poofy asian hair

Hello, its been 1 month since i got my hair cut short, and im now entering the awkward in-between stage. At the moment its fine, once I gel it it looks all right. But when theres nothing in it, its really really poofy, and thick. (asian hair, so its straight).

The thing is, I am planning to grow it out again. And once the front reaches about my eyebrows, and the back grows out a bit so its visible from the front, I won't use any gel. And I don't want it to be really poofy then. (I don't want a big poofy caterpillar over my forehead, I want bangs.) Soo.. Should I layer it, and if so, how would I go about this? Would some kind of product help? Thanks!