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After sitting at home for the umpteenth week in isolation, it's perfectly understandable why a haircut or hair transformation might soar to the top of your to-do list. You can't book an appointment for a trim or a cut, as the novel coronavirus forced salons to shut down to flatten the curve, so you pick up the scissors to do the job yourself. After all, if you mess up, nobody can see you. But before you start chopping away, celebrity hairstylist and Authentic Beauty Concept ambassador Mara Roszak—the woman whose scissors have cut Billie Eilish, Emma Stone, Cara Delevinge, and Zoe Saldana's hair—has a few tips for you.
Invest in the Proper Tools
Your haircut is only as good as the tools you use—and kitchen scissors should never be considered an option. Roszak advises investing in a pair of shears for a clean, sharp cut. Next, you need a fine-tooth comb for easy parting, flat clips to hold the hair in place, a boar bristle brush and a blow-dryer that comes with a nozzle.
"The nozzle helps get the hair smooth; it angles the hair in the direction you want it to lay," she explains.
At-Home Bang Trim Essentials
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Treat Your Hair Before You Start
You want your hair to be in excellent health before you begin cutting. Roszak suggests using the Authentic Beauty Concept Replenish Shampoo and Mask "to make sure that your hair feels very thoroughly conditioned and you can brush through it very easily." The Replenish Mask is "the richest of the three" products in the Replenish range. "Let it soak in, leave it on for 10 minutes in the shower by using a shower cap," she advises. "If you're going to cut your hair, treat it like you're at the salon."
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Should You Cut Your Hair When It's Wet?
If you're going from no bangs to bangs, you should consider cutting it wet since you have to train your hair to lay forward (or to the side). Once all your hair is brought to the front, you can blow-dry it, take a flat clip and place it at the root to set it.
The Process
Cutting Bangs From Scratch:
The last thing you want to do it cut your bangs too wide. "Start parting the hair from one arch of the eyebrow to the other arch of the eyebrow and not going any wider than that," Roszak says. "Once all your hair is brought forward, use your index and middle finger (so you're doing a peace sign with your hair in between) to slide down the hair to the tip or the bridge of the nose and do one horizontal cut. Position the scissors vertically to begin cutting up only a half an inch at a time, which will do way less damage than cutting a straight line across."
For Emma Stone-esque Fringe Bangs:
Rozak prefers fringe bangs over blunt bangs as they tend to be "flattering" and "softer" on most face shapes. "If you want to make your bangs thinner with a fringe, head to Amazon and purchase a hair cutting kits that come with a pair of scissors and a pair of thinning shears. The thinning shears have teeth or a comb and essentially cut every few hairs," she says. Once you slice the hair horizontally, go back in with your thinning shears and thin out the ends an inch up."
For Billie Eilish's Grown-Out Bangs:
Billie Eilish's bangs are more grown out and are parted down the middle, which works best for those who want to experiment with bangs, but don't want to commit to a front-facing blunt or fringe cut. "For those Billie kinds of side-swept bangs, you would comb it forward, and then you would part your hair down the middle," she explains. "Grab one side and bring the hair down to your cheekbone using the peace sign trick, then grab a feather razor and softly cut the hair in an angle to avoid a blunt cut," leaving the outer part of the section slightly longer than the hair closest to the middle part.
What about bangs for curly hair?
You never want to cut curly hair wet since dried curly shrinks to a shorter length. "But you don't want it to be super, super dry, so when you're combing through it's just frizzing it out," Roszak adds. Put down your scissors and reach for a razor to "pinch and chop," Roszak says, instead of pulling the hair down and cutting it as you would with straight hair. "Cut it piece by piece, in small sections."
Cutting (and Styling) Wavy Bangs Tutorial
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Bang Cutting Tutorial on Natural Hair
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Nerisha Penrose Assistant Editor Nerisha is the assistant editor at ELLE.com, covering all things beauty and fashion. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io
