Trim and Maintain a Fringe with Vandana Verma

I’ve had a fringe twice in my life. Once, about a decade back when I lived in London. My hairstylist at Viva My Hair in Soho decided that it was quite the look for me and so gave me a shoulder-length bob with a blunt fringe that was a little longer between the eyebrows. Kinda like Wonder Woman’s crown. The second time was a few years back when I was working at Bazaar. I enjoyed it but after a while I just wanted to tie my hair back. It’s a pity though because if you're comfortable with a fringe you have a cool haircut for life. 

The thing with a fringe is that you have to own it, sort of like red lipstick. Like Vandana Verma, who also has a really cool wellness blog called the tonic.co. Vandana’s had a fringe since 2002, and boy does she own it. I’ve seen her sweat it out at yoga but that fringe is always in place. “For me there’s something so easy about a fringe - just give it a rough dry and its done.” And the best part is that you don’t have to worry about what to do with your hair. “Well, that’s both an upside and a downside - I have little leeway to play with it, so currently I’m playing with the ease of a fringe and the flexibility of long hair,” she says.

The most annoying part about a fringe are the regular trims that go with it. I tried doing it at home once and I trimmed it diagonally, which sounds cool but actually looked rather dorky. When I heard that Vandana trims her own fringe at home I just had to get the technique. So guys, read and learn:

TRIMMING

• “My fringe grows out every two weeks. Even though my hairstylist Rod Anker encourages me to go to him for free trims, I just end up doing it myself because when it gets into my eyes it drives me crazy. So to begin with I always use a pair of professional scissors.
• If I want to be be ultra precise I iron it.
• Then I cut it in little tiny pincer-like movements that are completely vertical. When you trim horizontally with your scissors then you go diagonal and you don't want that. 
• Go a centimetre longer than you want it, because otherwise you will end up with a micro fringe.
• These days its too hot to be so precise so I just blow dry it and use the same movements to roughly trim it. That said, most good hairstylists will totally give you a free fringe trim.”
  
  MAINTENANCE 
• “I use an ionic blowdryer which allegedly dries your hair out less, and dries it faster. 
• I also use a pair of T3 tourmaline irons but I’m not wearing that hyper-straight hair anymore. 
• I use heat protecter like Kerastase Nectar Thermique, or Serum Therapiste, which is amazing.
• I’ve mastered the art of just shampooing my fringe. I tie my hair up in a pony, then just shampoo my fringe and quickly blow dry it. I use the warm setting instead of hot or cool. 
• The great thing about a fringe is that it won’t get damaged because you keep trimming it.”

Lead image: Shutterstock. Vandana’s photograph: Mehtaab Mann for Ogaan India.