trim your own fringe HOW TO

‘If you can, let your fringe reach between brow and eyelash length before trimming,’ says Jonathan Soons, creative ambassador of Headmasters salons. ‘Anything shorter is a micro-fringe, which is hard even for stylists to get right.’ He recommends working with freshly washed hair that’s been dried as naturally as possible. Wet hair jumps back as it dries, leaving you with a shorter fringe than you’d planned, and over-styled hair may have too much volume or smoothness in the roots, preventing you from seeing your fringe as it naturally falls. So leave to air dry or comb your fringe forward on to your face while it’s still wet and blow-dry from above, moving the hair from side to side with your hands and smoothing the ends lightly underneath with a round brush. Use the finest and sharpest pair of scissors you can find – nail scissors all the way, says Jonathan. ‘They’re usually sharp (they have to get through nails, after all) and often curved; this helps to cut on an angle, which is exactly what you want for fine, tapered ends.’ Now mentally divide your fringe into three sections and take the centre section firmly between your index and middle fingers, holding just over the bridge of your nose and letting the ends poke out from underneath. ‘Support the hair rather than pull it tight,’ says Jonathan. Move your fingers away from your face so you can look up into the hair as you cut (all the better for not snipping your hand) and, holding the scissors almost vertically, snip up into the hair at an angle, taking the very tips off. Work your way across the section in tiny snips, then lower the section back towards your nose to check the length in the mirror. Repeat until the ends below your fingers have disappeared, then release the section. Comb the next section into the same position and repeat the same technique, always snipping out from your nose to the side of your face. Repeat on the final side, and when you let this last section fall into position you will have created a gentle arc that flatters all faces, says Jonathan.