Michelle Obama's Bangs: The Science of Why They Work

White House Photostream/Flickr

Michelle Obama stepped out this week sporting sassy new bangs—the type of news that makes the beauty world squeal with delight.

Bangs are hot, hot, hot right now, and here at YouBeauty we love to see FLOTUS making a beauty trend her own. Bangs are young and fun, and Michelle (can we call you Michelle?), in her typical, stylish way, shows that they work just as well on the over-40 set as they do on twentysomethings.

The key to bangs is making them work for your face shape and hair type. Michelle has the most universal face shape (oval) so most bang types will look good on her, but she has a high forehead, so she chose wisely in going with longer fringe to soften the upper part of her face.

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"Michelle Obama's new bang is texturized, which gives a softer, piecey edge to the normal blunt style," explains George Gonzalez of George the Salon in Chicago. "To achieve, ask your stylist to chip in with the tips of their shears followed by using texturizing scissors to soften the initial cut to finish."

As for her hair type, bangs on African-American hair isn't for the faint of heart—it requires serious upkeep since they won't lie flat naturally. (But we're pretty sure Michelle has people for that.)

"Hair types that are very coarse, thick and curly will have a harder time pulling this look off unless you want to take the time to use a blow dryer and flat iron to style. Ideally, straight or slightly wavy strands that are fine to normal will work best for this new 'Obama Bang'."

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