Growing Pains

Ally: The topic du jour. Should I grow out my bangs? My hairdresser tells me to wait until my hair gets longer. I have the patience of an 11 month old (seriously, I have the same patience level as my 11 month old…we both pound the table when we run out of pasta making my husband scurry to give us more. I’m only half kidding) so I am thinking I might take the hard road and grow ‘em out now.

So, dear readers, do you have any tips? We’ve talked previously about Lou Lou Bell Headbands, and how I adore them. I’m thinking these could help, with the additional use of a bobby pin neatly tucked underneath the headband.

I’ve also talked in the past about Lauren Conrad’s phenomenal side braids (she used these most often when she was growing her own bangs out). Jennifer Aniston also does this well, almost as well as she acts in movies that are a parody of her life:

Hair works though. Actually, I think she wore this to the Oscars when she was “dating” John Mayer. Not sure it is Oscar-worthy, but it is certainly “office-worthy”:

Source

 I’m also taking over-use-of-drugstore-gel into consideration. Slicking the bangs to the side of my face a la an 80′s supermodel or something.

Source

Maybe not.

L-A: I say grow for it. (Get it? Lame pun totally intended).  I envy those of you with the option of growing your bangs out. I have a giant forehead. I also have a hairline that does this weird thing where it’s like I have a receeding hairline.

According to that chart, I’ve got a Type II hairline. Except, without the hair loss. It’s been my hairline since day one. Early versions of my bangs resulted in an unfortunate wedge in the middle of my forehead. In grade five, I made the stupid decision to grow my bangs out. More unfortunate than the wedge bangs were the puffy headbands with not quite grown out bangs sticking up behind them. I’ll scan some photos for you later.  Somehow, once my bangs grew out,  I was oblivious to my Type II hairline and kept pulling my hair back into severe ponytails.   Moral of this story?  I cannot grow my bangs out.  Ever. So Ally should. Because she can.  And because she can always cut them again if she gets impatient. I’m sure her hairdresser would love to see her throw a tantrum.

Having said that, I have zero advice for Ally. Since figuring out that I have a ridiculous hairline (I call them my “bald spots”), I’ve learned to fully embrace the bangs.  My most recent haircut, the faux-Wintour bob, relies heavily on bangs.  So I don’t even know what you do  when you’re growing them out. Bobby pins and an LC side braid? Headbands? Ooh! I know! Let’s google do some research and see what the internet says:

Thanks LouLou Magazine! That was kind of helpful. Maybe you have better advice for Ally.