Here's Why Lucy Hale's Fake Bangs Look *So Real*

It's not actual magic—it just works the same way.

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While I'm all for Lucy Hale cutting permanent bangs because girl looks fierce, I get there's a real commitment behind having a full-on permanent fringe.

Fortunately, Lucy works with mane magician Kristin Ess who knows how to make a faux bang look real AF. Here's how she does it:

"First of all, I only use V Bangs," Ess told Cosmopolitan.com. "These types of bangs are intended to worn with a high bun hairstyle, but end up looking really natural when your real hair falls over the sides of them. To make them lie even flatter against your head though, I take the clips out and apply Super Tape, which is a double-sided tape, to the netting on the underside of the bang."

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From there, Ess parts Lucy's hair down the center and tucks the face-framing pieces behind her ears. "Then, about an inch and a half back from the hairline, I part the hair diagonally and clip those pieces back — the part should look like a Y-formation," she says. This is important for two reasons: (1) creating the "Y" part is what helps the V Bang fit perfectly; think of it as a puzzle piece fitting perfectly together and (2) the hair that you clip away by parting your hair diagonally is the hair that you need to cover the sides of the bang to make it look ~rEaL~.

After the bang is taped down, you let your hair down over the sides of the faux bang, and then hide the line of demarcation, which is visible along your part. To do so, Ess suggests cutting a thin layer of your real hair to blend over the fake bang. "This can be kind of tricky to do on your own, which is why I recommend having a stylist pop on these kinds of fake bangs for you," Ess adds. "But the cool thing is that with this type of tape, you can wear it for an entire weekend, since it's waterproof." Another way Ess hides the faux bang evidence is with a colored dry shampoo.

Finally, style your hair and boom: You look like Bombshell Lucy Hale with noncommittal bangs that are Instagram gold.✨

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Carly Cardellino

Carly Cardellino was the beauty director at Cosmopolitan. If you follow her Instagram, then you know she'll try just about any beauty trend or treatment once (the pics of her purple hair are on IG to prove it). But her favorite part about being in beauty is finding the most effective products, and then sharing that intel with others—because who wants to spend money on stuff that doesn't work? No one, that's who. Her most recent discovery: De La Cruz Sulfur Ointment, which will change your blemish-clearing game! Hopefully through the beauty stories she writes—and the experiences she shares—you can see exactly why she's in this business.