I always joke that I came out of the womb with bangs. As a product of the 1980s, I rocked a full fringe as soon as my hair was long enough to be cut into a style.

I grew them out when I was about 6 or 7 years old, because my best friend Kari didn’t have bangs and I wanted to look more like her (I clearly remember my hairdresser Vicki Preston laughing at me when I asked her to “cut off my bangs” because I didn’t understand they needed to be grown out)—my mom bought me a headband to help the transition and I wore that black glittery headband every single day until my bangs were long enough to tuck behind my ear.

Four years ago, after becoming bored with my hair style, I decided to get a full fringe again. I loved having a new look. At first it was difficult to “train” my bangs to not split down the center, but soon enough I became comfortable styling them. I’ll admit, I quickly became obsessive over them being perfectly straight and smooth at all times. It was very high maintenance.

They needed to be trimmed every eight-10 days otherwise they would move with my lashes whenever I blinked. And, having naturally curly hair, I had to be extremely cautious with them curling up if it was humid, or it rained, or if I got overheated from dancing at a wedding. I became a slave to my flatiron.

I actually would carry a flatiron with me in my purse sometimes for a 911 bang touchup. I had also been known to dash up to a tool booth at a trade show and do a few quick passes on my bangs before a meeting, or even backstage at Fashion Week I would sneak over to the tool table to polish up the fringe. It was challenging to maintain the look I desired–even with smoothing treatments.

Since my natural texture would sometimes present a problem with my hair style, and I was sick of always looking exactly the same (no matter what I did to update my look for a special occasion, or change my color formula, or wear dramatic eye make-up or lash extensions, I always looked the same) I finally decided to grow them out.

And this time I was serious. I nearly took a vow to NOT trim them—believe me, there were many failed attempts where texturizing turned into a trim. Now that I’m an adult, especially one who happens to work in the beauty industry, a black glittery headband would simply be unacceptable for every day wear.

Yes I went through several awkward, painful stages of the grow out process, but I am so excited that my former fringe is now a side-swept bang. I of course miss my old look sometimes, but it’s good to switch things up every now and then.