Curly Bangs: Tame & Tousle

Introduction

Miri Ben Ari at the 2005 BET Awards - Arrivals, Kodak Theatre, Hollywood, CA, June 28, 2005

© David Edwards/DailyCeleb.com All Rights Reserved

When I had the great pleasure of meeting Lorraine Massey in person in Dallas a few years ago, she eyeballed my very long stick straight hair and proclaimed "you're a naturally curly girl". I protested, as apparently many people do, but I did cop to having naturally wavy hair with a bit of vague curls.

When I take the time to think about my hair growing up I realize that it had a lot of curls that I fiercely battled through my teens. The longer my hair grew, the patches of natural curls retreated into soft waves and eventually flattened out by the sheer weight of my pounds of long thick strands.

If I were going to rate my hair according to the popular natural curly typing program first created by Andre Walker I would say my hair was a 2C/3A pattern.

Note: Type 2 hair is wavy with 2C being coarse hair. Type 3 is curly hair with Type 3A being loose curls.

While length worked for the majority of my hair, my fringe area continued to haunt me until I learned to tape them flat using old fashioned plastic style tape.

Although a special pink "hair tape" was possible to be located during the 70s and 80s, I personally had the best luck with wide Scotch tape. Yes, I tried the designer bang tape but it actually did hold as well as the plastic style tape.

Note: Check out Naturally Curly Bangs - How To Create

When I was a naive hair addict at Bishop Du Bourg High School in South St. Louis I went through a period where I had a short cropped hairstyle complete with thick heavy bangs and "sideburns" as I used to call them.

Most of my successful styling tricks for keeping the waves and curls from popping up and ruining my need for perfect straightness involved lots and lots of tape.

The older I got the more well-behaved my fringe area became. Not one to give up I learned a ton of tricks to tame them into total submission.

Many people with natural curls believe that fringes are extremely difficult to achieve and are called something other than fringes or bangs since often they curl out of control into ringlets.

1. Part bangs/fringe the side.
2. Working with small sections of the bangs, lift strands up and away from the scalp.
3. Direct the blow dryer's air flow down at the brush as you bring it along the length of the strands, working from the roots to the ends.
4. Use a flat-iron set on medium heat to create a sleek, smooth style.
5. Slightly turn ends under.
6. Apply a teeny tiny bit of shine to palms of your hands and lightly brush hands over the top of the hair to prevent bangs from getting greasy or oily.

A ceramic straightening iron used on curly bangs to make them straighter may make hair frizzy or fly-a-way unless a good styling product is used first on the fringe to prep it.

Unfortunately angled or any type of bangs may not work on some types of naturally curly or super wavy hair without a lot of styling time. If the hair above your forehead has a whirl or prominent cowlick or easily curls up, bangs may not be a wise choice since they may be uncontrollable and definitely time consuming to deal with.

Celebrity Hairdresser Nanci Cascio's Tips

HairBoutique.com's friend, Nanci Cascio, The Hair Color Diva, who has worked with many celebrities says:

"Bangs are really hot right now. Everyone wants them. Whether they are short and choppy or long and shaggy, bangs suit nearly every type of hair except extremely curly. Even if your hair is curly you can now do spot thermal reconditioning on bangs (around $100-$250) and in an hour even the curliest hair can have straight, glossy fringe."

Note: Check out Rusk Radical Anticurl Provides Texturizing Treatments For Male And Female Strands

Nanci explained "Japanese straightening isn't as harsh as a regular relaxer, it also leaves hair shiny and so straight you don't have to blow-dry at all. Getting a Japanese straightening is much less damaging than a flatiron or blow dryer day after day, and it lasts until your hair grows out."

She also said "if you have naturally curly hair and want a forehead fringe ask your hair stylist to use scissors for a soft, blunt look, and a razor for textured, fringy bangs."

Nanci suggested that you "consider using a light styling spray which will help keep bangs smooth and cowlick-free. If you cut bangs yourself (at your own risk), you must cut them dry. They'll look longer when wet, and be shorter than you realized when they're dry.

Between the Japanese straightening treatments and the many advances in perm technology, you can achieve just about any texture you want for your forehead fringe."

More Information

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Original Publication Date: 1998 - Revised Date: 05/06/11

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