It's Okay To Be A Bang-less Lolita

Bangs- I hate them. I was having a conversation with another lolita recently and the subject of hair came up. She asked me why I chose to not have bangs because it seems that "most lolitas have them". This is not the first time my bang-less hair has been up for discussion and somebody once said about one of my outfits that they really liked it but that they "wished I had bangs".

I suppose when you look at a lot of the big name lolita models, they do all have bangs. Every time I look at a picture of Misako Aoki I ask myself how on earth does she keep her bangs looking so perfect all of the time? But to imply that it is somehow "more lolita" to have bangs than to not have bangs seems a bit strange. It is hardly as vital as a petticoat!

I actually did have bangs up until the age of 15 (and no, you cannot see a picture!) and I hated it so much. When I finally got past that awkward growing out phase, I was so relieved to be finally rid of that bit of hair. It may sound silly, but bangs simply do not suit my face shape and I felt a lot better with them gone. And there is nothing that will convince me to get bangs cut back in. Every time I am at a lolita meet, there is usually at least one person is constantly brushing their bangs before we take photos and also during photo taking, because it is not sitting right. Then there is the maintenance. I always found when I had bangs, that they got oily before the rest of my hair did and then there is the constant trips to the hairdresser to make sure it isn't long enough to get in the way of my eyes. When I was younger my mum unfortunately insisted on me going to the worst hairdresser ever. My mum has always been quite frugal and this lady was cheap but sadly, this hairdresser was terrible at cutting bangs. There was the time when I had a triangular fringe, the fringe that was going at a diagonal and the time I had one of those dreadful 1 inch long fringes (long before hipsters started getting them, and I can tell you I did not look cool at all). Everybody else found it hilarious but I was dying of embarrassment! My sister would then have to trim my bangs afterwards to put me out of my misery. So maybe now you can understand why I am so determined not to ever have bangs again!

But that is enough ranting, it is time I got to the point. Lolitas come in many shapes and sizes and we all learn what dress shapes suit our figures the best. We sort of accept that we are never going to look good in certain styles of dresses and yet, we are able to adapt the fashion to suit us. We settle for a different dress cut, we add under-skirts if we are tall, we pick extra shirring if we are carrying a bit of extra weight. Hair styles are exactly the same. Some people just don't look good with bangs and we just work around it to make our hair style suit us. Bangs may be fashionable in lolita but it is not compulsory. I had bangs and they didn't work for me. I don't feel any less of a lolita for not having them now. To be honest, I care a lot more about the clothing and accessories than I do about a little bit of hair!