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1. Meeting Your Haircut Problem Head-On

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 lot of body, this makes an easy haircut. Most of the hair is cut approximately two inches in length, with the two side pieces a bit shorter, so they will stay back. The bang is cut short, pretty much one length (about one inch), and the back even shorter so that it can be brushed with an upward movement. When combing, comb the bangs back into the wave; pull some out and down over the forehead. No. 3 curls were  used.

This book is written on the supposition that there is no such thing as a permanent, so that you can get down to the bedrock assumption that "My hair is curly, and this is what I can do with it" or "My hair is straight, and this is what I can do with it"; but if you like some of the curlier haircuts and have straight hair, you can permanent it if you wish. A complete guide on home permanents is included in my first book, Be Your Own Hair Stylist.

TACKLING YOUR OWN PROBLEM

To get down to cases, let us consider your own problem. Every woman has a "problem" to the extent that she must find a version of the style she wants that can be done with the hair she actually has. I believe that every hair problem has a solution. The important thing is for you to realize what your problem is and then concentrate on finding the simplest solution for it.

Top section is cut shorter than the rest of the hair so that it will separate from it; it's set in No. 3 pin-curls. The sides and back are left quite long and curled high. Veil­ing adds glamor, keeps haircut neat.

A coiffure for hair that is very curly. No. 1 pin-curls are used so that the hair will stand away from   the   head.

STRAIGHT   HAIRCUTS:   pictures   12   through    16

Styles for straight hair, which take advantage of any slight bend or wave the hair may have.

12 An excellent treatment of thick straight hair that has a slight bend confined entirely to the hairline. The bangs, cut short and right up to the hairline, are graduated so that they create a slightly turned-under look.


13 Straight hair with a little bend is set in a pageboy by using medium-size rollers and a fat wad of cotton under the bangs to give them lift.

                       
Straight hair with bend around the front is curled in No. 3 curls. The top curls utilize the stand-up pin-curls. The back is combed sleek and straight.

A straight-haired girl with a center part. The part uti­lizes the comb-up method, giving the minimum of height and drawing the hair quite a bit forward, before us­ing No. 3 curls to barely turn the front ends. Use No. 2 curls for the rest. (How—to pictu re 11, page 53.)

Here is a perfect example of the comb-up method to give the hair­do height, using No. 3 curls at the bottom to give it barely a turn.

Let us suppose, as an example, that you have curly hair which you find unmanageable. To me that is a sure sign that you have picked the wrong style. You must begin by thinking, "I have curly hair and must choose a haircut for curly hair." You should then try to visualize all the hair styles which utilize curls, fluff or waves and decide which of them can be adapted to your face and features with some slight changes.

To reverse the example, let us suppose your hair is straight and that you want to wear a poodle cut, afeather cut or some version of the Italian styles. Not having any natural curl to maintain such a style with only occasional settings, the haircut, while it might look well on you, could entail so much work in upkeep that the tedium of maintaining it would before long out­weigh any joy you could derive from its appearance.

I can immediately hear you say, "But a permanent wave would solve all these problems." Alas, no. About one month after you had a permanent, your hair would be too long to look right in a poodle haircut. It would have to be cut, and the haircut would take off most of the permanent. You would be left again with straight hair, right back where you started from—except for the expense, the exasperation and the need which would still confront you of finding a real solution to your problem.

I must emphasize: it's not how much you do to your hair, it's how little! In some ways successful hair care is like raising children. It's what you do while you are with them that counts, not the amount of time you spend with them. The same theory applies to hair. A woman who spends hours on her hair will get no better results than the one who gets the right haircut in the first place, gives her hair a minimum of suitable care, and then forgets all about it.

My frequent references to hair cutting should not be construed as meaning that I am promoting only short hair. I like any length of hair so long as it does some­thing for the wearer. I believe that any woman can wear any hair length and look well in it—-long, medium or short. Each length has its advantages and its limitations.

You just need to recognize the limitations and decide whether you will be happy within them.

Some of what I have said here in outlining my ideas on hair beauty may seem elementary to you. It has been my experience, however, that the average woman who is dissatisfied with her hair (and the average woman is) has simply never come to grips with her problem. She may not even think of it in terms of a problem, with a solution; often she is inclined to think her own hair is a mess about which nothing can be done. She acts as though when beautiful hair was being handed out, she was one of nature's stepchildren and just has to accept what she was given. The chances are that she actually wasn't shortchanged; the beauty is there in her hair, buried under years of bad treatment, neglect and lack of understanding. It's just waiting to be brought out.

My endeavor, both in working with customers and in writing, is to take on the brunt of this problem, and of the problem of maintaining the hair's appearance with a minimum of effort. By constantly analyzing all types of hair and deciding in which ways they can best be cut and styled, I believe I can eliminate ninety per cent of the trouble of upkeep. I have done it for my cus­tomers. If you accept my theories on hair beauty and how to achieve it, I can do the same for you.

LONG, MEDIUM OR SHORT

Ideal styles are those that take advantage of the hair's natural qualities and tendencies,  making them easy to maintain. Long, medium or short (pictures 17 through 19) they all look well.

18 Straight to wavy hair, where the top, when cut short, will go natura|ly into this curl-wave bang, set in No. 3 curls along with the sideburn curls. The rest is set in No. 2 curls.




19 There are a few hair styles that defy description. This is one of them. A certain kind of hair and a certain ability to manage it are needed to achieve this effect. There is no set way to do it but if it is naturally curly and you're the type who has a good knowledge of your hair's idiosyncrasies and can brush and coax it into shape, then this hair style could be for you.

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