Natural Parting

Long hair parted down the middle — Photo: Iablonskyi Mykola/Shutterstock

Q: When I was growing up, my mother always parted my hair down the middle. Now my part goes down the back of my head and will not go away! What do I do?

A: While there are numerous old wives' tales about "training" the hair to behave in specific ways, physically manipulating the hair will not create a change in the way the hair grows. What has most likely occurred over the course of your life is that your mother simply followed your hair's natural parting.

Styling the hair against the natural parting can be achieved through the use of styling products or in some cases by using chemical texture services. Both cases may also require that there be a specific length of hair involved, since (especially when dealing with natural partings and other growth patterns) the hair needs sufficient weight to overcome the hair's natural tendencies.

You don't specify what you want to achieve, but I assume you are asking for some help in masking the extended portion of the parting down the back of the head. This can be achieved in most cases by using styling product and drying the hair with a blow dryer using a lifting action to create more volume in the hair at the back of the head.

In more stubborn cases, you might consider having a body wave performed on the hair to add just a touch of wave to the hair to help mask the parting in back.

Finally, it may be a matter of the hairstyle you have that exacerbates the problem. If the hair is cut in a blunt style, you may want to consider a layered style. You can maintain the overall length, but the layers will give you more movement in the hair style which will help to obscure the undesired parting.

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See also:

Basic parting techniques

Can I get rid of my middle parting?

How would I train my hair to get rid of my straight parting?

Should a girl part her hair on the side or in the middle?