Going Long, Big and Curly
Start with dry hair. It is not necessary for your hair to be freshly washed, but if you do wash your hair before styling it, you may find it useful to add some volumizing spray to it before you blow it dry. You can apply some products after blowdrying your hair, so just be sure to follow the instructions of whichever product you choose.
Separate hair into three sections. With your hands, use your thumbs along the sides of your head to help you separate the top third of your hair from the bottom. Use a clip to hold this section in place. To create the other two sections, simply separate the remaining hair into two halves with your left and right hands. Lay the left section over your left shoulder, and the right section over your right shoulder. It is not necessary to clip these two bottom sections.
Spray each section with heat protectant. Starting with one of the two bottom sections, brush the hair with a paddle brush and then spritz the entire length of hair with a heat protectant.
Wrap 1- to 2-inch sections of hair around a 19mm (3/4-inch) curling wand. Starting at the back of your head and moving toward the front, alternate between curling towards and away from your face. For the pieces of hair that frame your face, you’ll want to curl away from your face. Each curl should look like a little spiral. Hold each strand on the wand for roughly 20 seconds. It could be slightly less time depending on the quality of your wand and the thickness of your hair. If your hair is fine or damaged, you may want to start at 10 to 15 seconds to see if that works for you. Curling away from your face means pulling your hair away from your face to wrap it around the wand. Curling towards your face means pulling your hair towards your face to wrap it around the wand. If your hair doesn’t hold curls well, as you let the curl slide off the wand, let it fall into the palm of your hand and hold it there until it cools off.
Spray your hair with hairspray. Ensure that you cover all of your hair with hairspray. Fold your body over so that your head is upside down and your hair is hanging towards the floor, and then shake your head in a “no” motion as you spray your hair.
Tame the curls. Run your fingers through your hair gently to mould the curls together and shape them into a look that you’re happy with. For a slightly softer look, lightly run a paddle brush (a large, flat brush) over the top layer of your hair while also working it with your fingers until you get a look that you are happy with. This will make the curls look more natural.
Getting the Blunt Bangs
Purchase a pair of high-quality hair scissors with short blades. The longer the blades, the less control you have, so aim for something on the shorter end. If the actual cutting part of the scissors is around 2.5 inches (roughly 6.5cm), that should work well. Some stylists even recommend using cuticle scissors, but you will likely have more luck achieving this particular style of fringe (i.e. the blunt style) with a pair of scissors that are specifically designed for cutting hair. If you do use cuticle scissors, ensure that they are not curved, as this will likely make it more difficult for you to cut where you want to cut.
Ensure that your hair is clean, dry, and straight. Make sure it has no product in it. If it is naturally wavy, use a straightening iron on your bangs before you begin to cut them.
Section off hair to be made into bangs. If you already have bangs and are just looking to reshape them into Taylor Swift’s blunt look, ignore this step. Depending on the shape of your head and face, if you pull your bangs into a ponytail that drops down over your face, the part around your bangs (where you can see your scalp) will resemble a rounded triangle, with the wide base of the triangle being where your hairline meets your forehead. Exactly how long (i.e. how far back on your head) and wide (i.e. how far it spans across your forehead) that triangle is depends on your facial shape. Look in a mirror and experiment with different lengths and widths until you find the section of hair that best works for you. Be very careful not to go too wide. If you’re unsure, start narrow and move outward. A good rule of thumb is to stick to the hairline on top of your head, and leave the hairline along the sides of your face alone. Once you find a shape that you're happy with, tie it with an elastic to make a ponytail that hangs down the middle of your face. Pull down on the ponytail very gently (if you pull down hard, your hair will come out shorter than desired), and cut it so that your hair, when out of the ponytail, lands between your eyes and eyebrows (aim for somewhere in the middle). Ultimately you’ll want your bangs to be just at eyebrow level, but you don't want to cut to that level right away. Give yourself some room to work with!
Separate your bangs from the rest of your hair. Comb your bangs straight over your forehead, and then clip them together so that they don’t get pulled back with the rest of your hair. Pull the rest of your hair back into a tight ponytail. You can also use clips to hold that hair back if you prefer (or if you have shorter hair that can’t all be pulled back into a ponytail).
Separate your bangs into three sections. You don’t need to clip these into separate sections, but you’ll want to work on the sections moving from one side to the next. This makes your hair easier to work with, and will give you nicer results than if you simply try to cut the whole chunk of hair at once.
Lightly pull your hair straight down before cutting. Do not pull your hair outward. Pull it downward. If you pull it outward or pull down too hard on your hair, your bangs will be too short. Remember this as you move to each section of your bangs.
Cut into your bangs with small, upward motions. Hold your bangs between your pointer and middle fingers on one hand as you cut with the other. In small, one-centimeter increments, cut upward into your bangs, with high-quality short-bladed scissors, until you’ve reached the ideal length — so that the bangs hit your eyebrows.
Cut straight across. Once you’ve reached the ideal length, cut straight across your bangs. This is basically just trimming the jagged edges from the upward cutting. This should be a very small trim to the edges — think millimeters, not centimeters, at this point!
Style the rest of your hair as you wish. To replicate Taylor Swift’s hair with these bangs, you would either straighten all of your hair with a flat iron for the purely straight look, or straighten just your bangs and then add light wave to the bottom of your hair for the wavy look. To make the bottom of your hair wavy with a flat iron, start at the top of your hair, pull the iron about 40% of the way down your hair, then, holding the bottom of your hair lightly, twist the iron so that your hair is wrapped around it, with the bottom strand still coming out the bottom of the iron, then drag the iron down the rest of your hair until it reaches the end. Go more slowly for more defined curls. To make curls with a flat iron that cover more of your head, start higher up on the hair strand — for instance, right away instead of 40% of the way down).
Getting the Wavy Bob With Shoulder Length Hair
Ensure that your hair is clean and dry. Your hair doesn’t need to be freshly washed, but you don’t want it to be oily or flat. If you wash your hair before doing this style, add volumizer or a similar hair product as part of your styling process/while drying. If you do this, there is no need to add an additional volumizer to your hair later in the process.
Add a volumizer or a similar hair product to your hair. If possible, make sure that this has heat protectant properties. If not, you may want to add a few spritzes of heat protectant to your hair as well.
Part your hair dramatically to one side. Using a comb, mark out a straight side part and comb your hair so that it falls neatly on either side of the part. You may find it useful to fasten your bangs (or the front piece of your hair that will be styled to look a bit like bangs) on the larger side of your part to the side while you work on the rest of your hair.
Curl your hair on the small side of your part. Starting at the side of your part that has less hair, wrap different-sized chunks of hair around the barrel of a 1.5-inch (38mm) curling wand. Pull the chunks of hair towards your face as you wrap them around the wand, and hold them there for 10 to 20 seconds. How long you should hold your hair on the wand will depend on the power of your wand and the type of hair you have. For example, if you have fine hair, it will take less time than if it’s thick. The chunks of hair should be more vertically thick (going from the top of your head to the bottom of it) than horizontally thick (going from one side of your head to the other), as you want long, soft, waves more than tight curls. If you are unsure of what size each chunk of hair should be, aim for between 2 and 3 inches thick.
Style your bangs. If you already have bangs, you needn’t do much beyond brushing them to the side and tucking them in so that they blend with your hair depending on their length. If they’re longer or if you don’t have bangs, pull the chunk of hair at the front of the large side of your part (i.e. where your bangs would be) up above your head and wrap it backwards, away from your face, around the curling wand. Wait for 10 to 20 seconds, then let it go.
Curl your hair on the large side of your part. Move on to the rest of the hair on the large side of your part, continuing to pull the chunks of hair away from your face as you wrap them around the wand.
Break up the curls. Gently run your fingers through your hair in order to break the curls up and blend them into waves. You can also do this with a large-tooth comb.
Texturize. Spray your hair with texturizing spray and style it with your hands to get it into the shape you desire.
Getting the Wavy Bob With Long Hair
Start with dry hair. It doesn’t need to be freshly washed. As you need it to hold curls and pins, you might even find that it helps if it’s a day or two after being washed. Keep in mind that you’ll want your hair to have volume, so if it’s oily and flat, you may want to either dry it out with a spray shampoo, or, if you do end up washing and drying it, use a volumizing spray.
Part your hair dramatically to one side. Using a comb, mark out a straight side part and comb your hair so that it falls neatly on either side of the part.
Separate your hair into several sections. This will really depend upon how much hair you have. Maintaining the side part, use a comb and hair clips to section off your hair in a way that facilitates the most curls. The more curls, the better!
Curl your hair. Starting with the back, bottom sections of your hair, go around your head with a 1- or 1.5-inch curling iron or wand and curl roughly 1- to 2-inch sections of hair, alternating between curling your hair towards and away from your face.
Curl your “bangs.” For the section of hair at the front of the larger side of your part, pull it up and wrap it around the curling wand. If you have shorter bangs, you’ll simply brush them sideways towards the larger side of your parted hair. What you do will depend on the length of your hair/bangs, but ultimately you want to try to incorporate them into the rest of your hair on the larger side part.
Run your fingers gently through your hair. This will help to break up the curls and make them look a bit more like soft curls/a natural wave. If you find that your hair looks frizzy, add a small amount of shine serum to your hands before running your fingers through your hair.
Tease your hair. To make a more voluminous-looking bob, tease your hair lightly. This will also help bring it up a bit more if it’s quite long. To tease your hair, gently hold a chunk of your hair above your head (being careful not to ruin the curl) and back-comb it (brush it downwards, from the end towards your scalp) with a teasing brush. You can also tease your hair with a fine-toothed comb, but some stylists say that this is more damaging than using a proper teasing brush.
Spray your hair with hairspray. Once all of your hair is curled, spray it with a hairspray that boasts a strong and flexible hold. If your bangs are shorter, you may find it helpful to give them an extra spritz of hairspray to hold them in place once you’ve brushed them to the side. Spray waxes are also great for maintaining hold and flexibility, and are less likely to become flakey and white if you overdo it. (Although if you put too much spray wax on, you’re like to have oily-looking, heavy hair.)
Tuck hair in at nape of neck. Take a triangular section of hair at the nape of your neck, with the tip of the triangle pointing up away from your neck (the larger base at the nape of your neck). Tease your hair before wrapping it into a messy bun, securing it with bobby pins. Tie your hair into a ponytail before you twist it into a bun; otherwise, it won't be as secure.
Pin curls to your bun. Section the top part of your hair away, and begin with the lower part, tucking your curls in loosely to the bun at the nape of your neck. Repeat until that section is done, then start on the top section, leaving shorter layers out and pinning longer ones into the bottom of the bun.
Leave out shorter layers and the fronts of your hair. Finish off the look by leaving out your shorter layers as well as the hair at the very front of your head, which frames your face. You will achieve the best results if you have layered hair, but if you don’t, it just means you’ll have a longer (but still lovely) looking bob! Once you're happy with how it looks, you can either leave it as-is, or plump it up a bit more with a teasing comb and give it one final spritz with hairspray.
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