Bangs Finder

Quick answer: most people can wear bangs — the question is which. Side-swept bangs are the stylists’ safest start (“instantly flattering to all face shapes”), blunt bangs suit thick hair and long faces, wispy bangs suit fine hair and soften square and heart faces, and blended bangs are the lowest commitment. Tap your face, hair and mornings above for your three, with each stylist’s words.

How to use it

Pick your face shape (or “not sure” — the face shape finder works it out), your hair’s thickness and texture, whether you have a cowlick at the front, whether your hairline is high, and how long you’ll spend styling bangs in the morning. You get a yes or a “start soft”, the three kinds of bangs that fit, drawn on your face shape, and every line each stylist’s guide says for and against them for you. Copy the link to take it to your stylist.

Should you get bangs? What the guides say

Rapunzel of Sweden’s stylist names three reasons to go carefully: “If you have a high hairline, a strong cowlick or a short, wide facial shape, you may want to skip bangs or let your hairdresser help you.” Matrix disagrees: “Some people say it’s a bad idea to get bangs if your hair is fine or curly or if you have a cowlick. The pros at Matrix say nonsense!” Both agree on the work. Matrix: “Bangs grow. Quickly. So be prepared to need frequent trims.” and “If not, you may have to put in a few minutes of effort to style them each morning.” Aveda Institutes: “Typically it’s best to get regular trims every 2-3 weeks depending on your hair texture.” — about 17 to 26 trims a year.

So this finder never says no. When one of those signs is yours, or you have no time in the morning, it says start soft: a long kind first (side-swept, blended or curtain), which grows out without a regret phase, or Matrix’s test drive — “Not sure if you’re ready to take the plunge? Try clip-in bangs and give the idea of a fringe a test drive.”

Which bangs for which face shape

Each kind the guides name for a face shape (and who names it), and the ones a guide says to avoid. A guide that says a kind suits “all face shapes” counts for every shape. Diamond faces are named by no guide on their own.

Where they disagree, both count. On a round face PureWow says “Round face shapes can be slimmed with face-framing curtain bangs or side bangs”, while Matrix says “If you have a round face, avoid a center part or puffy sides”. On a square face, Matrix says “If your face is square skip blunt, heavy bangs.”

Bangs for your hair

• Fine hair: Matrix — “Do…opt for soft, feathered bangs.” and “Do…consider longer, side-swept bangs.”, but not a solid, heavy fringe. PureWow calls wispy bangs “well suited for finer strands.”
• Thick hair: blunt bangs, which PureWow says “works best on thick hair”, and Matrix: “Do…opt for a blunt, heavy, thick shape”. Not too short: “Don’t…cut your bangs too short. They’ll look puffy.”
• Curly hair: keep them longer at first — PureWow: “In general, longer fringe is more forgiving since curls tend to pop up as they dry.” — and cut dry: “make sure your stylist cuts them when your hair is completely dry so you both can see exactly where and how they fall on your face.”
• A cowlick: Matrix — “Foil your cowlick by keeping your bangs on the longer and heavy-ish sides.”

What is ours: the points behind the order — +1 for each thing a guide says suits your face or hair, −1 for a face it says to avoid, −2 for a hair it says to avoid, +1 or −1 for long or short bangs with a cowlick, and upkeep against your mornings — averaged over each kind’s guides, so a kind more guides write about does not win for that alone. Reading Rapunzel of Sweden’s “short, wide facial shape” as a round face is ours too.

Worked examples

• A round face, fine straight hair, a few minutes: side-swept · wispy · micro. Start soft — a round face is one of the three signs — with side-swept bangs, which PureWow, Matrix and Rapunzel of Sweden all name for a round face.
• A square face, thick straight hair, whatever it takes: blunt · wispy · side-swept — with Matrix’s reservation shown: it says to skip blunt, heavy bangs on a square face.
• A heart face, medium curly hair, a cowlick: side-swept · curtain · choppy. Start soft: long bangs hide a cowlick, and curls pop up as they dry.
• A long face, thick straight hair: blunt · blended · side-swept — PureWow and Matrix both say a wide, straight fringe suits a long face.

Common mistakes

• Cutting curly bangs wet. Curls shrink as they dry; cut dry, and longer.
• Going short with a cowlick. Short bangs stand up where the cowlick is; longer, heavier bangs lie flat.
• Forgetting the trims. Every 2 to 3 weeks — many salons trim bangs between cuts.
• Going straight to micro bangs. Makeup.com’s stylist: “be prepared to style your micro bangs every day to keep them looking fresh.”

Frequently asked questions

On Needle Style

Bangs to copy: curtain bangs that grow out without a regret phase, medium length haircuts with bangs, short hair with bangs, short bob hairstyles with bangs and bob with bangs for Black women.

More free tools: the haircut finder, the face shape finder and the hair type quiz.