Bangs - Grow them out or keep them?

[mallorykay13]

I have long-ish sideswept bangs that I haven't cut in months. I was wondering what you guys thought of your own bangs/cutting experience or growing out experience. Thank you so much.

[see_turtle]

I'm in the same situation and I'm going to try to grow mine out so I can add them to buns. The stylist did a bad job and they are choppy and multiple lengths. they hang in my face and get greasy quickly and generally a pain. Good luck with your decision.

[annieangel149]

im in such a dilemna at the moment! I decided to cut a fringe a few months ago and thought it looked okay but wasn't frilled by the end result! My fringe has now grown to just passed my eyes ending at my cheek bone. I kind of like my bangs at this length because i can sweep them to the side! I have discovered that if i grow them out, by the time my bangs get to my jaw bone it makes my face drag down! if you know what i mean! So i guess im just going to go with a long fringe swept to the side because i think it suits my face better! :)

[Kibeth]

I grew my bangs out years ago and I have never looked back. They stay out of my way, they stay clean, they do exactly what I want them to do because they are so long. It's not for everyone, though. Do you like the way you look with long bangs//short bangs//long-ish bangs?

[jaine]

by the time my bangs get to my jaw bone it makes my face drag down!

I noticed that too ... but now my bangs are a couple of inches past chin and they no longer drag my face down. The whole nose-to-chin zone was very awkward though.

[Clem_Dela]

once they grow past the chin they look very elegant- i would grow them out, it's what I did for mine :)

[Foxy_Booker]

I kept my short bangs because i feel like my hair looks more "styled" with bangs. Having long hair means that I can't really have a style cut into my hair but the bangs make it look more stylish and compliments my face.

Bangs do get greasy faster, but what I do is just wash them over the bathroom sink more often so they are clean because I am not overly concerned about drying out my bangs because the hair is healthy since it gets a lot more hair cuts. I can't tell you I haven't flirted with the long bang idea though, the idea of having more hair is tempting.....:undecided

[ericthegreat]

For the longest time I had no bangs at all. I had a perfectly sleek, long-hair hemline that stretched from the front all the way to the back. I would part my hair usually in the middle, occasionally to the side to switch things up a bit, but I could always count on my hair looking exactly the same every single day.

About two years ago, I decided I wanted to experience haircolor. Before then, I've never colored my hair ever before in my life, I've only gotten haircuts. So by default I had virgin jet-black Asian hair. I simply just got sick of it, I needed to change it. The first time I lightened my hair, I loved it! I felt like a whole new person. To this day, I go get my roots lightened and then colored every 5 weeks or so. Along with my new haircolor, I also decided to change my haircut a bit. I didn't want to lose any of my hard earned length, so I decided side-swept bangs were the way to go. I loved how they looked the first time I cut them, they frame my face in that really pretty diagonal slant. I get them trimmed along with getting my roots done every time I go to the salon.

[pepperminttea]

I voted cheese, because the main reason I don't have bangs is my own laziness. Pure and simple. :p My roots at the very front of my hairline are the first place that shows oiliness after washing, and when I last had a fringe, it looked very stringy one day after washing. If I had them now, I'd want to wash them every day, and that's a pain in the behind to me who's used to washing my hair once or twice a week. And because I always put off trimming them, they'd grow too long and give me eye infections. :brains: Thankfully I'm happy with how I look without a fringe (and to be honest, they just make my round face look even rounder), but if you're okay with the maintenance of them, and you like how you look with them; go for it. :D

[spidermom]

Personally, I favor no bangs. I like all my hair being long enough to pin up. I hate having hair on my face when I'm hot and sweaty, and all the little new hairs is bad enough; a fringe would really drive me crazy.

[faerykitty13]

iim growin them out

[georgia_peach]

No bangs and hair hanging down is NOT attractive on me. However, I love the added thickness that no bangs gave my hair in the past, not having to fight greasy clumpy bangs in summer and being able to pull all of my hair in to updos. So I'm growing them out and vow to keep them pulled up and away from my face.

[Debra83]

I'm growing mine out! They are at mouth level now.

[AlannaMaria]

I'm growing mine out, too. I've never had them this long in my life and I love it! I don't know about your personal preference, but I'm going to keep at least some for days I like having something frame my face.

[nemileo]

This is a never-ending question for me. I grow them out and cut them, grow them out and cut them....every time they get long enough to pull back from my face in a bun I get an impulsive kick one day and cut them short again. :D Last time I did it was in june. Very bad timing, because when it got really hot in the summer I nearly went insane from my sweaty forehead. But this time I had a good reason though...I had a lot of short hair from the regrowt after major shedding having a baby one year ago, so it was an effort to try to get those hairs to blend in with the rest of my hair. I was really pleased about how it looked for about a week. And then the never-ending growing-them-back continued....mid-cheeck now.

[Mutinous]

I have mostly grown my out, simply to make updos a bit easier. Start to grow out and see how it goes, I've not really noticed them as they have grown out. If you don't like it, cut them back in :)

[Bonkers57]

To Spidermom: That's the reason I let mine grow even after they reached my eyebrows - it feels so good to not have wet, stringy hair in my face when I'm hot and sweaty! :disgust: (Though, like you, I get new hairs there too.) I figure if someone doesn't like looking at my forehead, they shouldn't look! One day my bangs will be long enough to part nicely on their own and can drape loosely to the side. Then I won't have to pull them back so tight.

To the OP: I often get the urge to cut my bangs (or have them cut.) Just because I'd had them for so many years - it was just automatic - my forehead had to be covered (that's what I was told since I was in single digits.) When I get the urge, I give it the ten-day trial and usually by the end of the ten days I don't want them so much and am glad I can keep them out of my face.




Personally, I favor no bangs. I like all my hair being long enough to pin up. I hate having hair on my face when I'm hot and sweaty, and all the little new hairs is bad enough; a fringe would really drive me crazy.

[long]

I love my bangs. I have mostly kept bangs because I have a long forhead. Also, I feel to exposed in some weird way without. Like they protect my forhead in some way. I love the no bangs look on other people and it is probably easier to go without them. They do take some upkeep and sometimes I mess up the trimming part but they grow fast.

[silverjen]

It really depends, honestly. I'd love to see a photo of the OP, to know whether bangs would suit her or not. There are people who look great with them, and people who look best without.

I have blunt bangs, and at the moment they're being really well behaved. Because I am a wavy, left on their own, my bangs tend to point every whichaway. I found i can get them to behave if I sweep them to the right as they air dry, against my natural part. Once dry, I brush them back to the left with my fingers, and they lie nicely.

Emotionally, I am on the fence. I see myself with bangs and think, "oh, how cute!". Then if I pin them up and look again, I think "oh, how sophisticated!". I want auto-bangs, so I can go back and forth at will. The heck with spending two years growing them out!

[archel]

I love my new bangs and they're no more work than my hair already was. They look better on me than wearing it up slicked back and being in the "mean ladies tight bun club." So I'm going against the grain and voting bangs. HOORAY BANGS

If I have a day where they're greasier than the rest of my hair I can spritz them with dry shampoo and get another day.

[mallorykay13]

For me personally, I have never NOT had bangs. I don't know how i will look without them so I am thinking that I will grow them out and see how I like them, then use the 2 week rule before I decide to cut them in again. I think this is a good compromise. Also, when/if I do cut them back in they wont be as heavy and the layers around my face are going to be gonzo, so that way regardless I will have added thickness.

[AcornMystic]

I will quote myself with a little revision so it matches this thread. I posted in the "Why's you lose them" for bangs and this is what I said:

I picked "Keep them long" because I found out that bangs cause the rest of your hair to grow slow/less healthy because the nutrients go to balancing your lengths. Hair does not care about fashion/fads, it is always striving to achieve balance because as far as it is concerned its balance has just been shot.

So if you want long healthy hair to its fullest, you would need to sacrifice bangs and that is what I'm going to do, even though I learned only just back in April of this year (4 months ago) how good I look with them having a somewhat oblong face and at that time cut them. I kinda wish I hadn't now, but it's all an experience at this point. Just like when I shaved the back of my head.

This site won't let me post the link, but here's a snippet about the damage bangs cause:

"Balance Is Everything

How does balance affect my hair growth?

Now keeping in mind the attention your body gives to balance. Lets go a little further. Believe it or not, your body knows everything that goes on with your body. Within less than an hour after you have eaten a meal. Your body knows exactly how many calories, fat grams, and carbohydrates were in the meal. As well as how much nutrition and protein was in the meal. Not only that but it has already begun separating what it wants to keep, and what it wants to depose of. Sending the nutrition where it is needed the most. Your body does all this without any thought on your part. It is just instinctive.

Any time a part of the human body becomes unbalanced (as in a cut). The body goes to work immediately to do what it can to balance that unbalanced part. So when you cut bangs or layers, your scalp quickly goes to work to even out your uneven or unbalanced lengths. Your scalp does this by simply reducing the nutrition to your longer lengths, and increasing the nutrition to the shorter lengths. Increasing the growth rate of the shorter lengths of hair, and reducing the growth rate of longer lengths. This condition can also lead to the thinning out of the longer lengths.

And this is why bangs and layers will lead to slower hair growth and hair loss. All one-length hair will grow faster and thicker than banged or layered hair for most people.

Always remember that there are exceptions to rules. Meaning that cutting bangs will not always lead to hair loss on some."

[Alacris~]

I would keep the bangs at a lenght so it looks good with updo's, but were you can put a part of it in a bun when you have to. (That is what I do after years of eyebrowlenght bangs or shorter, and wanting to grow them out.)

[Toadstool]

This site won't let me post the link, but here's a snippet about the damage bangs cause:

"Balance Is Everything

How does balance affect my hair growth?

Now keeping in mind the attention your body gives to balance. Lets go a little further. Believe it or not, your body knows everything that goes on with your body. Within less than an hour after you have eaten a meal. Your body knows exactly how many calories, fat grams, and carbohydrates were in the meal. As well as how much nutrition and protein was in the meal. Not only that but it has already begun separating what it wants to keep, and what it wants to depose of. Sending the nutrition where it is needed the most. Your body does all this without any thought on your part. It is just instinctive.

Any time a part of the human body becomes unbalanced (as in a cut). The body goes to work immediately to do what it can to balance that unbalanced part. So when you cut bangs or layers, your scalp quickly goes to work to even out your uneven or unbalanced lengths. Your scalp does this by simply reducing the nutrition to your longer lengths, and increasing the nutrition to the shorter lengths. Increasing the growth rate of the shorter lengths of hair, and reducing the growth rate of longer lengths. This condition can also lead to the thinning out of the longer lengths.

And this is why bangs and layers will lead to slower hair growth and hair loss. All one-length hair will grow faster and thicker than banged or layered hair for most people.

Always remember that there are exceptions to rules. Meaning that cutting bangs will not always lead to hair loss on some."

You know this is opinion, rather than proven fact, don't you?

OP, I'm always cutting then growing them out. They never make it to longer than my cheekbone. So I would vote cheese them!

[Thinthondiel]

You know this is opinion, rather than proven fact, don't you?


Exactly. And doesn't the fact that many people's hair grow from an evenly cut hemline to an uneven hemline prove that hair does not, in fact, strive for balance? Why would hair "strive" for anything in the first place?

I think this is a myth based on the fact that people seem to think that their bangs grow faster than the rest of their hair, when it only seems that way because when bangs get one inch longer, for example, the difference is much more noticeable than when long hair gets one inch longer. Also because it's so much shorter between the "landmarks" in the face than the landmarks elsewhere. It takes a lot shorter time to grow out hair from eyebrows to eyes than from waist to hip.



I used to have straight Bettie Page bangs and am now growing them out. They reach a bit below my cheekbone, but I usually roll them up into a pin curl and pin them up in a way that gives me a bit more volume on top. That way they're out of my way and don't look stringy and weird while they're growing out. I think I'm going to keep pinning them up even when they get longer.

[CurlyMopTop]

I had to vote cheese them because I've gone back and forth throughout the years. Right now I'm growing mine out to create a couple more face framing curls. They are just past my eyeballs stretched. I used to straighten them everyday. It's only been a couple months of no heat growing for them so we shall see.When I leave my hair down they just kind of blend with nearby curls. When I put my hair up though, they're kind of doing whatever they want. Sometimes ok, sometimes not so ok! :)

[ange1ito]

I never heard of that point on balance,makes me wonder even though its just an opinion. I am growing mine out for the first time in many years.

[ccmso12]

growing mine out . . but think of going back to side swept short bangs . . . .will prob wait a few months and see if another 1-2 inches of growth changes my perception

[Libbylou]

I have short bangs, just barely touching my eyebrows, can be bothersome after a couple weeks. I get them trimmed monthly. I have them to hide the "11" in between my eyes. I don't notice any more oiliness because I wash my hair at least once per day. I work in a dirty factory and can not stand dust and stuff in my hair. I might have to rethink this procedure when my hair gets longer. I decided to grow it out a couple months ago. Right now it is collar bone length with multiple layers (which I hate now).
I think I am on a long road to growing my hair to a desirable length. Which is long enough to be versatile.

[smilinjenn71]

....They look better on me than wearing it up slicked back and being in the "mean ladies tight bun club." So I'm going against the grain and voting bangs. HOORAY BANGS

If I have a day where they're greasier than the rest of my hair I can spritz them with dry shampoo and get another day.

That was my problem when my hair & bangs were long. The look was too severe pulled back off my face. I've decided to grow out again (after cutting to pixie in Dec '10) and I'm keeping choppy, face framing bangs. I think I will like that better as my hair gets long enough to pull up. I have to wear it up everyday b/c of work.

[florenonite]

I voted cheese. I tend to prefer the look of bangs, especially on my long face, but every time I cut them I remember why I grew them out previously. They're so much more effort! There are other ways to avoid the slicked-back look at the front of updos if you decide to grow them out.

[Fairlight63]

I voted grow them out because I have cut bangs in my hair before & HATED it afterwards. They are now just getting long - past my chin after 2 YEARS of putting up with pinning them back. I am finding out that I can pin them to the side & they look like I have bangs but they are still long without having to cut in bangs. So I can have a bangs look if I want them or not & I don't have to put up with curling them everyday because they never laid right after cutting them. They wanted to curl in instead of out.

[bratz81]

I voted grow them because I find a fringe (bangs!) a complete pain in the bum to keep looking well. Also doesn't help that when I went to get my hair cut last December, I told the stylist in no uncertain terms NOT to give me a straight fringe and she did anyway.

I have a round face and my hair was somewhere between chin and shoulder length then. When my hair is that short a straight fringe makes me look like I have a huge round moon face basically.

I don't find the fringe got greasy more often than the rest of my hair but it made my forehead greasy. Though once my hair grows a bit more and the layers are evened up I might consider a side fringe. But depends on the style of my hair etc as I haven't had it longer than it is now (just below shoulder) for about 5/6 years.

[Ligeia_13]

Every 5-6 years I get bored and decide its time for a funky fringe. And then I hate it after a month and start stubbornly growing it out and swearing never to do it again. Plus there's the waking up and having to fix it into place, the annoyance of all the little hairs in your face and eyes. Sweaty brow in the summer.

I say grow em out.

[ccmso12]

been growing mine out since I committed to LHC because the only way my bangs look nice is if I blow dry them when I get out of the shower! And Id never do that again . . .though is it that harmfull if you only do it to your bangs which routinely would get trimmed???? I dont know:confused:

[Ermine]

I currently have side swept bangs that are getting a little overgrown. I'm not sure what to do with them yet. If my end goal is long hair, I need all the thickness I can get, so I might get my bangs grown out for that purpose. Also, my hair is oily and the bangs are the first to look greasy. Having bangs also makes me more prone to forehead acne. I could probably stretch washes to every other day if I didn't have bangs. But at the same time, my face can look long without bangs, especially when I have long hair.

[NotInPortland]

I reccommend growing out only because from my experience they are a total pain to keep looking nice for any length of time. I actually loved my bangs but they were too much hassle so I've been letting them grow out for about 2 years now.

[LadieRyrie]

I vote keep bangs. I'm growing out most of mine because I have much more than is necessary, but I do like them. They make my face look...sharper. XP

[Lissandria]

I love my fringe too! They make my high buns look thumbelina-esque, compliment my face and they are the one part of my hair I heat-style regularly completely guilt free! I pin them back when they get annoying or dry shampoo them. I love my fringe.

[AcornMystic]

You know this is opinion, rather than proven fact, don't you?

OP, I'm always cutting then growing them out. They never make it to longer than my cheekbone. So I would vote cheese them!



Exactly. And doesn't the fact that many people's hair grow from an evenly cut hemline to an uneven hemline prove that hair does not, in fact, strive for balance? Why would hair "strive" for anything in the first place?



Where are you getting your information to claim it is opinion?

I look at this as a debate and would like to do so, for the sake of this thread so that everyone can understand and know what they are doing when they choose to have bangs.

I will give you my sources in which to prove to you it is a proven fact in Biology as well as Physics and Chemistry etc etc..

Perhaps it will let me put the links if I space it, you will just have to close the spaces to make it work:

ht tp://lon ghair. org/HCP /bangs.h tm



The body is always striving to find balance because nature drives towards efficiency with the environment and those that live in it, respectively to one another (eco-system anyone?). That is a big part of evolution. Have you never heard of equilibrium in the body?

ht tp://e n.wik ipedia. or g/wik i/Equi librium

Genetic equilibrium is the theoretical state in which a population is not evolving. It involves:

No gene mutations
Large population size
Limited-to-no immigration, emigration, or migration (genetic flow)
Gene of interest has no effect on survival/reproduction, and there is no natural selection
Mating is random (panmixis)
ht tp://e n.wik ipedia.o rg/wik i/Genetic _equilibrium

As far as hair not growing at the same rate. Because not all hair strands sit at the same location on the head not every strand will appear the same length. Add that with breakage and the 50-100 hairs that fall out everyday. Keeping a hem and expecting it to maintain its even cut is impossible. You aren't accounting for that. Unless a study has been proven measuring individual hair strands that are the same length in measurement you can't say it's proven that they don't. If you have that proof I would appreciate seeing it. Now whether or not that is fact, who knows, I'd have to research that.

That is all for now, but I'd really like to know what you think.

[florenonite]

Where are you getting your information to claim it is opinion?

I look at this as a debate and would like to do so, for the sake of this thread so that everyone can understand and know what they are doing when they choose to have bangs.

I will give you my sources in which to prove to you it is a proven fact in Biology as well as Physics and Chemistry etc etc..

Perhaps it will let me put the links if I space it, you will just have to close the spaces to make it work:

ht tp://lon ghair. org/HCP /bangs.h tm



The body is always striving to find balance because nature drives towards efficiency with the environment and those that live in it, respectively to one another (eco-system anyone?). That is a big part of evolution. Have you never heard of equilibrium in the body?

ht tp://e n.wik ipedia. or g/wik i/Equi librium

Genetic equilibrium is the theoretical state in which a population is not evolving. It involves:
No gene mutations
Large population size
Limited-to-no immigration, emigration, or migration (genetic flow)
Gene of interest has no effect on survival/reproduction, and there is no natural selection
Mating is random (panmixis)ht tp://e n.wik ipedia.o rg/wik i/Genetic _equilibrium

As far as hair not growing at the same rate. Because not all hair strands sit at the same location on the head not every strand will appear the same length. Add that with breakage and the 50-100 hairs that fall out everyday. Keeping a hem and expecting it to maintain its even cut is impossible. You aren't accounting for that. Unless a study has been proven measuring individual hair strands that are the same length in measurement you can't say it's proven that they don't. If you have that proof I would appreciate seeing it. Now whether or not that is fact, who knows, I'd have to research that.

That is all for now, but I'd really like to know what you think.

But how does the body "know" the hair is at different lengths? I really don't think that the comparison with a full stomach given in the first link is relevant, as the full stomach is part of the living body rather than dead hair. There are things that influence hair growth rate, but, barring damage to the follicles, thsee influence the rate of growth from all the follicles on a person's head (or at least, all of those that are currently in the growing phase). Indeed, if equilibrium is relevant to hair growth I'd argue that it's in precisely the opposite manner to what you're saying; rather than hair trying to be all one length, all the hairs growing on someone's head at a given time are growing at the same rate.

[discoisntdead]

My mum forced me to have bangs as a child and I'm so glad that I grew them out! I have a round face and they just don't suit me at all. Bangs look better on girls with large eyes and long narrow faces. Zoe Deschanel looks amazing with her bangs.

[AcornMystic]

But how does the body "know" the hair is at different lengths? I really don't think that the comparison with a full stomach given in the first link is relevant, as the full stomach is part of the living body rather than dead hair. There are things that influence hair growth rate, but, barring damage to the follicles, thsee influence the rate of growth from all the follicles on a person's head (or at least, all of those that are currently in the growing phase). Indeed, if equilibrium is relevant to hair growth I'd argue that it's in precisely the opposite manner to what you're saying; rather than hair trying to be all one length, all the hairs growing on someone's head at a given time are growing at the same rate.

If there was no such thing as a terminal length, then it would make sense that the body does not know when hairs are at different lengths. It's the same reason, I imagine, why a cat that has a spot shaved on its back, for example, will grow to maintain balance with the terminal length hairs. A cat's terminal length is sooner achieved, which is why I used it as an example.

Hair may be dead but it serves a very important purpose. The purpose of hair is to camouflage and warm the wearer and in many cases, for mating purposes, etc.. and while humans have developed clothing and other means of keeping warm, the hair found on the head serves as primary sources of heat insulation and cooling (when sweat evaporates from soaked hair) as well as protection from ultra-violet radiation exposure. So the importance of hair surrounding this location is evident. If they all grew at the same rate a spot would be very exposed for a longer period of time, making that spot vulnerable. Something the body avoids, as it has multiple defense mechanisms and it's prime motive is self-preservation.

When the body is wounded, nutrients are first given to damaged cells to heal the wound. When the body is starving it will pull fat to keep it running. Just because hair is dead doesn't mean your body doesn't know its own strand's length.

EDIT: I was going to add that once your hair reaches an equal state, it has reached equilibrium. That is what I mean by striving. Past that point, it's all about losing shedding/breakage etc.. from there. Unfortunately, hairs are never equal, constantly being shed and often breaking so it would constantly strive. Fortunately enough for us, otherwise that would be bad. I imagine that is why it feels like forever to get long hair when your hair is thinning, aside from losing long hairs.