Fashion & Style on a Gina Rivera on the cowlick

Talk about stubborn! The more you brush the more that cowlick seems to pop out of place … “Arrrrgh!”

Ok, enough whining. How do we fix it?

Cowlicks misbehave because that patch of hair is on a different growth pattern than the rest of your mane, causing it to grow in spiral or a ‘C’ shape. Men typically have more than one. Women have them, too, but because most women wear their hair longer, they usually don’t show as much, and that brings us to our first weapon in the fight for supremacy over a menacing cowlick:

• Let your hair grow longer and heavier. Then it will be easier to brush it all in one direction with the rest of your hair and hold it all in place.
• Another strategy is to go really, really short … with a buzz cut. That works, for obvious reasons. The cowlick isn’t there anymore, but neither is the rest of your hair.
• Pick a hair style that ‘accommodates’ the cowlick.

I like this last one, and there are some options. This can mean that you part your hair right at the cowlick, letting it fall the way it naturally would and that’s where you go with the rest of the hair on that side of the part. Another strategy is to go with a scattered spikey or piecey look that allows the cowlick to ‘express itself.’ It’s almost as though you camouflage the cowlick.

Let’s assume, though, you want that cowlick to fall in line with the rest of your terrific locks. First of all, when you get out of the shower, dry the cowlick thoroughly. You can’t style a wet cowlick. If there is any moisture at all in the cowlick it will naturally take that quirky shape again, making it almost impossible to style.

Blow dry the cowlick in the opposite direction of its natural curvature. If you can’t dry and style your hair right after leaving the shower, wet the cowlick again when you’re ready to go to battle.

Most parents don’t have time to style their kids’ hair every morning so pick styles that hide the cowlick, just like you would as an adult.

Bottom line, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!”