Welcome to the Bang Club

Yup, that’s how my favorite barista greeted me at the Starbucks drive-thru this morning. Even though I started laughing hysterically, I’m not really sure she realized that she inadvertently said something naughty.

For those of you who don’t follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you may be a little confused right now…

I got bangs on Friday.

After years and years (and years) with the same hairstyle, I decided it was time to change things up a little. One way to tell that you’re in a hair rut is when your long-time hair stylist gets excited to finally do something new. Yup, Kristin was ecstatic.

For years, I’d consider chopping some bangs but would always wimp out. But then, I got a nice big kick in the head from a fellow blogger. I’m a HUGE fan of Shana over at Ain’t No Mom Jeans (if you haven’t checked out the blog, it’s not just for mommies. It’s an awesome fashion blog for REAL people). She’s currently going through chemo and has decided to try out a bunch of haircuts on the way to bald. Did I mention that she’s awesome? Because she is totally kicking breast cancer’s boobies with her positivity and humor. Anyways, watching Shana go through this makes me realize how stupid I’ve been. It’s ONLY hair and I’m lucky to have all of mine. So if I feel the itch to change it up, I should just go for it because nobody knows what the future brings.

When I went to the salon I took a picture of Shana’s beautiful hairstyle with me, as well as this picture I snapped of a Loft display right before I walked in:

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And then less than an hour later I walked out a whole new person.

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I snapped the first picture right before I walked into the mall and the second about an hour later from a dressing room. I didn’t change my hair color, it’s just the change in lighting that makes it look so different.

At first I felt super weird and self-conscious. Like everyone was staring at my forehead full of hair. One of my Facebook commenters described it as feeling like you have a mustache on your forehead and that’s totally right. I was aware of every single follicle of hair sitting on my eyebrows.

And suddenly I started to HATE it. I ran into a dressing room (ok, walked slowly while gathering clothes to try on) and STARED at myself for probably 10 minutes. It was like SuperVainWoman took over as I kept sweeping my hair to one side and the other, adjusting each piece of fringe carefully.

I sent a picture to my bestie and my husband, hoping for some ‘it’s not that bad’ comments. After some consideration (because I was in a very fragile state…) I also posted a picture on my Facebook page asking if I had made a huge mistake.

Within a couple minutes my world was rocked. There was positive reinforcement out the yingyang! I walked into that dressing room feeling like Hermione in her early years and walked out feeling like a BOSS. If by “boss” I mean a sexy boss of AWESOME!

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My new haircut required new lipstick. Obviously.

My husband thought I looked like Cici from NewGirl. Kari from A Grace Full Life said Anne Hathaway in the Devil Wears Prada. And then a friend from high school decided that I looked like Carly Rae Jepsen, the singer of “Call me, Maybe”. To each of these comparisons I say, “HECK YEAH!” and “THANK you!!”

Too bad once I washed my hair I couldn’t figure out how to style it.

I even went out to buy a new flat iron and STILL couldn’t figure out how the heck to make it work. On Saturday it was just weirdly curled at the tips, which then stuck to my forehead with sweat the second I walked out the door. Then on Sunday, I got so mad I gave up and corralled the bangs with a barrette. Thank goodness for barrettes!

This morning I tried yet again and I think I finally figured it out!

image_3So yay for bangs. I’m kind of digging them again. My husband is not a huge fan, but I think it’s more to do with his dislike of change then the actual look. We’ll see if it grows on him.

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve written over 600 words about hair. I’m hoping that I get used to this new look soon because right now with the time and effort it takes to make my head look good, I’m feeling incredibly vain.

And hot. For the first time in forever, I feel kind of sassy again.

For those of you thinking of doing the Big Bang chop, here are 5 things I didn’t know about bangs before I had them:

      1. Your forehead gets hot. Like REALLY hot and sweaty when you’re trying to get ready in the morning. Which makes it difficult to style your bangs and makes you want to just give up and put them in a barrette off your face.
      2. Nobody can see your eyebrows, so if you’re going for an inquisitive eyebrow or the “Peoples Eyebrow” you’re out of luck. On the plus side, you can skip penciling in your brows.
      3. You don’t look like Jess from New Girl when you wake up, you look ridiculous.
      4. A swift breeze is your enemy.
      5. You will take like 100 selfies an hour. You won’t post them because you realize how incredibly douchy you are acting. However, when your husband borrows your phone to check out the pictures you took at the pumpkin patch you will get INCREDIBLY embarrassed when he swoops his finger too far and sees you. And you. And you with kissy face. And you again.

Here’s a dare for you – are you thinking about changing up your look but keep wimping out? Well, DO IT! Even if you hate it, you won’t have to wonder about it anymore! So tell me, is there a look you’ve been wanting to try?

Like what you see? Share me with your friends!

10 thoughts on “Welcome to the Bang Club”

  1. You look adorable with bangs, so much so that I gave them real consideration after seeing your photos. Hubs said it would be weird, and I’m not sure I want to cover up my snarky eyebrows… So I’ll keep being boring for a little while I think. Still. Amazing. Bang bang, girl!

    1. Thank you! And to cover up your snarky eyebrows would be sad…so NO bangs for you! Bang, bang indeed!

  2. I love the bangs on you!! .This is where I am jealous of people with straight hair!! With curly hair it’s not so fun and after a while of having them I looked like a matted poodle from the 80’s that needed to be groomed. Bang on girl!!

    1. Last time I had bangs was in middle school… which is also when I was rocking a perm. NOT. GOOD.

      Also, I’m loving these “bang” related comments… it’s naughty, but not. =)

  3. Bang Club made me giggle.
    Still say you look like Anne or now we can say Anne looks like YOU.
    Yes, much better.
    Keep the bangs.
    I may even start an internet group to convince you to not part ways with the bangs.
    Did you see what I did there??
    PART ways with the BANGS.
    Get it?
    I need a hobby.

    1. Dirty minds have to stick together, right?! You HAVE a hobby — BEING AWESOME and making me do lots of hahahaha’s!

  4. You look great! I have curly hair so bangs are so not my friend.

    I have been compelled to drastically change my look and have done it a few times over the few years. Earlier this year I cut almost 14 inches off my hair. I’ve also changed color drastically over the years. Red, brown, black, blonde, a combination of highlights. You name it, I’ve done it to my hair.

    I’ve actually been itching to do something recently but haven’t settled on what yet.

    1. Thanks so much! I’ve always been open to playing with hair color (lots of blond, light brown, red — which Travis hates, and fun colorful streaks of purple, blue, green, etc). I did cut my hair shortish once but it looked TERRIBLE on me, so more power to you for pulling it off.

      You should totally send me a picture and I’ll tell you what to do with your hair. Because I have the power… like SheRA! 😉

      1. I will totally send you pictures! I can’t pull off SHORT because of the curl. Right now I’m sitting at about shoulder length. After the big chop it was just past my chin. Which was scary at first. I had a bit of a freak out once the chop was finished.

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