Bangs. You see women rocking the fringe on social media, and they’re usually showcased on ladies with straight hair—but that doesn’t mean curly-haired gals can’t get in on the fun, too.
 
Plenty of A-listers have sported curly hair with bangs and looked darn good rocking them. The key to perfecting curly bangs is crossing your I’s and dotting your T’s. This shouldn’t be an impromptu moment of grabbing the scissors and chopping your strands. Whatever you do, please don’t do that.

Since curly manes have a mind of their own, you want to leave this job to the hands of a stylist who has experience cutting and styling curly hair with bangs. Trust us, you’ll be thankful in the end, because you don’t want to have to clip those jagged curly hair bangs back for the next six months to hide a bad cut job. That’s why we’re here to help. Keep reading to learn more about the ins and outs of committing to curly bangs.

Should People With Curly Hair Get Bangs?
In short, the answer is yes, yes, and yes! There should be no limits to styling or cutting your hair just because it's curly. In fact, you can actually use your curly texture to your advantage. Curly hair with bangs is a match made in heaven.

If you committed to curly hair bangs, but decided they’re not for you, don’t worry. Styling your bangs while they’re growing out may be a challenge, but it just requires patience. Depending on how quickly your hair grows and how short you cut them, you may be able to grow out your curly bangs in just a few months. For others, it may take six months to a year, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have awkward hair days forever. When in doubt, talk with your stylist about how to style your hair during the growing out process. If you do run into a snafu with your curly shag, don’t fret. Consider it a temporary look and rock it to its fullest.

How Can I Make Bangs Look Good With My Curly Hair?
Before booking your appointment to request bangs with curly hair, follow these simple guidelines to ensure you come out with the exact look you desire. From a dry cut to styling bangs fresh out of the shower, we’re sharing these easy-to-follow tips so you can transition into your new style with ease.

1. Ask Your Stylist to Cut Your Bangs Dry
You’ve probably heard that cutting curly hair wet can come with a little guesswork. That’s because curl shrinkage is real. Your curl pattern can change drastically once dry, so it’s really a big guessing game to pull out scissors on wet curls. For the best shape and definition, ask your stylist to cut your hair dry. And the same goes for your bangs. Cutting your curly hair with bangs dry not only helps to get an accurate length of your bangs, but it also helps to know how your curls will fall once styled. There’s nothing worse than cutting bangs only to find out they are five inches shorter once dry and styled. Yeah, let’s avoid that at all costs.

2. Longer Is Better Than Shorter
Remember we mentioned shrinkage? For this reason alone, you should ask your stylist to start with a longer bang than you think you want. If your curly hair bangs are cut longer to begin with, you’ll have some wiggle room to adjust the length to your liking. If the stylist cuts them too short, well, there’s nothing that can fix the problem besides time. Best case scenario: Have your stylist cut your bangs long, then wash, dry, style, and make any adjustments from there. Again, the goal is to give yourself some flexibility to make adjustments to achieve the curly bangs of your dreams.

3. Don’t Be Afraid to Wash Your Bangs More Frequently Than The Rest of Your Hair
It’s highly recommended to avoid washing your curls every day, but this may not be true for curly hair with bangs. You may find that your ringlets look their best when freshly styled. So, even if you don’t wash your hair every day, you may want to wash and reset your bangs. This may involve shampooing, conditioning, and styling, or simply spritzing with a little water and adding a styling product. The choice is truly yours. However often you wash, the key to keeping frizz at bay is to limit the amount of touching and manipulation once you’ve reset your bangs.

4. Apply Product While Your Bangs Are Still Wet
While it may seem like a good idea to add a cream or gel to your second-day bangs, you want to make sure you apply styling products while your hair is wet. Our go-to product for styling bangs is the Hair Milk Nourishing & Conditioning Styling Pudding. It provides moisture, hold, and helps define your curls, thanks to shea butter, macadamia, avocado, sweet almond, and jojoba oils.

5. A Curling Wand Is Your Friend
There may be days when your curls aren’t cooperating with you, and a few strands in your curly hair bangs are out of place. To remedy this, grab a curling wand with a barrel width that is similar to your curl pattern. Set it to a low- to medium-heat setting, and wrap your hair around the wand to add definition to those unruly strands. And voila! You’ve got perfectly defined spirals in just minutes.

6. Keep Up With Your Trims
Don’t adopt the habit of waiting to trim your bangs with curly hair until they start interfering with your eyesight. It’s best to trim them every four to six weeks. Keeping up with routine trims will not only help you stick to your desired bang length, but if you’re choosing to grow your hair out, it will ensure your longer hair is healthy and free of split ends.

How to Style Bangs With Curly Hair?

Now that you’ve got your new fringe, the question is, how do you rock naturally curly hair with bangs? And the truth is, there’s really no right or wrong way. You can sport them down, toss them to the side, or even pin them back if you please. Truth be told, there are no curly hairstyles that are off limits. But it is important to remember when you’re styling your bangs that you want to avoid heavy or oily products. Instead, opt for lightweight creams and gels that will keep them in place without altering the texture, like Goddess Strength Divine Strength Leave In Cream with Castor Oil or Pracaxi Nectar Style Control Gel.

If you find that your bangs are shrinking more than you’d like as they dry, try gently pulling on the ends with your fingers. Again, avoid tousling your curls, so you don’t end up with frizzy, undefined strands. Instead, spray some water on the ends and gently lengthen your curls with a lightweight product, like the Pracaxi Nectar Wash n’ Go Leave-In. It’s formulated with pracaxi oil, acai extract, and olive oil that replenish moisture in dry stands and add light definition to curls without weighing them down.

Bottom Line

If you’re itching for a new style, make that appointment for a fresh cut with bangs. Just remember the tips and tricks to perfecting your fringe. And most importantly, enjoy the process. You look great, girl!

If you want to learn more about how to switch up your look, check out this guide on How To Achieve A Gorgeous, Defined Twist Out.

​From The Mix

​from The Atlantic

The Risk of ‘Getting Bangs’
​When a woman picks up a pair of scissors, she also picks up a trope.

​Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of Summer are here.

I hope this finds you healthy (and maybe a little sassy, too).

July “seems” like summer, although August is the time we tend to squeeze in those last bits of rest and relaxation. Summer vacations have been planned and many of you will be heading out for those long postponed family events. Wherever you are headed or planning on going this Summer, please stay healthy and travel safely.

I shouldn’t need to mention this to you, but I will. Please, please, please get vaccinated if you haven’t done so already. There is no beating around the bush, this COVID-19 pandemic is still raging. Vaccinations (and face masks) are really the only way we are going to beat this virus.

I personally got a Moderna “booster” shot last month. I know one hasn’t been recommended “yet”. I got the J&J one and done vaccination and was not feeling confident with its efficacy. After doing some research and reading several studies, I knew it was something I must to do. Luckily the clinic where I got my shot knew so, too. If you are having any concerns about the protections of the J&J vaccination (or any of them for that matter) do not hesitate to follow up with your health care provider. I am not a doctor so please do your own research.

Regarding vaccinations and masks, it is being highly recommended that both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals wear masks indoors. While wearing face masks indoors is not yet mandatory, I will be requiring that you wear your face mask at all times while in the salon. Nothing has changed from what I’ve stated previously. This is just now something I’m requiring, not requesting.

If you haven’t done so already, I highly recommend getting your California Digital Vaccine Record to save on your smart devices. The free system essentially digitizes the paper vaccination cards you’re given after you get your shots. It includes a QR code that can be scanned as proof of vaccination. It’s recommended you keep a screenshot of that code in your phone - which may be increasingly handy in the Bay Area as a growing number of restaurants and bars require proof of COVID-19 vaccination as the delta variant drives a new coronavirus surge. I have the “Smart Health Verifier” so I'm able to scan and verify your vaccination status. If things progress as they have been, I may find it necessary to also start asking for proof of vaccination.

Bottom line, GET VACCINATED and stay healthy.

+++++++

This month I have quite a smorgasbord of articles for you.

Let me just start by asking: “Are you emotionally stable enough to get bangs?” 🤔If you’re not sure, I have a questionnaire for you. Bangs can be a risky decision so you’ll want to make sure you won’t be needing therapy after making the cut.

You may have heard of the K-POP group BTS. Their hairstyles have been setting tends for several years now. I have a step-by-step guide on how to achieve their looks. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be in a boy band to wear trendy hair.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat? Maybe not. You might need to take a step back from so much hair washing. I have 9 helpful steps on weaning yourself from the shampoo bottle.

Sun bleaching and chlorine do not make for happy hair. Sun may “bleach” your hair but it will cause damage. Chlorine damages your hair, too. There are a couple articles below on what you can do to keep your hair healthy this summer.

Yes, stress can turn your hair gray. The research has been done. In some cases it may even be reversible. Oh, and chronic stress also leads to hair loss. So, stop all that stressing already. Easier said than done, isn’t it.

READ YOUR LABELS: DMDM hydantoin is listed by the FDA as one of the preservatives found to cause the most allergic reactions from the use of cosmetic products. It works as an antimicrobial agent and preservative in cosmetics and personal care products. It's also a “formaldehyde donor.” That means it releases a small amount of formaldehyde over time to help keep products fresh and free from contaminants. The FDA requires certain products to contain an ingredient declaration, but some ingredients may not be specifically identified and instead listed as “fragrance” or “perfume.” There are several class action lawsuits against personal care companies using DMDM Hydantoin. I have those listed below.

That’s just some of what I have for you this month.

As always, I am available by email, text or phone if you have any questions or concerns.

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

#MASKUP
#GETVAXED
​
Be well. Take Hair!

For nearly two centuries, powdered wigs—called perukes—were all the rage. The chic hairpiece would have never become popular, however, if it hadn't been for a venereal disease, a pair of self-conscious kings, and poor hair hygiene.  

The peruke’s story begins like many others—with syphilis. By 1580, the STD had become the worst epidemic to strike Europe since the Black Death. According to William Clowes, an “infinite multitude” of syphilis patients clogged London’s hospitals, and more filtered in each day. Without antibiotics, victims faced the full brunt of the disease: open sores, nasty rashes, blindness, dementia, and patchy hair loss. Baldness swept the land.

At the time, hair loss was a one-way ticket to public embarrassment. Long hair was a trendy status symbol, and a bald dome could stain any reputation. When Samuel Pepys’s brother acquired syphilis, the diarist wrote, “If [my brother] lives, he will not be able to show his head—which will be a very great shame to me.” Hair was that big of a deal.

Cover-Up

And so, the syphilis outbreak sparked a surge in wigmaking. Victims hid their baldness, as well as the bloody sores that scoured their faces, with wigs made of horse, goat, or human hair. Perukes were also coated with powder—scented with lavender or orange—to hide any funky aromas. Although common, wigs were not exactly stylish. They were just a shameful necessity. That changed in 1655, when the King of France started losing his hair.

Louis XIV was only 17 when his mop started thinning. Worried that baldness would hurt his reputation, Louis hired 48 wigmakers to save his image. Five years later, the King of England—Louis’s cousin, Charles II—did the same thing when his hair started to gray (both men likely had syphilis). Courtiers and other aristocrats immediately copied the two kings. They sported wigs, and the style trickled down to the upper-middle class. Europe’s newest fad was born.

The cost of wigs increased, and perukes became a scheme for flaunting wealth. An everyday wig cost about 25 shillings—a week’s pay for a common Londoner. The bill for large, elaborate perukes ballooned to as high as 800 shillings. The word “bigwig” was coined to describe snobs who could afford big, poufy perukes.

When Louis and Charles died, wigs stayed around. Perukes remained popular because they were so practical. At the time, head lice were everywhere, and nitpicking was painful and time-consuming. Wigs, however, curbed the problem. Lice stopped infesting people’s hair—which had to be shaved for the peruke to fit—and camped out on wigs instead. Delousing a wig was much easier than delousing a head of hair: you’d send the dirty headpiece to a wigmaker, who would boil the wig and remove the nits.

Wig Out

By the late 18th century, the trend was dying out. French citizens ousted the peruke during the Revolution, and Brits stopped wearing wigs after William Pitt levied a tax on hair powder in 1795. Short, natural hair became the new craze, and it would stay that way for another two centuries or so.

This section is for the "Follically Challenged".  There are so many conversations and articles on the topic and I want make sure you are getting good information. 
​
This month's article

Birth control pills can cause hair loss due to their effect on a person’s hormones. Many prescription and nonprescription treatments are available for hair loss, or a person can switch to a nonhormonal form of birth control.

Any hormonal form of birth control — including oral pills, skin patches, hormone injections, and implants — can potentially cause hair loss. The ingredient in these products that may cause hair loss is progestinTrusted Source.

Progestin is a hormone that has androgenic activity, which means that it acts similarly to male hormones.

This article discusses birth control pills, their side effects, and how they may cause hair loss. It also examines the risk factors and treatments for hair loss. 

How birth control pills work

Birth control pills reduce the likelihood of pregnancy in a couple of waysTrusted Source.

Firstly, they prevent the ovaries from releasing eggs. Secondly, they thicken cervical mucus, which helps keep sperm from reaching the egg.

Other forms of hormonal birth control, including skin patches, minipills, progestin shots, and vaginal rings, all work in the same way.

Types of birth control pills

There are two types of birth control pills: combined and progestin-only. Doctors prescribe them, and a person takes one daily at the same time each day. Depending on the type of pill, some people might have a 7-day break from taking it each month.

Combined pill

A combined birth control pill, which some people simply call “the pill,” is a combination of progestin and estrogen.

Progestin is a synthetic form of progesterone, a hormone that the ovaries release naturally. The estrogen in the pills is also synthetic.

Due to the possible side effects, doctors may not prescribe these pills for:

• people older than 35 years
• those who smoke
• individuals with a history of breast cancer or blood clots

Progestin-only pill

The progestin-only pill is sometimes called the minipill.

It contains only progestin and is an option for people who cannot take estrogen.

Side effects

Both types of birth control pills can cause side effects, which can vary among individuals.

Combined pill

Side effects may include:

• breast tenderness
• nausea
• headaches
• breakthrough bleeding

The combined pill also carries some health risks, which include:

• deep vein thrombosis
• heart attack
• stroke

Progestin-only pill

Bleeding changes are the most common side effect of progestin-only pills.

The changes may be unpredictable and involve short cycles of spotting. Less often, people taking the progestin-only pill may experience heavy bleeding or no bleeding at all.

Other side effects may include:

• breast tenderness
• headaches
• nausea

Progestin-only pills do not have the risks that are associated with combined pills.

How the pill causes hair loss

Progestin is the component of birth control pills that causes hair loss.

Unlike natural progesterone, this synthetic form of the hormone has androgenic activity, so it may produce effects similar to those of male hormones.

The androgenic activity of birth control pills may cause various negative effects, including hair loss. Some progestins have a greater androgenic effect than others.

Birth control pills are more likely to cause hair loss in females who are hypersensitive to hormonal changes or have a predisposition to hormonal-related hair loss.
​
Those with a family history of hair loss should also be aware of this possible side effect. Anyone with concerns about hair loss can speak with a doctor about taking a pill that has low androgenic activity. Alternatively, they can ask about nonhormonal forms of birth control.