Could this be the answer to (possibly) probably the most frequently occurring hair dilemma known to man? How many times have you heard people (including me) say things like, ‘I really want a fringe however i don’t know whether it will suit me!’ ‘I want something interesting doing with my hair but I’m scared that a fringe will be hard to style!’ ‘I need to cover my forehead lines however i look like an eight years old if I have a fringe decline in!’?
The biggest dilemma with a fringe is whether you’ll end up regretting it or otherwise. But I think I have the solution: the no-commitment fringe. It’s simply a new name for something that’s always been an option, but bear with and humour me: this is actually the ultimate fringe-that-isn’t-really-there. It’s a few wisps of hair, an amount of such insignificance that should you wish – and it’s easier for those who have a bleached, wiry texture like me, since it stays where you put it – you can simply flick it into the remainder of your hair and make it totally disappear.
No complicated styling techniques necessary and you won’t have to trim the blasted thing every 72 hours – if it gets in your eyes it is simple to push it to the side, but when you want it around you merely have to dry it forwards using the hairdryer, pulling it out in a stretching sort of movement together with your fingertips.
The pièce de resistance, though, with this no-commitment fringe, is this: you can get away with just styling the fringey bit! Tie the remainder of it up – bun, ponytail, whatever – and just tweak around using the front bits for a few seconds, pulling them about so that they lie sexily across the eyes and frame the face. That’s it. It looks done, it appears interesting, it looks sultry: however it takes seconds.
Queen of this look is Sammi Jefcoate, with a blog here; she has far more of a fringe, but it’s still decline in a clever, cool, non-blocky way that means it may be pushed aside or trapped beneath a headscarf or headband. Mine is around a third of the volume, meaning it doesn’t have as much visual impact but is far more low-maintenance, and low-maintenance is my middle name.
The downside? There still is one, because any fringe or piece of hair that is cut differently towards the rest is going to have its drawbacks, namely the fact that it will inevitably do ridiculous things should you let it dry naturally. Like stand straight upwards, or curve into some crazy shape that makes you look as though you have a comma stuck aside of your head. Yes, it requires mere seconds to pull it forwards and blast it with the dryer, but I have to then obtain the dryer from the cupboard (it has to be put away because toddlers love wires, plugs, something that makes a noise) and then I have to plug it in and then I have to put it away again. It’s effort – minimal, but nonetheless an effort.
So instead I do the lazy version of blow-drying, which is just sitting there in mid-air until it gets dry itself, which – there’s not a way around this truth – never makes for hair as good as hair that’s been blow-dried. Or styled in some manner. Unless it’s long, naturally wavy and looks like Gisele’s.
Also, the fringe, however commitment-free, still sits in your face. Which is mildly irritating, as though a gnat or a small house fly is consistently trying to tiptoe across your forehead without you noticing. Does one ever get used to that feeling, I'm wondering, and learn to just blank it? Like people who live under the flight path and manage to blank out the engine noise of jumbo jets coming in to land? Can a fringe tickle ever become background noise?
Deep questions, people; I’d much like your thoughts. I’ve tried to include some photos from different angles so that if you did want to have the same thing, it’s very clear what has been done. I believe that way the fringe continues to be cut should hopefully be pretty self-explanatory to a hairdresser’s trained eye. As mentioned before, this sort of half-fringe, or sweeping fringe, is nothing new, I’ve just trained with an updated name! UPDATE: a quick Google reveals that I haven’t trained with an updated name at all; in regards to a thousand people have already written features on the no-fringe fringe, the low-commitment fringe and other variations on the party's theme. Oh well. Always late towards the party…
Thanks, as always, to Kat at Josh Wood Atelier in my cut and Melanie for my colour.
