How to Style a Bang Wave

Tie back the rest of your hair. It’s easier to work with your bangs if you keep the rest of your hair out of the way with a hair tie or clip. You will also be styling your bangs differently than you style the rest of your hair, so it’s easiest to section them off. Brush out both your both bangs and any other short layers that frame your face.

• Your bangs should be damp when you begin styling them. You can either style them right after you shower, or just dampen them again with a spray bottle.
• For African American hair or any hair that is naturally more coarse or dry, skip the water and apply a heat protectant and a moisturizing cream or oil product instead.^[1] Just make sure that you apply enough product to make your hair feel damp. Otherwise, blow drying it will hurt and cause breakage.

Blow-dry your bangs. Even if you want to let the rest of your hair air dry, you should use a blow dryer on your bangs for best results.^[2] First, apply a heat protectant. To make sure your bangs have a lot of movement, blow-dry them all toward one side of your face, then the other, and finally straight down.^[3]

• This technique will ensure that your bangs don’t look too stiff or straight, which would clash with the loose waves in the rest of your hair.

Add waves with a curling wand. If you have very short bangs, you may want to skip this step. Waves will cause your bangs to appear even shorter, so those with very short bangs are all done styling after blow-drying. If you have short to medium bangs, you can use a curling wand to add a bit of extra wave. Grab a small section of your bangs and twist it around the curling wand, holding it in place for only two or three seconds. Unwind your hair and adjust the curl with your fingers. Do this for the rest of your bangs.^[4]

• The longer you hold your hair against the hot curling wand, the tighter it will be. Because you want your bangs to be wavy but not curly, only hold it for a few seconds.
• After you uncurl the hair from the wand, you can still form it and soften it while it’s warm. You can pull the bottom of the strand to loosen the wave, and tousle the curls together to make your bangs look softer.
• You can also curl your bangs with the straightener method if you do not have a curling wand.
• If you want to create wavy bangs without heat, you could skip blow drying and instead braid your bangs in a traditional 3-strand braid. Once the hair is dry, unbraid it to reveal wavy bangs.

Texturize your hair. Once you’ve finished drying your short bangs, let the rest of your hair down. To blend your bangs and your wavy hair, spritz your entire head with some texturizing spray or salt spray, and then style it with your fingers. Once you’re satisfied with how it looks, you can secure your style by spraying a bit of hairspray.