How Bangs Totally Transformed These Celebs

As every woman knows, getting bangs is a risky move. While they look great on some people, they can look, well, not so great on others. While chopping off your hair may seem like a great idea, sometimes, it backfires. After all, we all know someone who has taken it upon themselves to grab the scissors and start cutting. Just look at Emily's "trauma bangs" in Season 3 of "Emily in Paris." 

But while bangs aren't always a change for the better, they are almost always a change. Whether you go for wispy barely-there bangs, a thick fringe, or a '70s-inspired curtain bang look, no haircut or style can transform the way you look quite like a fringe — and plenty of celebrities' bangs transformations prove our point. Are you curious to see some of the most dramatic celebrity bangs looks of all time? Here are the bang trims that completely transformed some of our favorite celebs.

Think of celeb bangs and chances are, your mind will immediately bring up an image of Dakota Johnson. Few actors can boast a fringe quite as iconic as Johnson's. The "Fifty Shades of Grey" star has had a thick full fringe for almost as long as we can remember — however, there was a time when she went fringeless. For instance, in the film "The Social Network," she is practically unrecognizable without her famous bangs.

Johnson's hair is typically styled by Mark Townsend. In 2023, he posted a series of photos showing off her iconic bangs. In 2022, he even shared with Vogue how he gives her perfect fringe. "You have to start with very wet bangs," he said. "Dakota has a strong cowlick so I hold the blowdryer directly over her bangs and blow them straight down, using just my fingers at first, and roughing up the root a little bit." Then, he uses a round brush to give that effortless swept-to-the-side look. We will definitely be adding this technique to our styling routines!

If Dakota Johnson has Hollywood's most famous fringe, Zooey Deschanel is a close second. The "New Girl" and "500 Days of Summer" actor has had her signature thick set of bangs for years. In fact, even as a child, she was a "bangs girl." "I remember, when I was a kid, looking at my forehead and noticing it was about five shades lighter than the rest of my face because it was always covered in a thick layer of fringe," she told Bustle in 2022.

However, even though Deschanel has always had her bangs, she has done a few roles where we got to see what she'd look like without her famous hairdo. In "Elf," for instance, Deschanel was almost unrecognizable with blonde, fringeless hair. She also went sans bangs at the Met Gala in 2013. Many fans couldn't recognize her, which Deschanel thought was hilarious. "It's truly shocking to me, but I mean, it's funny," she told BuzzFeed. "Well, and I, a lot of times, just have my hair out of my face in my life, so that's what's funny. My family recognizes me without bangs." By the sounds of things, Deschanel will be sticking with her bangs for the foreseeable future. As she told Bustle, "I just feel more like myself when I have them; it's a part of my identity."

While Katy Perry has worn bangs on and off throughout her career, they underwent quite the transformation as she developed her signature style. In the aughts, she used to rock heavy, blunt bangs with a slight split in the middle. Looking back at that hairstyle, it's easy to see why she and Zooey Deschanel were once celebrity lookalikes who always confused people. But by 2010, she had discovered just how well Bettie Page bangs went with her aesthetic at the time: cutesy kitsch with vintage vibes. The retro hairstyle made her resemble Deschanel a little less, and it became a defining part of some of her most famous looks, including the cartoonish blue hair Perry rocked at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards. It was similar to one featured in the "California Gurls" music video.

The vivid wig became so iconic that a copy was affixed to the head of her Madame Tussauds wax figure in 2013. Perry also set fire to one of her blue hairpieces that same year to promote her song "Roar," perhaps as a way to let fans know that she was leaving her Candyland pin-up princess era behind. But two years later, she explained why she's attracted to vibrant hair color like a moth to flame. "Colored hair is such a huge accessory that you don't even need to add extra stuff," she told Glamour, making an excellent point. And if she ever does retire her blue Bettie bangs for good, their clones will likely live on long afterward by haunting the aisles of Spirit Halloween every October.

Most of us probably know Kim Kardashian with her signature slicked-back hair, no bangs in sight. However, in 2023, Kardashian stepped out with a brand new set of blunt bangs while at the This Is About Humanity's gala in Los Angeles. Suffice it to say, she looked totally different. Most people guessed that the bangs were in fact a temporary clip-in hairpiece.

This isn't the first time Kardashian has experimented with bangs. In fact, in 2019, she chatted with her stylist Chris Appleton for Gay Times, who reminded her that he had once given Kardashian bangs during a trip to Paris. "You gave me bangs?!" she said. He replied, "I was like, 'Let's go for it,' and you were like, 'We cannot do this!'" Kardashian went on to recall another time she had tried bangs. "There was a time we were doing a photo shoot for Vogue Japan and we thought that this look with bangs would look so good," she said. "We spent so much time putting on a wig, cutting it, and doing the whole thing, and as soon as we were walking out the door, we were like, 'This is so bad!'" Bangs definitely completely transform Kardashian's look — and by the sounds of things, she's not usually a fan!

Cara Delevingne is another celebrity who we usually see with long hair swept far away from her forehead. However, she has experimented with bangs in the past. In 2023, for instance, she appeared at a benefit with a choppy, shaggy fringe and matching bob. "Does this mean our choppy at-home fringe attempts might actually be ... cool?" wrote one Allure writer of the look.

Delevingne also switched up her look with a thick fringe during a runway show for Emilio Pucci in 2013. We can't lie — it's giving Taylor Swift! There was also the time in 2013 when she sported a super short choppy micro fringe at a show for Marc Jacobs at New York Fashion Week — don't worry, this one was almost certainly a wig. After seeing all of this model-turned-actor's bangs looks over the years, it's safe to say that bangs completely transform her face — in the best way!

We all remember Nina Dobrev from "The Vampire Diaries" days — and we all probably remember that she never had bangs as Elena! In 2023, the actor made the bold move to get a new set of heavy, eyebrow-grazing bangs, courtesy of stylist Mark Townsend. 

The celebrity hairstylist posted a series of images of the new look, which was done for the premiere of "The Outlaws." She looked so different with the new hairstyle, one fan even commented on his post, "For a moment I thought it's Lily Collins" (via Cosmopolitan). Dobrev also posted on Instagram, writing simply, "Chop chop." Of course, even though Dobrev looks undeniably chic with her new trim, she isn't afraid to get real about the reality of life with bangs. In a hilarious TikTok video, she showed what she looked like right after waking up, her bangs sticking straight up in the air. "Whose idea was it for me to get bangs," she said in the video, and even joked that her boyfriend Shaun White didn't even recognize her!

Lily Collins got a famous chop in 2022 when she debuted a brand new set of bangs for Season 3 of "Emily in Paris." In the show, Emily cuts her own bangs in a moment of trauma. However, in real life, Collins' new trim was, apparently, far less traumatic. 

"Not exactly trauma bangs," she wrote in the caption on an Instagram post. "Unlike Emily, I didn't cut these myself! Big thank you to the master @gregoryrussellhair for inducting me into my fringe era and starting Emily's new hair journey ... "

Apparently, Collins ended up being a big fan of her new look. "There's a sass to them. They also do really well in humidity," she gushed to Glamour. "I know that seems weird, but they honestly do. ... There's a little Frenchness to it that I like, so I think I will keep them for a while." We have to agree — Collins looks totally different and seriously chic and is giving us some serious bangs inspo!

Lupita Nyong'o is another star whose hair can completely transform her look. Although she usually goes for a sans bangs look, in 2020, she covered her forehead with a new set of short bangs while attending the 11th Annual Governors Awards. She paired the chic bangs with an elegant updo and a pair of drop earrings.

Nyong'o's bangs were short-lived. Over the years, she's preferred to opt for styles that show off her natural hair texture. "There's been a whole revolution, led by African America for sure, where we are embracing our natural hair texture and returning to a past glory," she told Net-a-Porter. "You look at beautiful traditional hairdos from pre-colonial and colonial times and they have been erased from so much of our contemporary expression." Now, Nyong'o has a hair stylist who helps her recreate traditional looks with a modern spin — so, who knows, we may see another version of bangs on her in the years to come.

Kaia Gerber, daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford, is one star whose bangs make her look unrecognizable. As British Vogue noted, her fringe was inspired by that classic shaggy '70s look. Her bangs were unusual as they reached all the way down to her eyes, covering her eyebrows — no wonder she looked so different! 

"Be sure you ask your hairdresser to ensure they keep the fringe slightly longer, with a little layering through the bottom to create that long, soft, and sexy effect," hairstylist Gustav Fouche told Vogue about Gerber's look. Apparently, you'll need to trim your hair every three to four weeks if you plan on imitating this bold, transformational bangs look. Fouche also explained that this kind of fringe also requires lightweight products. "I personally don't like to use too many products in a fringe, which could run the risk of making the hair look greasy," he said. "Instead, I prefer to use a lightweight mousse, just to give it a bit of texture."

Sophie Turner is best known for her performance in "Game of Thrones" as Sansa Stark — with her bright red hair, she's instantly recognizable. However, when the actor made the bold decision to cut bangs into her long red locks, we all did a double-take. The star debuted her wispy, feathered long fringe in 2022. It was quite the transformation!

As her stylist, Christian Wood, told Glamour in 2020, Turner was always up for a big hair change. He said, "Sophie in particular, she's one of my favorite girls because she'll trust me with anything, and I'll be like, 'Okay, now we're doing a bang,' and she's like, 'Sure, no problem." No wonder she was so willing to try such a bold new style. 

Luckily, Wood knows how to style bangs, largely thanks to Jennifer Lopez. "I worked with Jennifer Lopez once and she taught me how to blow dry bangs," he confessed. "I was blow drying bangs and it wasn't going well, and she taught me how to blow dry bangs, and ever since then I've blow dried bangs the way Jennifer Lopez taught me."

Bella Hadid usually goes for a slick look with her hair — we don't often think of her with a shaggy fringe covering her forehead. However, in 2022, she switched things up with a long, ultra-wispy bangs look that was the epitome of French-girl chic. Suffice it to say, she looked completely different. 

Hadid even shared a video with her stylist Evanie Frausto that showed their process in styling a bang look. "For so many years when I was working, I was so exhausted and so when I would be, like, doing, you know, 14-hour days, and I would have to go to an event at night, I would just, like, pull my hair back," she told Vogue of her famous slicked back "snatch" look. However, over the years, she's learned to experiment a little more with hair pieces — including bangs. Frausto then proceeded to attach a set of fake bangs for a bold look.

Selena Gomez isn't known for sporting bangs — after all, as a pop star and actor in "Only Murders in the Building," we usually see her with long layers or a shorter bob style. However, in 2023, Gomez surprised us all by resurrecting her look from 2008 — that's right, she cut bangs. The classic bangs look featured long wispy strands and longer pieces on the edges. Of course, that's not the first time Gomez has experimented with bangs in recent years. We all remember her famous bob with bangs in 2016.

Even though Gomez clearly enjoys playing with new looks (including high-maintenance bangs), she has a pretty low-maintenance routine when it comes to her hair. "I don't wash my hair every day, which may sound gross, but it's actually really bad for my hair," she confessed to Allure. "Some of my best friends actually can't go more than maybe two days without washing their hair, and for me, I give my mom and my dad all the credit, because I have thick hair, so it gets better the less I wash it." In fact, she sometimes goes four days without a wash! Well, with or without bangs, she always looks great, so we are taking notes!

Lily James rarely sports bangs on or off the silver screen. However, the actor did give the look a try in 2023 at the Met Gala when she dared to wear a set of micro bangs that came halfway down her forehead. The Audrey Heburn-esque look made James practically unrecognizable. 

Halley Brisker, her hairstylist for the event, spoke to Insider about the look. "You can expect a very classically sharp, '90s nod to Chanel — early '90s," he said. "It'll be — if plans go accordingly — pretty iconic, essentially. And sharp. Very sharp." Those tiny bangs certainly were very, very sharp, in all possible ways.

While these micro bangs may not have been real (they only lasted for one night) they certainly made an impression — and completely transformed James' face. Honestly, we do not even recognize her with this look! It's yet another reminder that bangs really can turn you into a shapeshifter.

Jennifer Aniston is known for her hair — hello, we all remember the famous Rachel" layered bob that dominated salons throughout the '90s! But although Aniston has famous hair, she is not known for ever wearing it in a fringe. However, Aniston has been seen with bangs for a few roles over the years. 

In 2015, she sported a wispy fringe in the film "The Yellow Birds in Atlanta" — and the look completely transformed her face. In 2022, she also wore side-swept bangs for the film "Murder Mystery 2," as seen in this on-set image she posted on Instagram. 

It turns out, if you go way back in time to her pre-"Friends" days, you'll see that Aniston actually had a completely different look, with brown hair and a super wispy set of bangs — Rachel, is that you? Apparently, her hairstylist Chris McMillan was responsible for encouraging Aniston to grow out her bangs in favor of the famous Rachel cut — and she's rarely looked back since!

Did you know that Serena Van Der Woodsen herself has experimented with bangs? Although actor Blake Lively may be known for having long wavy blonde hair, in 2020, she appeared with one very, very different look for the film "The Rhythm Section." In one disguise, she ditched her signature blonde locks for a long wig complete with a retro 1940s-style pinup girl fringe. Talk about a bold look! Lively also wore a very different bangs look for the same film. In another Instagram picture, she showed off a shaggy blonde pixie cut with messy bangs.

Even though Lively has been seen with bangs for films, in her real life, she tends to stick with her famous long curls. After all, it suits her. As Rod Ortega, her stylist, told Refinery29, they tend to stick with tighter curls rather than the more popular flat iron waves, which he calls "lazy waves." 

"Way back when, hairstyling was about complementing the person's face shape, their body shape, etc. It used to be about asking what works for this person," he said. "Now, it's about what's on trend." By the sounds of things, they've found a look that works for her — and apparently, that doesn't mean loose waves, or bangs.

When Taylor Swift stormed onto the country music scene with a headful of fairytales and a riot of princessy golden curls, who could have predicted that the moony musician would become a pensive pop music powerhouse? Throughout Swift's many eras, fans have seen her constantly evolve, but perhaps one of her most marked changes came when she transitioned from her "Speak Now" era to her "Red" era. "Red" was the album that left critics wondering if she was looking at Nashville in the rearview mirror, and months before its release, a defining moment in hair history gave the singer a bold new look to match her bold new musical direction. In 2011, a day before she turned 22, Swift agreed to chop off a good chunk of her hair for a Vogue photoshoot.

In a behind-the-scenes video, Swift said she had a discussion with the magazine's glam team about possibly rocking some faux fringe for the pictorial. "I'm like, 'You know what, just cut it. This is Vogue, why not?'" she recalled. "So, I have bangs now." However, the move wasn't exactly unpremeditated; Swift had already been considering filling in that "Blank Space" on her forehead with some keratin curtains. "I wanted to change my look a little bit and I've loved the way that bangs look on other people," she told HuffPost, sharing a little more insight into her dramatic haircut. Lovers have come and gone since she made the change, but Swift's bangs have remained in many different iterations, including the eye socket-skimming fringe she sported at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

Taylor Swift's ex-tourmate Sabrina Carpenter also has some pretty iconic T-zone trim, but the style most closely associated with her is curtain bangs. The 'do was popular in 2024, which might be because everyone was obsessed with the "Feather" singer's face-framing wings. A variation of the hairdo is the Bardot bang, named after '60s screen siren Brigitte Bardot. The cut is arched and not quite as long as the classic curtain bang, as seen on Carpenter at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards. The artist loves a good throwback 'fit, so the hairstyle certainly suits her aesthetic.

Those who grew up watching Carpenter on "Girl Meets World" in the 2010s will remember that she was fringe-free back in the day. But like so many women before her, she decided it was time to dump a little volume from her mane when she got dumped. That's right — she started a hair trend all because she liked a boy. "I literally cut my bangs 'cause someone broke my heart and I was just like, 'I have to do something,'" she said in a 2024 Vogue video. "That was my first real heartbreak, and so I guess it just sparked that initial, like, 'I have to do something different.'" She clearly decided that the "something different" worked for her, and curtain bangs can work for almost anyone. "They are low maintenance, work with all hairlines, and are fairly user-friendly to style," hairstylist to the stars Mary Kendall told Good Housekeeping. Carpenter's own hairstylist, Scott King, told Fashionista that he uses a velcro roller to give her bangs their signature springy curl: "That's what makes it fluffy."

Nicole Kidman arguably had one of Hollywood's best hair moments as a wispy-banged witch with a tragic love life in the 1998 movie "Practical Magic," and she sported a similar look in the HBO series "Big Little Lies" as another unlucky-in-love character. Kidman conjured up those bewitching bangs again just weeks before Halloween in October 2025, but this time with blond waves instead of a cascade of sleek red tresses. Given that she and country musician Keith Urban had recently decided to close the book on their 19-year marriage, many fans assumed that Kidman was rocking a bold breakup hairstyle when she showed up to Paris Fashion Week with her new fringe. There's just nothing like the sound of snipping scissors to soothe a broken heart, after all.

Kidman's piecey, tapered bangs were sharpened into fine points, and they created the perfect golden frame for the work of art that is her face's striking angular architecture. Hairstylist Adir Abergel said that his inspiration for the "Babygirl" star's look was "Practical Magic" and Jane Birkin. "It's really about having the hair feel broken and undone, but yet still feel expensive ... without being overly fussy," he told Vogue. Mission accomplished — the results of his shear magic were to die for. 

Do you remember how big a deal Michelle Obama's bangs were when she got them in 2013? The former first lady certainly knew that they had everyone talking. "My bangs set off a national conversation," she said that February during a "Let's Move" event in Chicago (via NBC News). They were immortalized in her official portrait when her husband Barack Obama got reelected as president, and, sad to say, her hair wasn't looking its best. She got a little too much bang for her buck, as her razor-cut fringe thinned out the sides of her hair, creating a square shape. Her bangs were also cut short to reveal her outdated pencil-thin eyebrows. If they had been longer, and the rest of her hair had been styled in a sleeker bob without all that volume on top, the style would have looked so much better. However, the sad truth about Michelle's White House hairstyles was that she feared Americans wouldn't accept some of those that looked the best on her, like the long braids that have become part of her signature post-White House look.

The ever-candid Michelle had one of her many relatable moments when she confessed to regretting her bangs. "They're starting to grow out; it's a little irritating," she said in an April 2013 interview with Entertainment Tonight. They actually started looking pretty darn good when she was finally able to sweep them to the side, but alas, she decided that they just weren't practical for her hands-on approach to being a presidential spouse. "You know, it's hard to make speeches with hair in your face!" she told Parade that August.

Tyra Banks believes that letting her forehead shine (and no, we're not talking about avoiding setting powder or blotting papers) was instrumental in helping her become a supermodel. "LA Models, who is in the house tonight, told me that if I didn't have that big-a** forehead, I'd be too safe, and they wouldn't want to sign me," she said during a 2016 Tyra Beauty event, per Racked. However, she's covered her moneymaker with bangs every now and then over the years. "My forehead is so big, with me and Sia having the same length of bangs, they hit at two different places," she joked.

One of the many hairstyles she sported as a living doll in the 2000 movie "Life-Size" included some blunt-cut bangs that hit just below the eyebrow, and she wore them a tiny bit longer for Freeform's Upfronts event in 2017 — where it was announced that "Life-Size 2" was on the way. The ends of her thick fringe were slightly textured, and her hair color — a rich walnut with subtle highlights — gave her bangs a little more dimension. She also occasionally rocked bangs on "America's Next Top Model" while breaking the news to contestants that they were going to have to have some of their own hair chopped off. But perhaps she hasn't stuck with the style because she truly does love showing off every bit of her eyebrow's expansive front lawn, which she affectionately refers to as her "fivehead." She wrote in a 2016 Facebook post, "It makes me who I am. It makes me Flawsome."

According to the lore established in the novella "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner," the hair of vampires in the "Twilight" universe does not grow. It's a good thing this isn't true for humans in the real world, because Kristen Stewart might not have much left. For the 2024 movie "Love Lies Bleeding," her hair was lopped off and styled in a mussed mullet. The look included bangs, which Stewart couldn't help but fixate on after filming was finished. "I was so addicted to cutting my hair after we made the movie," she said in an AP interview. "I couldn't stop, just like, blunt-fronting my bangs."

Stewart was still rocking those baby bangs at the Los Angeles premiere of "Love Lies Bleeding." Her choppy, uneven fringe was styled to create several gaps on her forehead. It's a look that would be hard for most people to pull off, but it had a DIY punk rock quality that really worked for Stewart. With that face card, there's no need to hand the Amex over to an in-demand Hollywood hairstylist, and we wouldn't be mad if Stewart got stuck with the style — just like Bella Swan and her fellow sparkly immortals do whenever they visit the salon.

You could argue that Anne Hathaway is the patron saint of makeover moments in movies. When we watched her transform into Genovian royalty in the 2001 film "The Princess Diaries," she traded frizzy curls for a deep side part and a voluminous blowout. Five years later, she naturally had to get bangs when her "The Devil Wears Prada" character, Andy Sachs, was given a makeover worthy of working for Miranda Priestly, an analog of be-banged fashion industry icon Anna Wintour. Andy's new look included some thick fringe that was the perfect length to get brushed by her eyelashes whenever she blinked.

Like many celebs, Hathaway likes to bring her bangs back on occasion. She was actually seated beside Wintour when she sported some slightly shaggier forehead valance with a high pony during New York Fashion Week in 2022. Two years later, she lightened her follicular load a tad for the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The latter fringe was a little feathery and played peekaboo with her forehead. Her hairstylist, Adir Abergel, told Glamour he was going for "something that felt just super relaxed and very '70s — like undone Jane Birkin." He also shared how he got her bangs to curl under at the ends so elegantly, revealing that it started with a rough-dry. "I then took a big round brush and blow-dried the bangs first, tucking them under to add softness to the ends," he explained.