I believe in beautiful hair, not beautiful haircut. To me the test of a haircut style lies not in how much you do to your hair, but how little.

At the start of this book I feel I must make clear that I don't subscribe to most of the popular beliefs, super­stitions, taboos and practices in relation to hairdressing. I say these things not to startle the reader or to present myself as a rebel or an eccentric, but because I sincerely believe that a statement of my basic beliefs about hair styling and hair care is necessary to a thorough understanding of the pages that follow.

I am convinced that beautiful hair is within the reach of any woman once she understands that it can be achieved by working with nature, not against it. In other words, your haircut should be based on the type and tex­ture of your hair and the amount of natural wav or curl it possesses.

1    Beautiful    hair,   full   of   motion   and    highlights,   inspires   the feeling of wanting to touch it.

The success of such a haircut will rest on the natural qualities of your hair. It will not depend on the skill of a hairdresser who twists and distorts it into patterns it was never intended to follow, and which, furhermore, it will refuse to follow within a day or two after it has left the hairdresser's hands, no matter how much time you are willing to spend in trying to make it conform to the unnatural lines that have been forced upon it.

All during my professional life I have worked to emancipate women from the need for continuous hair care. My object is to enable every woman to take ad­vantage of the natural qualities of her hair, whatever they may be. When you do this, and select a style suited to your face and features, the upkeep should be negligi­ble.

What I am doing is to reverse the popular view of hair styling so that women will depend more on hair cutting for their good looks rather than hairdressing.

FREE-MOVING HAIRCUTS DEPEND ON SKILLFUL CUTTING, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE HAIR IS CURLY OR STRAIGHT: see pictures  1-6







2 Only for the girl who has curly hair, it is a haircut that is brushed into place. What you must, be sure of here is that while wet it has the general shape of the finished product. Then let it dry completely and recomb so that it will curl softly, as shown. In some cases, in order to get more curl into the top, if it's not quite curly enough, it's advisable to make a series of No. 3 curls, setting them pretty much where you would want them to fall. The stand-up technique can be used here.    

 

For this haircut, use No. 2 pin-curls. When combing it, comb it briskly back and up (which will apparently take out all the curl); then with your fingers loosen it so that the little ringlets break out by themselves. Pull the top curls forward and down so that they will fall casually on the forehead. The back hair can be either brushed up or pin-curled to assume a slight fluff. This method is best suited for wavy hair that won't quite assume this shape without the  help of pin-curls.    Use No. 3  pin-curls  on forehead.

             

5 Here we have a style for wavy hair. All the curls that touch on the forehead and face are No. 3 curls; the rest are No. 2. The smaller pictures show how it looked before the back was curled.

6 Cut exactly to measure, the hair is shaped close to the head. Hair groom was applied to the hair while wet to shape it in this way. It was then simply combed as you see it into place. Best suited for hair that is straight at the crown and has bend around the  hairline.

Within the framework of this idea, I have throughout the years sought to include more types and textures of hair, and different types of faces and features, in this "charmed circle." Following one straight path in this direction, I have always rejected any kinds of haircuts that would present difficult or complicated hair problems to the wearers.

For years I have put thought, study and experimenta­tion into trying to simplify life for my customers. I want to give each one of them a haircut that will keep her out of my salon for six or eight weeks, until she needs a new haircut. Between visits her hair should be a source of pleasure to her not only because it looks well but because it is easy to take care of. It should not be a nuisance, a chore or a disappointment. This is what I mean by emancipation.
it's not as simple as it seems

When a woman gets her hair done in my salon, the whole procedure no doubt seems very simple to her. We have a little preliminary discussion, I wield my shears, and there is the finished product. Actually, though you may never have thought of it in this way, the process of going to a hair stylist is like buying an industrial prod-duct such as a television set. You may choose the set because it has a handsome cabinet, but what really counts in the set is the knowledge of engineering that has produced its inner parts and assures their successful operation. To carry this analogy along, a good haircut is one that presents a beautiful exterior like the tele­vision cabinet but which also has been "engineered" by the hair stylist so that it's going to be simple to oper­ate. You don't want to keep sending your TV set to a shop for constant and costly repairs. In the same way, you should demand a haircut that will not entail exten­sive daily care or a weekly visit to the beauty parlor. The results of my years of "engineering" in hair styling I have tried to pass on to my readers.

Another of my basic, though unorthodox, beliefs is that any woman can wear any haircut, if she has the right hair for it. So long as it comes within the natural ten­dencies of your hair, some version of any style can be worked out that will suit your features. A prime example of this is the center part, dealt with in a later chapter. When I talk about working within the natural tend­encies of your hair, that is not to say I believe that just because nature gave it to you, it's good. There are ways of improving on nature, as for example in the realm of color. Nevertheless you should bear in mind that in general whatever you attempt that runs counter to your hair's natural qualities and tendencies is going to increase the amount of time and care needed for maintenance.

       

7 Changing the color of your hair can add vivid­ness and sparkle to your whole personality. When your hair isn't quite long enough to give it the fullness you want, set it as indicated, comb it out a bit and attach some tulle or other fluffy material to give a full effect to the back of the head.

WAVY TO CURLY HAIRCUTS: pictures 8 through  11

8 Suitable for wavy hair with a... [Chapter Incomplete]

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