Cut Bangs

Your hairstyle is feeling a little drab, but you don’t necessarily want a drastic change. What to do? Cutting bangs will give you a fresh, stylish look for fall without the apprehensive pit in your stomach that comes with hacking off everything you’ve got. Do it yourself or check out one of the incredibly talented stylists at ARROJO Studio – you will not be disappointed.

Anna Sui Spring 2011 & doo.ri Fall 2011

1. Start with straightening shampoo and conditioner. Wash and condition your hair with products that will smooth and straighten out waves. Aveda Smooth Infusion Shampoo and Conditioner reduce frizz and help prevent flyaways. PHYTO Phytolisse Perfect Smoothing Shampoo and ALTERNA Bamboo Smooth Anti-Frizz Conditioner are also great options.

2. Blow dry hair straight. Apply a straightening cream or serum to wet hair, and comb through to evenly distribute. Ouidad Climate Control® Heat & Humidity Gel shields the hair shaft from humidity, preventing it from expanding. Living Proof. Straight Making No Frizz Styling Jumbo is another great product for frizz prevention. With a paddle brush, pull the hair downwards as you blow dry on medium heat. Point the hair dryer down so the air travels along the surface of hair, blowing it straight. The T3 PRO. Dryer delivers smooth, frizz-free locks in half the time as a regular blow dryer.

3. Straighten protected hair with a flat iron. When hair is completely dry, spray on a heat protectant and brush through to distribute evenly. Carol’s Daughter Macadamia Heat Protection Gloss is formulated with macadamia oil to protect your hair from heat damage. Make sure the product dries completely before using a hot iron, or you will cause more damage. With one small piece at a time, begin to straighten your mane with a hair iron. If you want to invest in a really great tool, ghd Classic 1″ Styler delivers a sleek, super straight look. The Bab Porcelain 1″ Ceramic Straightening Iron is a great, more affordable option if you’re only looking to straighten every now and then.

4. Finish with a serum to seal the deal. Just like you would use hairspray to hold an up-do in place, a serum will keep hair straight and frizz-free, even after stepping into heat and humidity. Oscar Blandi Jasmine Oil Serum adds strength, protection and shine to hair, minimizing fly-aways.

What are your tips for keeping hair ultra straight in hot and humid weather?

1. Spray condition dry hair. To make sure your hair looks lustrous and smooth, apply a leave-in conditioning spray to dry hair. Brush it through with a bristle brush. Bumble and Bumble Prep and Living proof. No Frizz Restyling Spray are both great conditioning, style-prep sprays. There are bristle hair brushes in all shapes and price ranges, and you can get a good one at your local drug store. But the Mason Pearson Boar Bristle Hairbrush and Acca Kappa Professional Pro Boar Bristle Hair Brush are both great products if you’re having trouble finding something.

2. Hot roller your head. Divide your hair into a deep side part. Put hot rollers all over your head, rolling them under, not over. All sizes will work, but 1 1/2 – 2 inch rollers are best. All sets will have different instructions on how long to leave them in, but until they are cool to the touch or 25-45 minutes should do the trick. You might need to play around with times depending on your hair’s weight and texture. The Conair Hot Rollers Xtreme Instant Heat and Remington T-Studio Ceramic Heated Clip Hair Rollers with Tourmaline are both great sets. When complete, brush out your curls with the bristle brush.

3. Pin hair back so it stays out of the way. This should be done on the side of your head with more hair, the side with hair sweeping across your forehead from the other side. Using a rat tail comb, split the hair into two sections, starting at the part in the middle of your crown, all the way down to the front of your ear. With a duckbill clip, pin the hair behind your ear back so it stays out of the way. Rat tail combs are easy to find, but the NUBONE II 700-Auto Weave Comb and T3 Tourmaline Carbon Comb are good bets. Salon Care Metal Duckbill Clips work great and are cheap too.

4. Protect your hair from heat. Spray the front section of hair with a heat protectant. Make sure to let it dry completely before you begin using the curling iron, or you will cause more damage. Most hair care lines have heat styling protection sprays like TRESemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Protective Spray and Frederic Fekkai Defense Thermal/UV Protectant.

5. Curl your hair in the Marcel Wave-style. Starting right above the eyebrow, on that front section of hair, clamp the iron down and hold for 10-15 seconds. Be careful not to burn yourself. Flip the iron upside down and clamp it to the piece of hair right under your first wave. Repeat these two steps, flipping the iron each time. A 1.5-2 inch barrel works the best, like the Vidal Sassoon VS132 1-1/2″ Curling Iron, Conair Infiniti Professional Tourmaline Ceramic Curling Iron or Hot Tools Professional Spring 2″ Curling Iron. Pin your hair up and back as you please, leaving the Marcel Waves swept across your forehead.

If you’re more of a visual person and need to see a video, the below from Jasmine is a great demonstration of Marcel Wave styling: