The £6.99 secret to hiding thinning middle-aged hair

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The last time I had a fringe I was probably about 12 years old, in the first year of senior school with a page-boy bob.

But then I hit puberty, my hair went curly, I grew out the fringe and never looked back. In my 30s, following a big break-up – oh the cliche – I remember floating the idea of cutting one in with my hairdresser, Nadia, at John Frieda, and she – knowing how low maintenance I like to be – wisely talked me out of it.

But recently, at 48, I’ve found myself looking wistfully at Claudia Winkleman’s chunky fringe, and envying Nicole Kidman’s tousled French-style curtains. It’s partly a desire for change, but it’s also the fact that fringes hide a multitude of sins – not least the ­forehead lines that my aesthetic doctor, Dr Wassim Taktouk, smoothes with a sprinkling of Botox a couple of times a year.

And, with more clip-in fringes than ever available, I don’t even have to commit to it long-term. ‘Clipping something into the front of your hair to make it look fuller, perhaps with a fringe, is a good idea, as long as you’re careful with the hair underneath,’ says Zoe Irwin, ­creative director at John Frieda.

And that’s the key – 80 per cent of women have some degree of androgenetic alopecia (or ­pattern baldness) by the age of 50, and one of the first places that starts to show is along the part line or at the temples.

So while a ‘winge’ – or fringe wig – can really help disguise this, the last thing you want to do is pull more hair out with the clips.

‘The best thing to do is to take a triangle section of your hair at the front and then plait it so you’re creating a sort of scalp braid,’ says Zoe.

‘This gives you something to clip the fake fringe on to. Otherwise you’re pinning it to hair that is quite silky and it will keep falling out because of the weight and could potentially damage your own hair. If you can’t braid it, very, very gently spray it with hairspray and then tease the hair back. You need a pad to pin it to.’

James Silk, a hair extensions specialist at Hadley Yates salon in Covent Garden, agrees.

‘Unless they’re lightweight, clip-ins can be a lot of hair on small pressure points. Would I recommend it every day if you’re ­worried about hair loss? No. But if you’re getting a clip-in as opposed to getting one cut in, you’re probably not going to wear it every day.’

While weight is one consideration, so too is the style – how do you know what to go for?

‘If you’re rounder of face, a straight fringe isn’t flattering as losing too much of the forehead can make your face look wider,’ says Zoe.

And, as, with age, faces tend to become squarer and more jowly, so the last thing you want is to make yourself look angular.

‘Straight-across fringes can work, but on a more heart-shaped face, or to break up a longer face,’ she says. ‘The ones that are easier to wear tend to taper, so they’re shorter in the middle and longer at the sides.’

Colour can also be tricky. Zoe suggests matching to the mid-lengths – ‘too dark and it can look too heavy, too light and it shows up against the root’.

James suggests going to a salon where they can not only colour match you but also trim the clip-in and customise it to you.

Armed with their advice, I put five different fringes to the test...

The Wispy

Curated by Hadley Yates Clip-In Full Fringe, £35, curatedhairextensions.com

Made from 100 per cent ethically sourced human hair, I had this styled for me at the salon.

The Espresso matched my mid-lengths perfectly but the section near the clip was dyed darker to match my darker roots.

If that’s not an option, Amanda Clarke who styled my hair for the photo shoot – and used to work in the wig room at the London ­Palladium – recommends spritzing a root cover-up spray where the clip-in meets your own hair to disguise the join.

While James tells me this wispy fringe looks more natural and is more on trend than heavier fringes, I’m not convinced. It just felt like it was tickling my eyes.

And the photographer telling me it made me look like I’ve got hair loss didn’t endear it to me any further. 2/5

The Rockabilly

Clip-in micro-bangs, £16.99, annabelleswigs.co.uk

This was reminiscent of the micro fringe that Pamela Anderson debuted at the Met Gala in May – although rather than being blonde and her own hair, it was Chestnut Brown and made from Kanekalon, a synthetic – ie, ­plastic – material.

This means it can’t be styled with regular styling tools or it would melt. ‘You can style ­synthetic wigs but you need to wet them and leave them wrapped round a roller, or plaited overnight,’ Amanda tells me.

Fortunately, this heavy fringe needed no styling. I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would but I just don’t feel cool enough to pull this one off. 3/5

The Claudia W

BUYOGET clip-in fringe, £6.99, amazon.co.uk

Another synthetic winge – this time in the unprepossessing shade of ‘Natural Brownish’ which was possibly a little darker than my own hair but, given the current levels of light at this time of year, I reckon I could get away with it. Come the summer, it might be a different story.

‘I always get real hair,’ Amanda tells me. ‘Unless you’re going for something that is obviously unnatural, like bright pink, ­synthetic looks too shiny to be real, especially in the summer when you can really see the ­difference in texture.’

But, if I was looking for a fringe that would allow me to be low maintenance, this was it.

While there’s no doubt that this heavy blunt cut made my face look wider, the fringe was so long that even to get it to sit on my brows – a la Claudia Winkleman – it had to be placed so far back that it covered any grey roots poking through.

And not only would it negate the need for Botox, I’d never have to get my eyebrows threaded again either. 4/5

The Side Sweep

Air Side Clip in Human Hair Side Bang, £14.99, amazon.co.uk

I quite loved the idea of having a romantic sweeping fringe and the Dark Brown real hair looked very natural – especially when Amanda showed me the trick of clipping it in, then blending some of my own hair over the top of it.

But when I saw the photos of it, I thought it just looked a bit ­nondescript and, even though it covered quite a lot of my ­forehead, I actually felt it drew attention to the ­section that was exposed.

I also thought that with a bit of fiddling around, I could probably get my own hair to showcase this style without the faff of clipping something in. 2/5

The French Girl

Beauty Works x Huda Barely There Bangs Clip-in Mini Fringe, £75, beautyworksonline.com

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This Dark Chocolate fringe was by far the most expensive of all the fringes I tried – more than ten times the cost of the cheapest.

Why so pricey? Apparently it’s made from 100 per cent Remy human hair – the most expensive because it means that all the roots and all the cuticles run in the same direction, giving a smoother more natural appearance – and it has also been attached to the base by hand.

It seemed the most versatile out of all of the shapes I tried as it could be styled into more of a side sweep too and is graduated with longer bits at the sides which means that, on a bad hair day, I could easily scrape my own hair back into a bun and clip this in and look instantly chic with a few tousled bits at the sides.

But while I loved the French Girl curtain fringe it gave me, and think it was probably one of the most flattering for my face shape, I didn’t like the way the centre parting emphasised my nose. 4/5

My fringe benefits verdict: I’m totally sold on the concept of the winge and being able to switch up my hairstyle so easily.

My favourites were both the cheapest and the most expensive ones I tried – which sort of ­suggests that, to the untrained eye, it’s as much about the style as it is about the quality. Although I’m not sure I’ll be ­giving up my Botox habit just yet...