How to Cut Your Own Bangs at Home, According to a Stylist

So, you want to cut your own bangs. We’re not going to tell you it’s a bad idea because we support self-expression through beauty. However, we will say that you should not go in for the DIY fringe chop without being fully prepared with professional tips and tricks for making sure the results don’t come out botched — there’s nothing worse than cutting your bangs too short.

While a full-on haircut or hair trim can probably wait until your next salon visit, bangs are a different story; it’s hard to wait when your hair is hanging in your eyes and obscuring your vision. But performing an at-home bang trim without any experience can be a little daunting. Plus, let’s be real: we would all like to avoid finding ourselves frantically Googling “how to cut your own bangs” with a pair of scissors in hand minutes before our Uber arrives to take us out on a first date. So, in order to steer clear of any mishaps and to help you master how to cut bangs at home, hairstylist Giovanni Vaccaro took to Instagram for a quick — and dare we say easy — tutorial on how to cut your bangs at home. All you’ll need are sectioning clips, a comb, and hair-clipping scissors.

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Giovanni Vaccaro is a hairstylist and the artistic director of Glamsquad.

Step 1: Let Your Bangs Lay Naturally

To start, Vaccaro recommends cutting on dry hair because it’s more forgiving. Use the sectioning clips to separate the rest of your hair from the bangs. “I like to actually have it styled the way you normally would wear it,” he said in the video. It helps reduce your chances of cutting too much.

His next big tip: don’t hold the hair. “Women tend to use their fingers to hold the section of hair and they put too much tension which makes the bang spring up after you cut it,” said Vaccaro. “Basically, let your bangs fall naturally.”

Step 2: Comb Through the Hair

With your comb in one hand and scissors in the other, comb underneath your bangs a few times before stopping a couple of centimeters away from the edge of your hair. Then, with the scissors held perpendicular to the hair you can start with a “point cut” — this adds texture to the hair and keeps the ends more natural.

For blunt bangs, hold the scissors straight across. “Use a comb as a guide and measure twice and cut once,” said Vaccaro. “Be cautious as to keep going over them, they may get shorter than you wanted them.”

Step 3: Cut in Increments

You can always cut more, but you can’t put back length that you didn’t want to lose. Because of this, Vaccaro recommended cutting a little bit at a time and going back and repeating step two if you want to make your bangs shorter.

Step 4: Add a Few More Deeper Cuts

Once you removed the length you want to trim, Vaccaro said he likes to go back in, comb through the entire bang, and add a few deeper point cuts. By spreading these out in the bang, it helps spread break the hair up a bit more. (Ignore this step if you have blunt bangs.)

Other Ways to Hide Bangs

If all else fails, or you’re too afraid to attempt the bang cut on your own, Vaccaro gave us some tips for managing your fringe until you can see a hairstylist. “Start training them by sweeping them to the side and using a lightweight spray,” said Vaccaro. “If they keep getting in your eyes, use section clips and clip the bangs up, spray hairspray underneath, and apply a little shot of hot air from your hair dryer to them. Once you take the clip out, your bangs will have a little more oomph.”

Jessica Harrington is the senior beauty editor at PS, where she writes about hair, makeup, skin care, piercings, tattoos, and more. As a New York City-based writer and editor with a degree in journalism and over eight years of industry experience, she loves to interview industry experts, keep up with the latest trends, and test new products.