Rihanna hairstylesJust before my last hair appointment, I felt like doing something a bit different with my hair, but I was happy with my hair color and length, so I decided to venture into the wonderful world of bangs.

Now, I have had bangs before so deciding to have some cut wasn’t a hard decision to make, what I did find hard though was deciding on which kind of bangs to go for.

There’s the full bang look which Rihanna is pretty good at rockin’, little mini bangs, which I personally don’t think should be worn by anyone, including me and Christina Aguilera, or a nice side-swept bang, à la Mariska Hargitay.

Christina Aguilera hairstylesAs much as I like the look of full bangs, I think they’re a pretty bold style to pull off, so I decided to go with the side-swept bangs and chose Mariska’s style because I liked it and the hair info provided matched it with my face shape and hair type.

So, with my picture in hand (printed out from the virtual hairstyler of course!), I went to my hairdresser and she cut and styled my new bangs very nicely to the side, and voila! Instant new look, without having to resort to a really big makeover change.

Mariska Hargitay hairstylesNow in the past when I’ve had bangs, I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never put in the effort to maintain them. One, because I could never get my bangs to sit as nicely as my hairdresser did, and two, because constantly having to push the hair out of my eyes got really old, really fast. This time though, I loved my new bangs so much that I was determined to put in the effort so this is what I’ve been doing to maintain my side-swept bangs…

Using Hair Styling Products

In the past I wasn’t a real big fan of using hair products, which is probably why I never gave the bangs I had a chance, but the reality is if you want to have side-swept bangs you really do need to use a little product just to keep your hair swept to the side. In my case, my hairdresser let me know that all I needed was a little hairspray.

Realizing I Have to Put in Some Effort… and Doing it!

It’s quite simple. If you want your hair to sit a certain way then you have to be prepared to do whatever you have to do to make sure it does. For my side-swept bangs, if I want them to look nice and sit in the right direction then all I need to do is give them a quick blast with my blow-dryer. It takes about two minutes and is something I do even if I’m not blow-drying the rest of my hair. The blow-dryer helps push my bangs into the right direction, and once that’s done, I just add some hairspray and my bangs are good to go!

I know in the end it doesn’t seem like such a chore to keep my bangs looking good, and believe me; I’m really wondering why I didn’t try these things in the past. I think this time though, the real difference was choosing bangs that I knew would go with my hair type (it’s easier to work with it then against it) and having an actual picture for my hairdresser so she knew exactly what I was talking about, because as simple as "side-swept" sounds, there are plenty of variations (just take a look at all the different kinds of bangs in our range of hairstyles).

So the next time you’re looking for a bit of a change and aren’t afraid of putting in some effort, a banging new look could be yours too!