Talk to me about hair! Specifically, partings and fringes. I am clueless.

[LadybirdLipstick]

DD, 12, has long dark, wavy hair. I think it is lovely, but it is difficult to brush as it gets tangly very easily.

Anyhow, DD's hair has, by default, always had a centre parting, no fringe. It looks fine, is easy to do in ponytails/plaits. However, she is growing up a bit now, and has been told (by her friends, who of course know everything) that because her hair has always had a centre parting, she will always have to have that - it can't be changed now. Same with her lack of fringe. DD wants to have a more grown up style, but fears it will not be possible if she can only have a centre parting and no fringe.

I did ask at our local hairdressers (who are a bit s h*te), and they were very vague, saying about how hair had 'preferences' for how it sat. There is an alternative (v trendy) place I could send her to, but don't want to pay their prices if DD is basically going to end up with the style she doesn't want.

Any advice? Please!

What? Her friends are talking rubbish, she can have her parting where she wants. Just make a new one while it's wet. I change my parting all the time. Don't know about fringes, it depends on her hair type and whether she has a cowlick or not.

Have they also told her that you can't get pregnant if you have sex standing up?

Joking aside, my hair was centre parted for years and years at her age, but it's been all over the place since I started caring got older. Have you thought about getting her a tangle teaser? It might help with the brushing!

Nonsense. You hair will have a natural part, but unless there's a cowlick you can ignore it. I wore 2 plaits for about 5 years when I was little, every day, with a centre part - I have a heavy fringe now, and the rest of my hair automatically parts slightly to the left of centre

DD1's hair was just like this (she's 11), but she recently started to put it into a side parting, and had a sideways fringe cut into it. The hairdresser just told her to pin back the fringe with grips at night for a few days just to train it, and it's fine.

Thank you! I shall show DD this thread. So, her friends are right, you DO have a natural parting, BUT it can be overcome? Does she have to have it cut to get it to change, or can she just 'train' it? If she brushes and shakes her hair it always settles in the same place, even if she has just tried to style it to the side.

Re a fringe, DD has quite a petite face, which is why her friends say she can't have a fringe. Is this rubbish too?

DD has a tangle teaser btw - they are good, but when she does her hair, she only tends to do the top layer, so the lower two layers that aren't so visible tend to get somewhat ignored and tangly...

Oh, and sorry for ignorance, but what's a 'cowlick'?

She doesn't need to have a haircut to get her parting to change. She needs to put it in the new position when it's wet, or it will just settle back into it's original position.

Google cowlick, I can't work out how to describe it.

Fringes don't suit everyone, so her friends could be right about that - a heavy fringe could overpower a petite face, but side fringes suit most people. Google side fringes too while you're at it :)

its original position. I do know about punctuation, honestly

Anyway, her hair sounds gorgeous as it is :)