I Cut My Own Bangs

~ Amusives

Bang (fringe) length – has little to do with beauty, and a lot to do with just being able to see! So, yes, I admit it. On occasion, I cut my own bangs. Okay, it is more than just occasionally. My hair grows very fast, so while I often let the sides and back grow two or three inches between visits to a salon, my bangs need more frequent attention.

bangs fringe cut own hair ToonadayAfter much trial and error, and close observation of how my hairdresser cuts my bangs, I have perfected my technique. I must do a pretty good job, too. My hairdresser ‘called me out’ on home bang cutting yesterday, and when I sheepishly admitted that I had, in fact, cut my own bangs she said, “You did a great job. You only missed about six or eight hairs over here on the left side…”

I don’t know what your relationship is with your hair, but I live with a head full of rebellious hairs. They curve and stick up in all the oddest places. Some years I let them all grow (except the bangs) until they are mid way down my back. Some years I have them all cut off to just a few inches. Neither style changes their nature – they still resolutely head off in a contrary direction, each marching to their own drummer.

I grew up in the days when sleek, long, straight hair was what all the cool girls had. All the tall cool girls.  All the skinny tall cool girls. Genetically, I am not a skinny, tall, straight haired girl. (The foundations for my distrust of the fashion and beauty industry were laid early, and I don’t even want to discuss why “A Good Hair Day” might mean something to me…)

But – every time I go to a hairdresser, I entertain the hope that a miracle will happen. My hairdresser will find the precise right length to cut each hair (because apparently she keeps track of the length or each and every one of them).  That perfect length will be the one where each hair nestles contentedly beside the one beside it. Not a single hair will object to the company of any of its 150,000 neighbours. I will be able to just toss my head and every hair will move into place without the touch of a comb!

Remarkably, this latest haircut seems to be as close to perfection as any I have ever had. Oh, there is still much mass confusion down at my neck, but the hairs on the side and top of my head are serene. My bangs, well, they are quite perfect and the hairdresser only had to fix the eight hairs on the left side.

Tragedy is when you cut your own finger. Comedy is when you cut your own bangs.

Do you cut your own bangs? Any horror stories about hair cuts?

 

25 thoughts on “I Cut My Own Bangs”

  1. My hair also grows fast so I, too, trim my bangs on occasion. Last time I went to see my hairdresser I discovered she had left a couple weeks prior and they had no idea (so they claimed) where she had gone to. Hannah, where are you!!!! I tried another lady and she massacred me! I told her it was best to cut my bangs dry as they tend to curl up, but she told me she has been doing this for years and to trust her. HUMPH! She will never touch me again.
    I do have a funny story about cutting my sons hair when he was about 5. I was trimming around his neck and ears and he kept wiggling so I said, “If you do not sit still I will cut your ear off!” Kidding, but the next moment I went to clip by his ear, he moved, and snips! I cut off a piece of the top of his ear! Chaos happened and he screamed “You cut off my ear! Mommy cut off my ear!” It was a tiny piece but caused a big ruckus. Needless to say, he never let me do his hair again and was left with a small scar, which he would point out for years and say I attempted to cut off his ear. *sigh*

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  2. No, I try not to cut my own bangs but I have once or twice because they grew in so fast between hairdresser appointments. One time when I hadn’t touched them, my hairdresser asked if I’d taken scissors to my bangs. Nope, and no lie. Couldn’t she see how long they were? I wonder if she was making a point about the times I had. Ha ha.

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  3. I still yearn to be a tall, skinny, long straight haired girl! Never gonna happen. Ha ha! What a delightfully funny story. I don’t have enough hair for bangs, but I sometimes I trim the sides to delay a trip to the salon.

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  4. I’ve cut my own bangs in the past; my hairdresser always ‘outs’ me (she told me once she’d trim them for $5.00; but better, to me, to listen to her lecture me about it than pay $5.00 for a 30 second trim). I let my mother trim my bangs once – the day before my Grade 10 school photo. BIG MISTAKE! She cut them way too short. The next day I soaked them, pressed them down, and tried pushing further down my forehead with one of those stretchy hair bands that were so popular back in the 60s. I looked like a total dork! (I cannot find ANY copies of that photo; I must have tossed them all away).

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    1. I always have to remind my hairdresser that I don’t want my bangs to look like they were just cut, so I can just imagine how you felt with too-short bangs for a school photo.

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    1. Yes, those pesky chin hairs. It doesn’t matter how often you yank them out, they just keep coming back.

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  6. I’ve cut my own bangs – but the worst haircut I have had was from a renowned (and expensive) hairdresser. I didn’t realise how bad it was until my sisters saw me and screamed (with laughter). He’d cut one side at the back and forgot to cut the other side. I got my money back (even after he told me the cut was ‘all the rage’) and went to another hairdresser the same day to have the cut fixed and they thought I’d cut it myself 😉

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    1. I know exactly what you are talking about. I’ve had some very expensive haircuts that weren’t any more successful than the ones I got from the local discount chain.

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  7. I am a closet bang-cutter. Some attempts are more successful than others; however, two thoughts comfort me. One, the hair will grow back, and two, people will think that I got an avant-garde cut and am really a daring old grandma. 🙂

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    1. Yes, even the worst hair cut will repair itself with time! I can believe you are a daring grandma, though I certainly would not describe you as old!

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    1. Good on you, Amanda! If it wasn’t so hard to see and cut the hair on the back of my head, I’d probably cut my own hair too!

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  9. When I was a kid, my mother used to cut my bangs, and i always ended up the Mamie Eisenhower bangs…very short, straight across my very high forehead. Then I spent most of my adult life cutting my own hair because I hate going to the hairdresser. About 10 years ago I finally found a hairdresser who appreciates my quirkiness, though it took a couple times for her to get the meaning of “cut them too long”…the bangs would then end up being just about perfect. Now if I could only figure out how to get ‘more’ hair…it’s very fine and lays flat and look terrible without a lot of work. Hence, the change in my gravatar…I’m very jealous of that thick head of hair.

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    1. I totally understand what you mean by ‘cut them too long’! I also get them cut in ragged layers so that they don’t carve a straight line across my forehead. Of course, it took many tries, as you have observed, to come up with the best way of cutting bangs.

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  10. Nope, I have a very short hair cut and done by a youngish Croatian hair stylist. I seem to only wear make-up less than 5 times per year. It’s been like this for past 6 years. And I work full time in an office /organization where I am in group meetings and I make presentations. So hair cut is to me an important fashion but visually the best investment for myself.

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  11. I’ve been known to do a little trimming between haircuts, and I’ve never been called out on it. Of course, my hair is so boring to begin with, it’s hard to mess it up… : (

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