How to Get the Best Bangs for Your Face Shape
How do you know what style of bangs work for your face shape? (Photo: Getty Images)
Even though they’re only a few inches long and only require just a fraction of the hair on our heads, bangs can be the quickest way switch up your entire look while adding an instant shot of effortless style. But bangs are not just a one-style-fits-all cut. They should be tailored to flatter your face shape as well as suit your lifestyle, so getting them to look great each morning takes minimal time and effort.
“Bangs are quickest most effective way to change your face shape,” says celebrity hair stylist Mark Townsend, who works with Jennifer Lawrence, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Reese Witherspoon, and Dakota Johnson (the latter two of which he has given different types of trend setting bangs). “There are infinite ways of cutting fringe, but it’s all about personalizing them to your face and life.”
Townsend should know. In addition to giving his star clients the eye grazing style, he admits to having something of a “fringe obsession” and is continually inspired by Jane Birkin’s signature bangs. “Bangs make every hairstyle look ‘on purpose,’” he says. Not to mention, bangs fall right in line with the strong 1970s trend happening this season and throughout summer
Oval Face
In order to land on the best type of bangs for you, first consider your face shape. For an oval face, bangs should be short in center and long on sides, similar to Johnson and Birkin, to highlight the face shape. In Johnson’s case, her forehead is slightly elongated and bangs help to minimize the length, hiding the actual hairline and cutting off an elongated forehead.
Heart-Shaped Face
A heart shaped face is wider on top and narrower at the bottom similar to Witherspoon. “Fringe is ideal for a heart shaped face,” says Townsend, who suggests a side swept bang. “If you essentially ‘shade’ out the top two corners of the face where it is the widest with a side swept bang, and then add some face framing layers on each side of the jaw, you’re left with an oval.”
Round Face
Those with a round face look best with short fringe through the middle and longer pieces at each side. Bangs can be cut further back into the hairline in order to give the illusion that the forehead is longer than it actually is. The pieces on each side square off the face a bit to give it more angles and contour.
Townsend advises that the thickness of the bangs depends more on your lifestyle than face shape. For instance, a wispy side swept bang is the easiest to style and grow out, should you tire of the fringe or want less work when primping in the morning.
He adds that dry shampoo will be your bangs (and your) best friend. Dry shampoo absorbs excess oil (since bangs are the part of the hair touched most and retain oil from fingers, sunscreen, moisturizer and makeup) and keeps them from frizzing out.
To combat a cowlick or train your fringe to go in a desired direction, Townsend recommends a reusable mascara wand to comb down wet bangs while blasting the root of the hair with a blow dryer.
“Every women has a different hairline and cowlicks,” says Townsend. “But there are so many great tricks to fight those things. I just think the benefit of bangs far outweighs the work you may have to put into them.”
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