Bangs on 2b hair - good idea or potential disaster?

[Shesta]

Hello!

I'm considering cutting a fringe but I'm not sure how my hair will react. I never had one and am eager to try the cleopatra type but I'm afraid my 2b hair will react against the nice looks by curling and flipping on all sides.

How do you manage a bangs/fringe with 2b hair? Is it possible to avoid heat styling? Any other considerations worth a thought before I get the scissors?
Thanks in advance.

[roxee]

my hair is 2b and I have a long fringe, I blowdry it with a round fringe (just my fringe) and find it behaves until my next wash.

[whitedove]

I have a short fringe and it very rarely goes crazy flippy. I dry it pressed to my forehead, not a great look but it works :)

[spidermom]

I think you will likely have to style Cleopatra bangs in some way, probably with heat, which won't matter in the long run since bangs need trimming on a regular basis.

[NymphSpirit]

BAD IDEA! If you're planning on cutting a short Cleopatra like fringe then you'll have to style it everyday with heat, sorry, but keeping up such a polished look takes a lot of effort. But.. like spidermom said, if you're planning on keeping it, then who cares if it gets damaged, right? The thing is if you'll be able to keep up with the requirements of such a fringe, I couldn't.

[Amber_Maiden]

Well, I can tell you that with my hair type I wouldn't because it would poof...

[terylenerose]

I can't tell you about 2b hair because mine is 3a (2c/3a on the canopy), but the two times I've tried bangs they always waved a bit. It was next to impossible to get them to be straight. I don't make a habit of heat styling, though, because my hair is so thick I lose patience and never dry it all the way with a blow dryer. That's one of the reasons I ended up hating bangs.

[lunalocks]

Bangs work for me because the hair above my ears is smoother and straighter than the rest of my hair. Everyone tells me that if I cut my hair short, I would have curls, but I know better. It is stick straight.

[pepperminttea]

If you want to keep them straight, I would lay bets heat styling would be a necessity I'm afraid. If you're going to maintain them though, don't let that worry you; the hair will grow out and be trimmed off frequently enough that damage won't be much of an issue at all. Think of it as part of your head having a pixie cut. :D

[Shesta]

Thank you all for the replies. I guess heat is an essential part of the equation here. One reason I don;t want to use it is because of uncertainty if I will maintain the bangs or just enjoy them for a while and let them blend with the rest of the hair. Maybe drying them on one of these big rollers will do the job?
Blah.. I'm getting hesitant to cut.

[Foxy_Booker]

I have a short fringe basically straight across and I have 2a hair and my bangs are pretty wavy and I'm not even 2b. I don't need to style them but I like to. I don't feel bad about heat styling them though because they grow so fast and are replaced quickly so they don't ever show damage.

[Chetanlaiho]

My hair is a bit wurlier than yours but I guess it's similar enough. I used to have straight across bangs, and while I loved them, the slightest bit of humidity would case them to flip up. Sometimes not so badly, sometimes horribly :/ and rain? I would run to cover my hair just because of my bangs.

Basically bangs can look awesome with our hair type when styled, but when not, maaybe not so much :/

[sfgirl]

I think the most important thing to remember is heat styling on bangs really isn't as bad. They will grow out fast, and once they get to shoulder length you can just cut off the 3-4 inches that were heat styled. I kept mine super straight though by just combing them and combing them until they were dry. Do you have your own scissors? I could never keep up with mine because I suck at trimming fringe and I don't even have the money for a six dollar bang trim every two weeks.

[SoulOfTheSea]

Okay, I had a full fringe for about four years straight, and I have 2b hair. Let me elaborate.

I personally have a cowlick right above my right temple, which made my bangs air-dry so horrid I could never wear them that way. I ALWAYS had to heat style it, from either blow-drying with a round brush, or flat-ironing, or both. Yes, bangs are cute, but after four years of thinking I looked better with them (which I don't -.-) and all of the hassle of everyday styling, everyday washing (because they get greasy after one day), pulling them up to wash my face, having them whip around when the wind was blowing, I was done!

I say, if you want to try them out once, there's no harm. I just find it so much better letting them grow long enough to put behind my ear, and they look good wavy. All depends on how much time you have and want to use, since it is quite a hassle.

Good luck and sorry if I sound harsh at all, it was a bad experience for me! :D

ETA Not to mention also that in the rain, the bangs were ruined. In humidity, ruined. In the hot sweaty summer, ugly and annoying. I also didn't like having to worry about how my hair would dry if it DID rain, or if I went swimming or to the beach. Too much unnecessary stress!

[amberpotamus]

I had bangs from the time I had enough hair for my mom to cut them in until I was 21. It just never occurred to me before that that I could grow them out I guess--plus I have a kind of large-ish forehead. I still don't like to have less than long, side swept bangs. Those don't require any styling, but with shorter, blunt bangs, I would recommend blow drying--it doesn't even have to be a terribly high setting, if you just pull on them a bit as you go, and even on the cool setting it doesn't take all that long since it's just bangs. And I never had to restyle between washes (and I've been "stretching" washes most of my life, lol).

[auroraclio]

My hair is a bit straighter than 2b but they always flipped out crazy unless I used a flat-iron, i've given up and am growing them out. If you don't mind the maintenance of bangs go for it, they look great with updos, i'm just too lazy for them...

[NymphSpirit]

Maybe drying them on one of these big rollers will do the job?


I'm afraid it wont work the way you want it to, it'll probably curl too much and you'll end up with some odd victory roll (which looks fantastic but it's not what you want, :p)

[Eire]

It was awful. I straightened every morning, and if there was the slightest bit of wind, humdity or rain, they would turn into a frizzy, poofy mess. Biiiig mistake. When they got long enough I cut my hair to shoulder and started over at all one length.

[Shesta]

What you all say sounds like bangs maintenance is a really big PIA. And factors combined just scream "Don't".

The climate where I live is very humid, windy, often rains - > not particularly bangs-friendly environment.
I am a really wash-bun it- and go type of person, which most of the days translates to just bun it-and go :D Don't even own a blow drier or flat iron at the moment.

I guess I'll have to say goodbye to my bangs-wish and put up with what I'm used to.

Thank you all for the feedback - you've saved me from big troubles it seems. :cool:

[UP Lisa]

Same with mine. For many years I had my hair short, and thought it was straight, because it was straight at that length. It wasn't until it got at least shoulder length that I started to see waves.

My bangs were always totally straight.


quote=lunalocks;2022551]Bangs work for me because the hair above my ears is smoother and straighter than the rest of my hair. Everyone tells me that if I cut my hair short, I would have curls, but I know better. It is stick straight.[/quote]

[Sunshineliz]

When I had bangs I had to blow-dry the heck out of them to get them to behave at all. They always want to curl and flip. They behave better with less effort long.

[jacqueline101]

Those bangs are high to maintain the length and straightening. I have to admit they're neat.

[lapushka]

I have a short fringe basically straight across and I have 2a hair and my bangs are pretty wavy and I'm not even 2b. I don't need to style them but I like to. I don't feel bad about heat styling them though because they grow so fast and are replaced quickly so they don't ever show damage.


My hair is a bit straighter than 2b but they always flipped out crazy unless I used a flat-iron, i've given up and am growing them out. If you don't mind the maintenance of bangs go for it, they look great with updos, i'm just too lazy for them...


When I had bangs I had to blow-dry the heck out of them to get them to behave at all. They always want to curl and flip. They behave better with less effort long.

Same here. I have 2a hair also. When I had bangs, part of my fringe would wave one way, the other part the other way and not in a good way - cowlick-like, so I know that bangs without any form of heat styling are a no-no for me.

It takes effort. I'm glad in a way that you decided against cutting bangs, OP. If you want the carefree no effort style, then bangs with 2b hair are a major pain... unless it all waves just right.

[chou]

I have 2c hair and blunt bangs and I absolutely love them! My strongest curls don't start til past my ears, but there is still some wave in my bangs. I blow dry them on cool with a mini round brush and they stay perfect that way--not completely straight, but kind of with a slight bend, like this: http://nadinejolie.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Rashida-Jones-MTV-Movie-Awards1.jpg
The trick is to go with the direction of the wave of your hair when drying. It may also help to get your hair cut by a curly hair specialist who shape the ends of your hair to prevent them flipping out rather than just cutting straight across.

[SoulOfTheSea]

On a happier note, you could always get some nice side-bangs! I have those at the moment and they behave really well. It's nice having the side-bang to soften up updos. So there's another option. :)

[Ninika]

I'd say you never know how your bangs will behave until you've tried it. So my suggestion is - go for it and have fun! If it works, yay! If not, they can be grown out easily enough.

I had bangs twice now as an adult, and I remember that the first time I had them I hated them becoming greasy so fast. Second time around I think it's no big deal. Overall maintenance a day takes about a minute or two. When I jump into the shower, I wash the bangs with a drop of shampoo. They can even be airdried. If I remember to brush or comb them while they are still moist, they stay quite straight. Otherwise I just spritz them with water and blow dry them on a low setting for a few seconds.

As other members have already said, damage from blowdrying isn't really an issue, because bangs get trimmed before they would show any visible signs of damage.

[milkyway]

Don't be afraid to experiment with bangs!
I have 2b curly hair and have bangs. I have a very useful tip for all you people with bangs out there who don't want to blow dry it. I use 3-4 bobby pins to clip my bangs to one side for about 45 minutes, then clip it to the other side. The result is completely manageable straight and lovely looking bangs. The time needed/ amount of pins depends on length of bangs, thickness of hair and how curly it is. By the time your hair is air dried your bangs are all nice and dry too:)