Fringe Benefits

Justin Beiber aside, bangs — or fringe, as we've learned from the British — are a popular option for over-40 hairstyles for several reasons: they can be both polished and casual, they have a youthful quality, and even better, they cover forehead lines.

But there's the commitment. Yes, if you cut them and you hate them, they'll grow out — but you have to wait.

Option: Fake bangs

As a hairpiece, you can try them out and see if you like them and, more importantly, if they work for you.

My friend Abby, who's 57, says her sister talked her into getting some. "They look great on her — so cute," she said. "But terrible on me! I'm just not a bangs person."

And there's the rub. You don't want to find that out after you've cut.

The impetus for the purchase, she said, was a discussion they'd had about how celebrity bangs always look smooth and perfect, but in real life it's almost impossible to get them that way. So the clip-on version solves that problem.

Another upside: For women who are seeing that over-45 thinning at the hairline, cutting your own hair for bangs might look scraggly and insubstantial, anyway. This instantly covers that up.

Abby spent about $40 for hers. But you can go super-cheap with fake hair and experiment with styles, such as spiky like Joy Behar, above.

At Ultimate Looks online you can get them for about $20. A more high-end version, such as at Garlanddrake.com, goes for about $80. Raquel Welch has a clip-on style you plop on top for a side-swept look.

And of course, if your hair is long enough, you can just flop it over and see if you like the look, before spending anything.