Do I need curtain bangs?

[Pevi]

Do you think my haircut needs curtain bangs? I know they’re a bit of a pain in the neck but I feel I need something extra in my style. I wash and style my hair every day so I could incorporate bangs into my routine if it helped me look better.
I also don’t have as much hair as I used to (maybe medium density) and I know bangs take away from your overall hair thickness appearance.


Advice welcome!

 

[Pevi]

I’m soon to be 44 btw. The pic on the left is my hair now. The pic on the right shows my hair shorter than it is now, but it shows my hairline and face shape more.

 

[Vanilla Bean]

I think curtain bangs would look good and give you more style. They're not that heavy so that makes them easier to work with if you decide you don't like them. Plus they won't really make your hair look thinner. Best to discuss with your hairdresser ahead of time so that he/she understands what you want.

 

[A bottle of Red]

You have gorgeous hair and I would leave it alone tbh. Both hairstyles look great, polished and professional.

 

[Berengeria]

I vote for bangs because it will add more softness to your face. Your hairline is nice and not too high, which means you can get away with no bangs very nicely. But since your face is long and somewhat rectangular, bangs will also look very attractive as they will soften the edges and shorten the overall length of your face.

In short, while I think bangs would be very beautiful on you, you are lucky to have a very good hairline and face shape, so that you will look equally good either way.

 

[Swanky]

Hi, fellow long haired girl here! I like the low maintenance of not having to style my hair. I feel like if you cut bangs, you'll have to commit to styling them.

 

[lill_canele]

Agree with @Swanky . Having face-framing bangs or bangs that cover the forehead to a certain extent require commitment.
I've never had curtain bangs but I did have the classic forehead bang, that were a little more side swept and they were kind of a pain to manage.
There are days no matter how hard you try to style, the hair won't listen to you. There's only so much heat and product you can use on it before it either gets damaged, oily, sticky or hard.
Depending on skin type, bangs also can make the forehead oily and prone to acne. If you wear foundation on your face, then you have a higher chance of getting foundation on your hair.
Also forget about wearing a hat, in general they mess up bangs or bend them in a funny direction. If they get temporarily clipped out of the way, then the clip or pin can bend it funny too after you take them off.
In addition, depending on how much bang you want, they can also obscure your vision. If you've had bangs before, you're probably used to to it (I am). If not, you'll definitely find it a pain.

It's easier to see the proportions of the face when you can see where the eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth are.
Tbh for you it's hard to say. I'd advise against curtain bangs depending on how heavy they are. If they cover up a lot of your forehead, they may make the lower half of your face appear larger.

Here's a quick google search on curtain bangs. You can see some frame the face more than others. Some are more heavy, some are more wispy, some cover up the forehead more, some are longer, some are shorter.


I guess the good thing about curtain bangs is that if you have the long curtain bangs and don't like them, you can always push it out of the way and let it grow out.
If they're short curtain bangs, you'll have to wait a bit for them to grow out.

I believe you can always use a photo filter or photo app to see what you'd look like with curtain bangs and see if you like them.

 

[Berengeria]

It's funny how different everyone's perspective is. I've had bangs/fringe most of my life and never found them difficult or troublesome. Especially if you're already blow-drying and/or styling your hair anyway, you are styling that front section of hair anyway no matter how long it is. If you wake up with them crumpled and don't want to wash your hair, a little water just on the bangs and quick comb-through, and you're good to go. The only maintenance that I personally find more troublesome than not having bangs, is keeping them cut at the right length, especially for shorter bangs. But if you are getting your hair cut every 6 - 8ish weeks, that shouldn't be an issue for curtain bangs since they are a long style anyway.

I find that long bangs are a very nice compromise because they do soften the face if you want to wear them styled as curtain bangs, but you can either keep them straight down or pushed to the side if you don't want the look that day.

The other question was whether bangs would take away from the appearance of thickness of the hair overall. I have very fine hair and I can tell you that for me, the bangs actually create the illusion of more volume because rather than just having long, straight hair, all one length, long bangs create waves and depth along the sides. Because they are shorter, they fluff out better and look fuller, since there is less weight holding them down.

You can always try a long curtain bang and if you don't like it, grow it back out. I always find that I regret not trying things.

 

[Pevi]

Thank you for your replies! I’m going to get a haircut in January (I did a big chop in August). I think I’m going to go with longish curtain bangs. If they are too difficult to keep, I Can grow them fast. If I like them I Can go shorter. But my mind is made up: I’m getting them! I promise to post a pic

 

[A1aGypsy]

You go! I love it when people take risks with their hair. I think it will look great. And it’ll grow back if you don’t love it!

 

[A bottle of Red]

Did you ever get your bangs? And if so how do you feel about them?

 

[Pevi]

Did you ever get your bangs? And if so how do you feel about them?

Sorry, not yet! It’s still very hot where I live even though we have started autumn and I don’t like bangs when it’s hot . Beach season ends with the Easter weekend.

My hair is getting very long, though, so my haircut with the bangs might be coming sooner than the colder weather.