Jennifer Lopez’s Sultry Set Of Bangs Can Be Worn So Many Different Ways

There are many words that help define Jennifer Lopez — glamorous, creative, and strong immediately come to mind — but nothing fits the bill quite like versatile. She sings in different languages, designs beauty and lifestyle projects, acts, and even directs. It extends to her beauty philosophy too. Whitman’s famous multitudes have nothing on J.Lo — she’s always evolving, sometimes several times in the same day. Just look at Lopez’s just-refreshed curtain bangs and all the different ways she’s already worn them. When the set debuted on Instagram, their open-parted styling show off creamy highlights and emphasize her sculpted bone structure. Seemingly hours later, she was off to the 81st annual Golden Globe Awards with a completely transformed fringe. As Lopez gears up for the launch of her latest album — her ninth studio release — expect to see plenty more innovative looks from the ever-productive superstar.

Curtain bangs of assorted lengths are one of Lopez’s most reached-for haircuts, but photos posted on Jan. 7 show the fringe is looking sharper, thicker, and shorter than in recent memory. Her entire head of hair also appears to be freshly highlighted, with new ribbons of bright gold woven through her base shade and especially concentrated around her face.

Part of the cut’s appeal is its trademark tapered technique, which can quickly and easily grown out the minute the wearer is over them. Simultaneously, depending on where the shortest layers fall, they can be brushed out in front for a classic style, pulled back and incorporated into an updo, or swept to the side.

The latter is exactly what Lopez and celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton devised for the Golden Globes. With her caramel-streaked hair fashioned into a deep side-part, the Old Hollywood-style barrel curls help the bangs seamlessly blend in with the the rest.

And while they’re likely the cool, realistic-looking clip-ins spotted on Lopez over the summer, she posted a clip from her soon-to-be-released music video in which she wears a long, straight-across style that taper to finer points on either side, also known as bottleneck bangs.

Even if the hair didn’t actually sprout from Lopez’s own scalp for that particular look, the point still stands: a strategically-cut pair of curtain bangs is the MacGyver of hairstyles.