Whether you prefer to wear bangs blunt, sideswept, or both (as Keira Knightley often does) snipping your own fringe requires a steady hand, patience, and proper technique. "Begin by taking a sharp hair scissor or nail scissor and point the tips down toward your nose," says hairstylist Patrick Melville. "Position scissors below the brow and cut vertically in little choppy pieces, slowly chipping away from one side of the face to the other." For longer, sideswept bangs, apply the same vertical cutting motion, but gradually leave pieces longer and longer as you move at a downward slope from the eye toward the opposite ear.
To avoid the nightmare of watching your wet, freshly-cut bangs shrink upward as they dry hairstylist Ted Gibson recommends snipping strands in their natural state. Also, Melville says to avoid razors, since scissors allow for more precision and control.
