Why I’m a convert to the new curtain fringe hairstyle
I was never intending to have a fringe cut. I went to leading stylist Luke Hersheson, who counts Victoria Beckham and Sienna Miller as clients, to chop off a decent chunk of my almost waist-length hair. “Don’t do that,” he said to me, shaking his head – as bluntly as an extremely experienced hairdresser can get away with – and instead suggested a sweeping middle-parted heavy fringe to spruce up my long hair.
“But I can’t. I have a round face,” I told him. A fringe, I thought, was a big no-no – especially as I also have fine hair. It will just make the face appear rounder and my hair more wispy, surely? But, as Luke explained, there are fringes and then there are fringes. A standard block of fringe with no movement is hard to pull off. But a curtain fringe, like the one he cut for me, suits absolutely everyone – regardless of hair texture, density or, indeed, face shape.
“The curtain fringe immediately brings shape to your face,” he explained to me. It makes sense. Mine gave my face some much-needed angling; it is the hair equivalent of the make-up – namely a contouring wand – that I sometimes use to sharpen my cheekbones. Having some shape around the hairline also immediately draws the attention to the eyes.
My new style is not far off the one that Luke has cut for Sienna Miller in the past, the sort of swishy fringe that looks good even if it’s a little messy and moves around with the natural texture of the hair. And that suits me perfectly. My go-to fashion style is a pair of well-cut jeans with a cotton blouse, so this 1970s-style cut feels of-the-moment without looking like a trend that will feel dated come the new year.
The important thing to note with my new bangs is that it isn’t just a few pieces of my hair cut shorter up front. “It needs to blend into the sides and the back of the hair,” explains Luke. To achieve the style, Luke cut my hair with a razor to create softer edges. It looks more “lived in”, he explained, rather than appearing too blunt.
My other reservation with a fringe was the upkeep. Would I have to wash and blow-dry a high-maintenance chunk of hair every day? I usually wash it every other morning and leave it to air-dry naturally, or tip my hair upside down and blast with a hairdryer if I need it to dry a little quicker. But this fringe, Luke promised, would fit into my lifestyle, work with my natural kinks and air-dry in place.
He was right. In fact, the only difference now is that I brush my hair as soon as I’ve washed it – I’ve been using the Flexi hair brush by Ziggy (£16, ziggy.hair) – and then add in a couple of pumps of a styling cream. Hershesons Almost Everything Cream (£14, hershesons.com) is excellent, as is the Leave-In Perfecting Cream by Chāmpo (£28, champohaircare.com). Either of those creams in damp hair will knock out any frizz once it’s dried naturally.
Having my fringe cut happened to be a week before my twice-annual colour appointment, which was handy as hair colour needs to adapt with any new cut. For a fringe, that means bringing in slightly lighter pieces around the face and fringe so “you don’t just look like you have a dark fringe sitting on top of coloured hair”, my hair colourist Anita Rice (at Buller and Rice in east London) tells me. “Layering slightly lighter strands within the hair colour on your fringe will give you a glimmering effect around your face.”
As for the fringe, the only upkeep is a trim every six to eight weeks to keep that sort of eyebrow-skimming length. I’m so taken with my new style that I have already booked in for a trim ahead of the flurry of Christmas parties around the corner.
