Dakota Johnson's Hair Stylist Reveals How to Get Her Bangs
Peruse a few memes on Twitter, and you will know this: Dakota Johnson possesses the bangs that launched a thousand (or a million, or more) chops. Hers is the haircut that dreams are made of—the fringe that makes everyone, no matter whether their hair is long hair or short, curly or straight, think: Maybe I should get bangs? Seriously. Google “Dakota Johnson bangs” and you’ll get 20 million results.
What makes Johnson’s bangs the Platonic ideal? Is it their length (skimming that sweet spot between lash and brow)? Their just-right combination of blunt and wispy? The way they blend so seamlessly with the rest of her hair? Or does her face just happen to have that unquantifiable, precise geometry that renders bangs ultra-flattering? According to her longtime hairstylist Mark Townsend, who has been working with the actress since Fifty Shades of Grey thrust her into the spotlight circa 2015, it’s a bit of all the above. “Bangs work really well with Dakota’s face shape and with her personality,” he says. “She knows she can spend 5 minutes blow drying her bangs and leave the rest of her hair natural.”
In other words, she’s low maintenance, despite the fact that bangs are notoriously the opposite. They require diligent upkeep to keep them at the ideal length, lest they get wayward or eyeball-stabbingly overgrown (Townsend recommends a trim roughly once a month). Also, they can be aesthetically challenging, not only from a styling perspective but from a face-framing standpoint, and many fear experimenting with them lest they make a short forehead look shorter or a wide face look wider. Townsend maintains that they can, in fact, flatter every face shape—it’s just a matter of getting the right cut, and calibrating the length you’re most comfortable with.
“Dakota plays around with her bangs quite often,” he says. “Sometimes she likes to go a little shorter and cut them just above the eyebrow and sometimes she wants them longer with shorter face framing layers, but we always cut them shorter in the middle and longer on the sides, creating the ‘curtain’ effect which is the most versatile and flattering.”
Styling may seem daunting at first, but it should take less than 5 minutes, once you get the hang of it. “Just blow dry the bangs down and forward with your fingers, holding the blow dryer over the head and aiming down,” Townsend says. “Then use a round brush held vertically to smooth the hair and give it that little flick outwards on the sides.”
Product-wise, regular use of a deep conditioner can keep bangs silky, but because bangs can be prone to greasiness, Townsend’s top tip is dry shampoo. “Bang hairs lie on the forehead and can absorb some of the moisturizers, sunscreen, and even makeup that is applied to the skin, making them look oily, so I use dry shampoo [his favorite is Dove Invisible Dry Shampoo] to keep them looking fresh,” he says. “On the second or third day of not washing the hair, I spray loads of this dry shampoo on a flat brush and then brush it though the bangs so that the powders can absorb the oil or products that make bangs look dirty. I usually use dry shampoo instead of hairspray on bangs because hairspray sticks hairs together and can make bangs look too “piecey” or wet looking, while dry shampoo keeps bangs full.”
Johnson may have effortlessly joined the list of bang icons—see also Louise Brooks, Jane Birkin, Stevie Nicks, Zooey Deschanel—who were seemingly born to rock the look, but the decision to try them need feel dramatic or risky. As Townsend says, “It’s actually a pretty easy way to play with a new haircut without messing around with the overall length.” Worse case scenario? Just let them grow back out.
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