Bangs for your bucks

Face shape, hair history, skin tone, colour theory: Here's how to do the math before you get a drastic new hairstyle

- Reya Mehrotra

Here's a Girl Math equation: 50% of you has looked at Gigi Hadid's chic bob all year and wondered if you should lop off your locks too; but the other 50% of you fears that you'll end up looking like Tom Cruise from Magnolia. Maybe 50% of you is considering bangs like Daisy Edgar Jones, but the other 50% has also seen Nathan Fillion in Superman and shuddered. Maybe there's no 100% guarantee when it comes to a radical hairstyle change. Maybe we can cheat a bit.

Gourav Bhardwaj, celebrity hairstylist; and Laukik M Shah, creative head and balayage expert at LS Salon Academy, hot-comb the pain out of the calculations, so a drastic change of look comes at a lower risk.

Do not DIY. Forget what the TikTok girlies are gushing over. Twirling the hair around your temples and trimming upwards will not create the curtain bangs you were hoping for. That disaster will take 90 business days to grow out. Go to a professional stylist. They account for your jawline, cheekbone height, forehead size, hair porosity and treatment history. A good hairdresser will tell you if Sabrina Carpenter's sexy bangs will look terrible on your small forehead. Or if Brie Larson's honey-blonde pixie cut will need daily styling to look good on your flat hair. Look for a stylist who works with trendy looks. They're more confident doing radical style changes.