Cowlicks!

[lemonmelon]

Hey all!

I've been lurking for a while and decided it's time to make my first post :) Sorry if this has been talked about before (did a quick search couldn't find too much).

I've just started growing my hair out, right now it's just above shoulders. I've also just taken the plunge and given up heat styling completely. So, my problem is cowlicks!. I have a two huge cowlicks, once in the back of my head and one right in front, that prevents my bangs from lying flat. I used to deal with them by blowdrying those areas out but I'd like to try to stay away from heat.

Does anyone else have this problem and have a way to deal with these beasts? Or on the other hand, has anyone found that as their hair has grown longer, their cowlicks have become been tamed by the weight of their hair?

[ohiofritty]

The reason I don't have bangs anymore is because of my bangy-cowlick! I wish you luck in dealing with yours. And...definitely growing out my bangs has made that cowlick less noticeable.

However, since they *are* only bangs and will pretty much always be young hair (getting trimmed all the time and whatnot) would it really hurt to blow them dry?

[edit] ohgosh how rude of me! ...and welcome! :flower:

[sibylla]

I believe in BBB-brushing that area and massaging for some minutes every day-to improve the circulation in the area,hence the growing of new hair there.I´ve seen many women with heavy hair in a ponytail everyday developing cowlicks probably from the constant pulling down of the hair. My cowlicks (with baby hairs) got less visible after I started BBB-brushing,especially,those areas where my hair felt thinner.Henna also made my hairs thicker and the cowlicks appear much smaller.Hope this helps.It works for me.

[ravenreed]

I have severe cowlicks at my temples and never successfully had bangs because of them. I can get away with a long fringe, since the weight pulls them straighter, but that is about it. I cut some wispies right in the front, but they are not laying properly, so I will probably let them grow out.

[mintyhot]

i have a minor cowlick but to make my hair lie falt i just part my hair in the direction it goes and if i want a little volume i go against it :)

[endtransmission]

Welcome to the community! I'm new too :)

Oh man do I have the worst cowlick! I'm almost tempted to take a picture of it and post it on this thread :D My hair is super short (maybe a little bit more than 2 inches at most) And I have a horrible cowlick right on the back of my head and it looks crazy. NOTHING I do fixes it- I've tried straightening my hair, blow drying it, product, but nothing works.

So for now, until my hair grows a little bit longer, I'm stuck wearing hats and using lots of hair clips.

[Capybara]

Welcome, and congratulations on your first post :)

I have a cowlick right in the front. I've found that length didn't really tone it down any - it just has a strange growth pattern, and a widow's peak to boot :P I've found that bangs actually help to camouflage the cowlick. If I want to tame it a bit, I'll clip it to the side opposite the direction the cowlick grows when my hair is wet, and not remove the clip until it is dry. If you don't want a crease where the clip was, you could always wrap the hair with a piece of ribbon or tissue beforehand.

Sometimes, I take advantage of my cowlick :) It can form the illusion of more volume, which can be useful.

HTH :flower:

[pointydog]

Hahaha. I had to laugh when I read your post! Welcome to the group.

When I was 14 or 15 years old, I wore my hair always braided. It was about knee length. I was getting out of the car with my friends at a movie theater and the braid got caught in the door. Yanked me right off my feet in front of everyone.

When I got home I scissored off the braid at the nape of my neck. I thought it would be cute to have short at the back, a little longer at the sides (coming to point, following my jawline) and I made a nice, careful fringe of bangs too. At the next wash, the bangs stood straight out in front like some sort of antennae..more on one side than the other, Nothing would hold them down. I have a cowlick at my hairline and I never knew it until I cut the hair.

The moral here (besides a funny story) is that the weight of longer hair will eventually outweigh (pun intended) the cowlicks. You can also use a bandanna or scarf to hold the hair in the position you want as it's drying. You'll find it will mostly keep the shape and direction it was dried in. I wore the bandanna headband for almost a year, very annoyed when it became fashionable and I had to stop.

My hair has always been much easier to deal with (in every way) when it's at least BSL (bra-strap-length).

[Arctic_Mama]

I have a cowlick in the back of my head that makes my part skew to one side if i don't specifically comb it another way. I just ignore it for all intents and purposes.

[Joette]

I have an awful terrible really bad cowlick in the back. It's so bad that my hair parts away from it and makes it look like I have a huge thin spot in that area. I compensate by keeping my bangs long enough to pull back and cover the area. So yeah...you're not alone by any stretch of the imagination.

[gi2121]

I have 2 cowlicks in the bang area and I looooove blunt bangs but I've learned one thing... Fighting your natural hair movement will only make things worse. I gave up the bangs, which I had to blow dry and were never completely ok, and though I loved them, I'm free now and learning to love the unique movement and volume my hair gets from the cowlicks... My advice would be: embrace it, or be ready to spend lots of time and effort on it :).

[allnaturalboy]

I agree with gi2121. Just embrace it! And really, cowlicks don't look bad.
I actually think they're pretty cute, especially on short hair.
It gives you that wild bed head look.

[Lady Mary]

I've got one, when I pull my hair back it causes this weird scalp line to appear. I just smooth it over with some aloe vera gel, problem solved.

[lemonmelon]

Good to know I'm not alone! At least I can get the bedhead look effortlessly haha.

I'll try the wetdown and clip for my bangs. I should probably just grow them out but that's a whole different story of hair trauma for me :)

[mattt]

I am having the same problem now since my hair is short, but I remember form before that with length it wasnt a problem, mine is only in the back though, none up front thank heavens.

[squiggyflop]

im reserecting this thread instead of starting a new one.. because my cowlicks are weird.. i wish i had the little adapter for my camera phone because most of my hair is like 1c-2b.. but i have 2 cowlicks in the front of my face (like at the sides of my bangs) where the hair grows in spirals maybe 1 inch in diameter.. and they never get long so i end up with these little tendrils curling at the sides of my face when i do updos unless i use gel.. anyway its just annoying me today because i can see them (they hang down to the bottomish of my cheeks right at the outside edge of my eyes)..

anyway just felt like venting my annoyance..

[kristymarie87]

I have 2 either side of my head :(

[freezerpop]

I have one on the back of my head, right in the middle. It makes me look like I have a bald patch when my hair is short.

[jlw9222]

I have 2 cowlicks in the front area, which make bangs ridiculously impossible but helps add height and fullness...and works around my widow's peak. :)

[Lassie]

what is a cow lick?
Is that phrase used in australia?
I have heard it before, but never knew what it meant..

In regards to bangs and heat...its probably ok to use heat on your bangs if you intend to keep them short. I used heat on my bangs every single day...no noticable damage...i have since grown my bangs out, they are chin lenght and no damage...

[squiggyflop]

got a pic finally..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/kidmol/cartoonfacetendrils.jpg
the little areas that are short and spirally instead of 1c-2b are my cowlicks.. they never want to go with the rest of my hair.. i have 2 of them on both sides.. i think its rather odd that both sides match.. stupid baby hairs never get longer than this

heehee im a cartoon face in this one!

Lassie:
cowlicks are a tuft of hair that grows in a different direction from the rest of the hair and usually will not lie flat.. they are usually a swirling sort of thing

[dreamsofthewind]

I had Bettie bangs just above my eyebrows, and I have a mad cowlick on one side of my forehead. every morning I would brush and shape and spray to tame it, and by the end of the day it would be there again. D:

[whoanellie]

Geez, I sure HOPE that when my hair grows longer the length helps cover my awful cowlick! I have one on the back right of my head... You can even see it a bit in this album pic (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=5769&pictureid=75464). It's so bad that one time my SO asked if I was getting a bald spot. :( I'm comforted to read that I'm not the only one but it still stinks.

[tinti]

Ough, I have the worst cowlick right at the top of my head, but a little to the left. If it only would have been an inch or two to the right, it would've been fine, or even cool to blowdry against it and I could get some volume, but nooo ... And the scalp is really tender there as well. I've tryed sooo much to keep it down, but nothing has been successful :p

[cm006j]

This is probably going to sound crazy, but I have a cowlick on the left side of my head, on my temple. I've tried growing it out, but the hair there never grows longer than a couple of inches and it was starting to look absurd in pictures, having this small patch of hair sticking straight out. I started actually shaving it off! Just that tiny patch of hair in the front. Shocking, I know.

ETA: Oh, and my new baby niece has a cowlick on the back of her head, a really big swirl. I'll be curious to see how she deals with it as she gets older

[cm006j]

got a pic finally..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/kidmol/cartoonfacetendrils.jpg
the little areas that are short and spirally instead of 1c-2b are my cowlicks.. they never want to go with the rest of my hair.. i have 2 of them on both sides.. i think its rather odd that both sides match.. stupid baby hairs never get longer than this

heehee im a cartoon face in this one!

Lassie:
cowlicks are a tuft of hair that grows in a different direction from the rest of the hair and usually will not lie flat.. they are usually a swirling sort of thing

I think your curls look super feminine and cute. I like it a lot!

[heidihug]

Oh, and my new baby niece has a cowlick on the back of her head, a really big swirl. I'll be curious to see how she deals with it as she gets older
Most people of European descent have some sort of pattern of growth on their head, and most common is the swirl pattern, or what is called a cowlick. Take a look at baby pics that include the back of the head, or take a gander at a baby once - it might surprise that most have the whirly pattern in back. It shouldn't concern anyone who notices it on a baby, it will grow less noticeable as the hair grows in.

Cowlicks on the back of the head of someone with long hair will (generally) eventually get "weighted down" and covered by the hair, and won't be very noticeable. I have one that gives me hair cleavage if it dries wrong. My DH has them on every inch of his head (he has very thick and very curly hair which he keeps very short).

[young&reckless]

Squiggy I wish mine looked like that. Mine are baby fine and feel like spiderwebs on my face.

Stupid baby hairs wont grow or lay down, I look windswept all the time and not in a good way.

[GRU]

cowlicks are a tuft of hair that grows in a different direction from the rest of the hair and usually will not lie flat.. they are usually a swirling sort of thing

My son used to call it his "tornado thingy" as in, "Mom, can you come take care of my tornado thingy for me?" when he was getting ready for school.

For him (and his father) the only thing that will work is to just keep that hair super-short so that the ends aren't sticking up higher than the rest. I have no clue if I have a cowlick -- my hair sticks out all over the place anyway because of the curl pattern, so I don't think you'd even be able to tell that the hair from a cowlick was going "the wrong way" because my hair doesn't have a "right way" to begin with.

[whoanellie]

Tornado thingy, makes perfect sense! When my hair was really short it was a definite tornado thingy. Now, instead it looks like my center part goes towards the back of my head and makes a terrible and somewhat jagged right turn and juts down my scalp another couple of inches. Sometimes my hair covers it, but usually not unless it's the same day I shower. :P

[Coriander]

I have a cowlick smack in the middle of my forehead/hairline. I love bangs but could never grow them properly because I'd end up with a wing on this side and one on the other. :lol:

[GRU]

Tornado thingy, makes perfect sense! When my hair was really short it was a definite tornado thingy.

He has a traditional "boy cut" so the tornado effect was very visible! I'm actually kinda sad now... he's all grown up (a whopping 10yo!) and now he calls it a cowlick. :( Why the hell do they have to grow up so fast??? :mad:

[ArienEllariel]

Ugh. I feel your pain. I have two cowlicks on either side of my crown. I just realized today that the reason my hair gets all bumpy whenever I try to pull my hair into a ponytail without brushing it first like I've seen lots of other girls do is because of these darn cowlicks. *facepalm*

[aldasbeke]

Bringing this forum back to life!!
I was searching topics because I, too, have a really bad cowlick at the back of my head that makes my hair look like it's parted half-way down the back of my head, so it can kind of look like a bald spot. I wasn't sure if it was due to the texture of my hair or what... Anyway, my hair is fairly long (upper mid-back length) and it doesn't seem to be going away due to length. Not sure what to do.. I'm wondering if training the hair to cover that spot and not part there would work..

[Darkhorse1]

Thanks for reviving this because a friend of mine has cowlicks everywhere on her head--and curly hair to boot. She's keeping it short because it's just too insane to work with.

I have 2 cowlicks, but having bangs have helped--if I try to grow them, they twist inward and just look terrible.

[sugarpixie10988]

I have some massive cowlicks on my hairline. Of course, I had no clue about this until I got bangs. :bigeyes: NEVER again! They were right above my eyebrows, pretty thick, and such a ginormous pain. My bangs are about halfway between my shoulders and chin right now and they still act a little wonky. What seems to help them is wetting them down and pinning them up in a poof before bed, then sleeping in it. When I take it out they're better behaved than usual. That's not saying too much though :D.

[Darkhorse1]

sugarpixie--I love your siggy photo! I wish I could have waited out growing my bangs to get past my chin, but I grew the bulk of them out--I just like myself with bangs better.

[sugarpixie10988]

sugarpixie--I love your siggy photo! I wish I could have waited out growing my bangs to get past my chin, but I grew the bulk of them out--I just like myself with bangs better.

Thanks! :)

[Rocket22]

yup I have two right in the middle of my hair think it's widows peak? or something like that. I personally hate them and when I had shot bangs I had to basically pin them down while drying or else :) but my dbf loves the look the longer my bangs get. I still have the urge to pin them down and do, but he thinks it sexy to have the flippy thing going on? go figure

[aldasbeke]

Over the past few days, I've been trying to clip the hair in the cowlick together as I sleep-- that seems to be "training" the hair not to part in the awkward place!

[Sanyia]

I have a cowlick, and I looooove bangs.

Every few years I cut bangs, only to remember how bad they behave, and then let the bangs grow again :)