Bottleneck Bangs Are the New Curtain Bangs—and I Gave Them a Try

Author image: Stephanie Meraz Editor Bio Picture: editor with brunette hair in purple set at a beach in Cabo.

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Published Nov 1, 2022

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Bottleneck bangs are the new curtain bangs illustration

Paula Boudes for PureWow

Let’s face it: For the past couple of years, if you weren’t sporting curtain bangs, were you really in the now? Didn’t feel like it. And now, alongside hair trends like the jellyfish, butterfly and perms (yes, perms), a new bang style has begun to trend. Enter: Bottleneck bangs. According to Pinterest searches, ‘bottleneck bangs’ saw a 60 percent uptick in global searches over two months during summer 2022, so there may be reason to believe this fringe look might be the next highly requested cut in salons.

We tapped cut artist Amanda Aldana De Jesus to give us the 4-1-1 on this edgy cut for us so you’ll be ready to enter your Anne Hathaway era with gusto.

Meet the Expert

Amanda Aldana De Jesus is a cut artist at Nova Arts Salon in Los Angeles.

What Is the Bottleneck Bang Haircut?

We’ll put it this way: If curtain bangs and straight bangs were to marry and procreate, they’d get a bottleneck bang baby. The finished result mimics the shape of a bottleneck by focusing on a concentrated area in the middle that cascades into longer sections down the sides. Basically, the bottleneck bang cut combines the face-framing wispy hairs of a traditional curtain bang cut with short, eyebrow grazing traditional bangs. It’s already been seen on celebs like Anne Hathaway and Elizabeth Olsen.

How Does It Differ from Curtain Bangs?

The bottleneck style serves a similar purpose to its curtain counterpart in the sense that you can tailor the shape and length to your face shape and desired result. “The little pieces in the middle that frame around the brows give it that cuter look rather than just having those longer pieces,” Aldana De Jesus says.

However, she mentions that this ‘do tends to be higher maintenance than curtain bangs because you can’t necessarily revert to pushing them off to the side until they grow out. (But more on styling in a minute.) “It’s more Brigitte Bardot.” Enough said.

Do Bottleneck Bangs Work on Everyone?

In short, yes. Most face shapes should be able to pull off this cut despite the myth around forehead lengths and bangs. For example, Aldana De Jesus notes that if you have a small forehead, you’d want to start the bang a little further back than someone with a large forehead to create the illusion of more surface area and a fuller bang. For those with square or oblong faces, asking for wispy, longer pieces that cascade along the sides will create a natural contour. On the other hand, those with triangle or oval face shapes should ask for extra strands above the brow to create more width.

In fact, the wispy bangs above the brows can differ in length depending upon personal preference. They not only complement the face well, but Aldana De Jesus adds that they do a great job framing the cheekbones.

Paula Boudes for PureWow/Stephanie Meraz

How Do I Style the Bottleneck Bang Haircut?

While not one of those I-woke-up-like-this haircut, it’s fairly simple to achieve a salon-worthy style at-home. “Your best bet would be to use a blow-dryer,” says Aldana De Jesus. Especially if you haven’t had bangs before, the roots will habitually want to lay to the sides of the face and “the heat trains those roots to lay where they should.”

When Aldana De Jesus showed me how to style my new bottleneck bangs, she said to opt for a leave-in conditioner, like Mr. Smith’s Leave In or Mr. Smith’s Serum, before drying depending upon your hair needs—“Leave In is better for finer textures that need help controlling frizz while the Serum is for hair types that need a little extra nourishment.” As for getting the hairs to fall in the right direction, blow dry the wet hairs down and over the length of your face before taking the side sections and simultaneously combing and drying them diagonally. Keep playing with your round brush and dryer until you achieve the desired results. Finally, follow up with texturizing spray like Milbon Dry Texturizing Spray to give the strands a bit of volume, definition and separation.

After transitioning from curtain bangs to bottleneck bangs, I may never go back. If you’re anything like me and always feel a pang of apprehension when trying out new styles (especially bangs), bottleneck bangs will be the perfect dip-of-the-toe-look (welp, in this case hair).

Stephanie Meraz

Associate Fashion Commerce Editor

Stephanie is a natural savant in the fashion, beauty, and dating & relationships beats. She graduated with a bachelor of arts at the University of San Diego, where she majored...

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