DIY: Bettie Page Pin-Up Fringe

Fancy injecting some pin-up style into your look? Feeling the pinch and needing more 'bangs' for your bucks? Try creating your own fabulous fringe- it's not as hard as you'd think and completely transforms tired tresses.

Bettie Page embodies the quintessential pin-up; sexy without being cheap, with a cheeky grin and style to match. Her signature look was definitely her now-iconic curved fringe. Not only cute, the sleek style adds shine to any style long or short, framing the eyes and highlighting a groomed pair of brows.

The look has been sported by celebrities as diverse as Katy Perry (in a fabulous bright blue wig), Petra Nemcova and even Beyonce in the video for 'Telephone'.

All you'll need is a comb and a good pair of scissors (i.e made for cutting hair, not paper/toenails!). You can get an okay pair from Superdrug for about £7.

It's easiest to cut your fringe dry. If hair will shrink/curl when dry, leaving you with a shorter look than the one you originally intended.



Firstly section off your fringe. I took a triangular section starting 2 1/2 inches back from your forehead and about 3 inches at its widest point (aka your front hairline). The larger your section, the thicker and more 'directional' your fringe will be.

Push the rest of your hair out of the way and comb the fringe section forwards. Cut it straight across slightly below your eyebrows. This leaves you with plenty of room to trim to your desired shape.

Comb your fringe through again. Now starting at the temple on your right side (or left if you're left handed) cut a downwards curve to the centre of your fringe about 1cm up from the mid point of your brows. When cutting take your time.

It's always better to take too little off than too much.

Now start from the centre and cut upwards and outwards to the opposite temple.

Remember that for a true Bettie look you're going to want to curl the ends of your fringe slightly with a curling iron, straightener or roller so whatever length you cut to, your fringe will end up at least fractionally shorter. You can use hairspray to 'set' your fringe in place if desired.

Here's how my first attempt turned out (excuse the shoddy photography):



Not too bad for a novice and completely free (and I used paper scissors because A. I'm a hypocrite and B. I suspect my hair scissors have been pinched for present wrapping)