Why Cowlicks Control Your Side Part and How to Work With Them
Learn how your cowlick decides where your hair wants to part and how to find the right side for your head.
Have you ever tried to part your hair, only to have it pop right back up? Or maybe you comb your hair smooth, and five minutes later, one spot stands on end.
That stubborn spot is a cowlick. It is not your hair misbehaving on purpose. It is simply the way your hair grows out of your scalp. If you fight it, your hair will fight back all day long.
What a Cowlick Really Is
A cowlick is a tiny patch of hair that grows in a circle or swirl. It gets its name because it looks like a baby cow licked your head.
Most people have at least one cowlick near the crown, at the top back of the head. Many people also have one near the front hairline. The roots in that swirl point in different directions. Because of that, the hair cannot lay flat if you push it the wrong way.
Let Your Cowlick Choose Your Side Part
A lot of people choose their part based on habit. Maybe you have parted your hair on the left since you were five. But if your cowlick spirals toward the right, parting on the left will always feel like hard work.
Here is how to find your natural part:
Wet your hair completely in the shower or with a spray bottle. Comb all your hair straight back from your forehead. Gently push the hair forward toward your face with your palm. Watch where the hair cracks open on its own.
That crack is your natural part. It shows where your hair falls without any force. If your cowlick is on the left and turns clockwise, your hair naturally wants to fall across to the right side.
How Face Shapes Come Into Play
Side parts look great on almost every face. They add a bit of angle to round faces. They soften the jaw on square faces.
However, if your cowlick forces a part on a side you do not love, you do not have to live with a bad cut. You can ask your barber to cut the hair shorter near the swirl so it has less weight to stick up. Or, you can grow that section slightly longer so the weight pulls it down.
What to Tell Your Barber
Never let a barber cut your hair without checking your cowlicks first. Good barbers always look for them on dry hair before they pick up the scissors.
Tell your barber: "I have a cowlick right here. Can we cut this to follow my natural growth?" This simple line stops bad haircuts before they start. It also saves you ten minutes of blow-drying and heavy gel every single morning.
Keep Styling Simple
When you work with your swirl, styling takes almost no effort. You only need a little water and light cream to keep flyaways down. When you work against it, you need strong pomade, hairspray, and heat, and the hair still might pop up by noon.
If you want to see how a new side part looks on you, test it out before anyone cuts your hair. You can upload your photo to HairMatch AI to check your face shape for free, then preview different parted cuts on your own face starting at just $0.99.