Center Parting and Cutting a Fringe

Dakota Johnson's hair with bangs
Dakota Johnson - Photo: Bigstock
Q: I have long hair with a center parting. Is it possible to get a fringe cut in? I asked a hairdresser who said I needed to train my hair with a different parting because the center parting would cause problems. I want a fringe similar to Dakota Johnson when she had her hair in a bob. Help!
 
A: Yes it is possible to get your hair cut into a fringe and have it look pretty. You’re just going to have a bit of patience with this one, though.
 
The reason that your hairdresser said that you’ll need to train your hair to fall into a “fringe-pattern” is based on two motives. Firstly, if you’ve been wearing your hair in a certain way for a long time, your hair starts to fall that way automatically.
 
So, since you have long hair worn in a center parting, your hair is super used to fall to the sides. This is the opposite of what you want when you have your hair cut into Dakota Johnson bangs.
 
The second reason is that we’ve all got growth patterns, or cowlicks that determine how our hair falls naturally. I’ve seen people that have three or four cowlicks in their fringe area, and all of these cowlicks go in another direction!
 
But don’t panic. You can make this work. Firstly ask your hairdresser to show you how to blow-dry your bangs so that it falls straight down, irrespective of the abovementioned variants.
 
You’re basically going to pull the hair in the opposite direction so that it falls naturally when you’re blow-drying your hair. This forces the hair to fall in the direction that you want it. Then, when you go to bed, clip the hair down in the way that you want it to fall. This also forces the hair to “learn” to fall in that style naturally.
 
Just also ask your stylist to cut you bangs long enough so that you can clip in back when you get too frustrated during this process.
 
©Hairfinder.com
 
See also:
 
Tips for better bangs
 
How to trim a fringe
 
Cutting your own bangs