My love for 1920s style silent film bangs began around the same time I started idolizing Louise Brooks. I was about 18 or 19--I fell in love with her sharp black and white look, her simple, very linear style. I fell in love with her writing style, too, when I read her book of essays, Lulu in Hollywood, and I think she was probably the first classic Hollywood rebel I'd ever read about. But most of all I fell in love with her hair style. Unfortunately it didn't love me back, because when I tried to cut my hair into a straight Louise Brooks bob I looked all wrong. My hair just isn't straight enough--I could flat-iron it fairly straight, but any bit of rain or humidity would frizz it up and make it puffy. That's probably why I soon fell for Clara Bow instead--she had bangs, too, but they were the sort that curled and didn't sit straight.


Louise Brooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anna May Wong

I've had some form of bangs ever since then--mostly the messy, swept to the side kind that were easy enough for me to cut myself in college. But it wasn't until a year or two ago that I started going for the straight across the forehead type. I still have the problem that I'm guessing lots of wavy-curly haired girls have when they want to have straight bangs--humidity curls and puffs up my bangs 'till I look like I'm something out of the '80s. It's awful. I read online that this stuff was the best for keeping bangs looking decent so I bought it today and I'm crossing my fingers that it will work. Because having my hair cut short is making me be extra inspired by all of the 1920s flappers with bangs--girls like Colleen Moore and Margaret Livingston, especially. Unfortunately they're not such wonderful hair inspirations for a frizzy haired girl as some other stars are.

What do you wavy-haired girls with bangs do to keep them straight? I need all the tips I can get!

Margaret Livingston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colleen Moore