It's Official: Curly Bangs Are the New Cool-Girl Hair Trend

From RiRi's summer-ready 'dos to backstage at DVF.

Rihanna
(Image credit: Getty/HBO)

Just over a month ago, fresh off the hair study that was my Making a Murderer binge, I declared curly bangs a terrible idea. Yes, I said it. And now? I'm swallowing my words. 

Let me explain—I have super curly hair and thus have always had an inherit fear of bangs, associating them with the bad kind of frizz AKA the '80s. So even when I spotted Rihanna over the summer rocking ringlet fringe with her bouncy curls, I chalked it up to the fact that it was, well, Rihanna. Like her sleeping bag coats and royal blue lipstick, they couldn't possibly work for us mere mortals.

Rihanna

(Image credit: Getty Images)

It wasn't until Valentine's Day that I saw the light. It began backstage at Diane von Furstenberg Fall 2016, where each model had their own '70s-inspired 'do. Among them was new-model-on-the-block Alanna Arrington, who sported a shoulder-length head of ringlet curls complete with glossy curly-Q bangs. They were perfect.

Person with curly hair and black outfit

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Then, that night, I watched the premiere of Vinyl, Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger's new '70s-era HBO drama, and became completely obsessed with Juno Temple. Full disclosure: we have the exact same frizzy blonde hair, so I'm a little biased. But I loved everything about her rock 'n' roll style, including her unapologetically kinky bangs.

Scene from Vinyl

(Image credit: HBO)

At that moment, I realized that curly bangs are 1) Becoming a thing and 2) That I totally should have seen this coming because we're in the midst of a natural texture renaissance. Why shouldn't bangs be getting in on the fun?

While I'm not brave enough to go for the fringe chop just yet, I'm already contemplating investing in curly clip-in bangs and have no doubts that fringe will continue to become more crimped, corkscrewed, permed, and spiraled.

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Lauren Valenti
Beauty Editor

Lauren is the former beauty editor at Marie Claire. She love to while away the hours at coffee shops, hunt for vintage clothes, and bask in the rough-and-tumble beauty of NYC. She firmly believes that solitude can be a luxury if you’ve got the right soundtrack—that being the Rolling Stones, of course.