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For the past three or so years, I’ve gone back and forth between trimming and growing out my face-framing layer into the viral curtain bangs. While I do prefer my hair with the fluffy, Sabrina Carpenter-inspired curtain bangs, I’ve been consistently disappointed in my ability to properly blow dry and style my bangs the way they do in the salon, leading to many days of slick backs and headbands trying to keep my poorly styled bangs out of sight.
This time, when I decided to go back to my curtain bang era, I was determined to figure out how to style them correctly, consistently. So, I decided to pay close attention to how my stylist dried my bangs in the salon, and it all finally clicked when I saw a video of singer/songwriter Clairo explaining how she styles her bangs. Keep reading for a breakdown of my now sure-fire strategy for blow drying curtain bangs.
Blow Drying Curtain Bangs, Simplified
As it turns out, the biggest mistake I was making when styling my curtain bangs was trying to blow dry them away from my face. When I was taught to curl my hair, I was always taught to curl outwards away from the face, so I assumed the same would go for my bangs. But, I noticed in the salon that my stylist dried my bangs towards my face, which perplexed me. Then, when I saw a video of Clairo saying she styles her bangs by blow drying them “all one way and then all the other way,” it clicked.
So, I tried just that. Taking the newly launched Sally Beauty ion Luxe 8-in-1 Airstyler Pro ($200) with the Oval Brush attachment (available exclusively on Sally Beauty’s app until November 1), I dried my bangs pushing them all to the left until they were mostly dry, then switched to blowing them all the way to the right for the rest of the drying process. Yes, you will be giving 2012 emo-boy while you style, but the results are worth it. Once your bangs are dry, just re-part your bangs and they will fall into their curtain-framing place perfectly. I like to follow the drying with a hair oil to tame any flyaways—lately I’ve been using the Gisou Honey Infused Hair Oil ($46). I’ve tried this method daily for a few weeks now, so it’s safe to say I’ve officially cracked the code on styling my curtain bangs, and now you can too.
