Curly Bangs: A Trend Worth Trying

Alanna Arrington’s gorgeous curly bangs are a definite do. (Photo: Getty Images)

If bangs are inherently a high-risk hairstyle move, they are doubly so for women with natural curls. You could be aiming for Rihanna and wind up with “Livin’ on a Prayer”-era Jon Bon Jovi. When up-and-coming model Alanna Arrington began wearing the style during fall 2016 runway shows in New York and Paris, however, she was definitely channeling early ’80s sexpot, not late ’80s mall queen. To see how this look might be translated from high fashion to wearable trend, Yahoo Beauty spoke to curly stylist Ricky Pennisi.

“I’m an advocate of bangs, no bangs; of changing things up all the time,” Pennisi, the creator of RI CI products, said. He added that this style is not for the timid because, “Once you do it, you’re in.”

This kind of commitment is what might keep some curly-haired women away from the style. “I don’t know if I would ever cut [bangs], because I’m a commitment-phobe,” Jonna Scott-Blake, the editor of Naturally-Glam.com, told Yahoo Beauty. Though she has used hairpins to create faux bangs, she said she’s afraid to do any drastic cutting. “I just know that once I’m tired of the cut, I have to grow it back, and that’s the torturous part,” she explained.

Related: 6 Genius Winter Hair Hacks

If you’re willing to try it out, make sure you take the plunge with a stylist who understands your curls.

“The key to dealing with curly bangs [is] you do want to stay on the heavier side, because you have a lot more control with it,” Pennisi explained. “You don’t want to go with a very fine, subtle bang, because it kind of gets lost with curly hair, and there’s more of a chance of you not being able to control it, and you not being able to deal with frizz.”

Beyonce makes this cool-girl look seem effortless. (Photo: Getty Images)

Length is another important matter, and you need to take into account how much your hair may curl up. Pennisi advises you start with a cut that gives you a length somewhere between the tip and the bridge of your nose when your hair is wet. “Let it curl up, then you keep rewetting it and going in stages,” he said. “You’re going to get to a point where there’s no forgiveness. Usually it’s around right below the eyebrows. That can either look gorgeous, or it can spring up on you and you can look like a real meathead.”

Related: The Secret to Maintaining and Loving Curly Hair? A Great Haircut

Pennisi said that the ’80s “mall hair” hairdo is easily avoided with a good cut. “You want to make sure the bangs are blending in with the sides. You don’t want to just cut a massive bang and drop into nothing. [You need] some kind of softening, a little bit of a transition, and you want to make sure the stylist blends in the sides so you’re not going to have these meaty dog ears.”