Side parts are the latest addition to the indie sleaze revival

Asymmetry is in.

I’ve spent over a decade forcing my hairline into a middle part. And it was by no means an easy transition, either. Every morning before school was spent with a hairdryer in one hand and a straightener in the other, with an ungodly amount of bobby pins used to force my cowlick down. It took months before my side-part accepted its demise and stopped bouncing back up.

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Though I think some strands will remain stubborn till the very end, I’ve mostly retrained my hair to form a nice, simple middle part. I have a naturally uneven hairline and paired with bangs, parting my hair in the middle helps frame my face.

But it’s not entirely personal preference. For a good long while, the side part has universally been considered a banished relic of millennial style – at least until recently.

 

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Why is the side part making a return?

More and more, I’ve noticed side parts sneaking back into the zeitgeist and I’m not the only one. According to Rachel Tsang, an emerging hairstylist at Stache, the resurgence of the side part is part of a larger and gradual return to the 2010s indie sleaze era.

From low-rise pants and striped tops to smudged eyeliner and messy hair, the side part indie sleaze aesthetic is all about embracing, well, the sleaziness of it all. Perhaps its part of a larger push-back against the conservative beauty trends we’ve seen increasingly take over our feeds – think clean girl style, subtle makeup and nails and glossy hair. Where the middle part feels deliberately symmetrical, the swept-over nature of the side part has a messy, spontaneous element to it. Plus, it’s been frequently sported by the likes of Gabbriette, Bebadobee and Addison Rae, known for their unpolished and undone aesthetics.

Rachel is a fan of the shift, too. “Most of my clients have been asking for baby side fringes, emo long side parts or even something spikier and more textured,” she says. “I think it’s so punk and so feminine, I love it!” Of course, that’s not to say the middle part is officially out, but consider me tempted to make a return to the side.

 

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How to style a side part

Whichever way your hair falls, Rachel is confident your can train any parting as long as you set your hair while ‘soaking wet’, whether it’s straight after a wash or using a spray bottle. Make a start by sectioning off your fringe or the front parts of your hair, and experiment with placement. You can ease into the change by parting your hairline a tad off-centre, or you may want to start at the arch of your brow.

Rachel advises using a fine tooth comb to brush the hair in the direction you want, before clipping it down to set. She notes bow clips are essential here, as they won’t leave a mark (unlike bobby pins).

For those who prefer to heat style their hair, Rachel’s advice differs. “If you like to blow dry your fringe, blow dry it side to side with a comb and use a round brush to style it to the side,” she says.

Don’t overthink it, though. The beauty of a side fringe is its impermanence. Try one direction one day, then reverse it back the next. It’s what Gabbriette would do.

For more on hair parts, try this.