they meet with the rest of their hair.
  4. Begin cutting your bangs. Taking the hair you've gathered between your pointer finger and middle finger, create a straight line that is even with the tip of your nose. Your bangs will not end up this long, as they would cover your eyes, but this will be a good starting point so you don't have to make a perfect cut right away. Cut the hair below your fingers.
    • You can also use tape to create a straight cut. Place a piece of tape along your bangs, and cut a straight line below the tape at the desired length for your bangs.[3]
    • Continue to cut your bangs in 1/4 inch increments until they are your desired length. If your bangs are wet make sure you leave 1/2 inch extra length on them, because when they dry they will shrink up.
    • If you want to angle your bangs downward at the ends, cut straight across from the middle of one eye to the middle of the opposite eye. Then, once you've reached that point, begin to cut at a downward angle. Then repeat on the other eye, cutting at a downward angle until you've reached the rest of your hair. You can cut a very steep angle, or you can cut a slight angle in your hair -- it all depends on how dramatic you want the diagonal of your bangs to be.[4]
    • Sometimes it helps to take your bangs and twist them once in your fingers, and then cut the straight line. This just pushes the hair tighter together, so you can just make one or two cuts. It also creates a small arch in your bangs, making them shorter in the front and longer on the sides.[5]
  5. Even out your bangs. Once you have your bangs at the desired length, you'll want to make them look more natural (unless you are going for blunt bangs, in which case you may want a very straight line across your bangs). Take your scissors and make small snips at the tips of your bangs, making sure the scissors are parallel to the strands in your hair.
  6. Style your bangs. Straight bangs usually need more attention, so you may have to straighten them or blow dry them every time you style your hair. If using a blow dryer, grab a round brush and pull bangs from underneath, up at the roots toward the ceiling. Then, once or twice pull your round brush underneath your bangs, from the roots of your bangs to the tips, in an arching motion to create volume. You can also do this same motion with a flat iron.



Tips

  • If your hair is naturally curly, allow a lot of extra length. (For example, people with ringlets shouldn't cut more than half of what seems to make sense to cut.) After each snip, allow your hair to bounce/scrunch/frizz/whatever into its natural shape so that you can identify its new length before you continue.
  • Ask another person to help you; this might prevent mistakes.
  • Work slowly and carefully, especially if this is your first time cutting hair.
  • Work over a hard floor, such as in a bathroom or garage, for easy cleanup. You may also want to wear a towel or old shirt that you can change out of.
  • For curly hair: when cutting each curl, hold your scissors at a 45-degree angle, such that you'll make the hair on the outside edge of the curl longer than the hair on the inner edge of the curl. This makes each curl end in a nice point and stay together better.
  • Make small snips with the tips of your scissors (the sharpest part). Keep your fingers straight, while holding your hair in one hand and making the cut with the other.
  • If you have curly hair then you might want to straighten out the part that you are planning to be your bangs because it will be easier to see the actual length.

Warnings

  • Be careful using scissors near the face and eyes.
  • Always cut in front of a mirror, so you know what your bangs look like as you cut them.

Things You'll Need

  • Scissors for hair or sharp scissors
  • Narrow tooth styling comb
  • A couple of clips to hold excess hair
  • A mirror to look into without having to hold it yourself
  • Tape

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://makeupandbeauty.com/cut-side-swept-bangs-home/
  2. ↑ https://www.birchbox.com/magazine/video/how-to-cut-your-own-bangs
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://www.xovain.com/hair/how-to-trim-your-own-bangs
  4. ↑ http://ecosalon.com/diy-style-101-how-to-trim-your-own-bangs/
  5. ↑ http://www.baremagazine.org/how-to-cut-your-bangs
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