Customer Reviews

Great Hair: Elegant Styles for Every Occasion

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Quick quibble with book description: the book only has 62 styles, not 100 as advertised in the book review, and some styles are teenager-ish rather than elegant, but there are more than enough gorgeous styles for every length. Each and every style has clear step-by-step instuctions plus a colour photograph illustrating each step. A bit tricky if you're not used to styling your own hair, but the book makes it as easy as it will ever get. I am VERY happy with this product.

Although some of the hairstyles are a tad trashy, most of them are really lovely.
They're explain step by step, and each step and a coloured photograph and instructions.
I would recommend this book to people who have a basic knowledge of hairstyling. They dont teach you how to blow dry your hair perfect or exactly how to tease hair so you'll need to know just a bit to start out.
The hairstyles range from very simple to extrememly complex(even for me I'm a hairstylist), the complex ones look abit messy sometimes.

But all in all its a FANTABULOUS book, and if you actually can get your hands on this, practice, practice, practice, and soon all your family members will be begging you to do their hair up

This was just what I was looking for. I do hair for special occasions (weddings mostly) and this book gave me some new ideas. There's probably something in there for everyone-elegent, funky, prom. Some of them are a little more work... so not so much a do it yourself.

Love this book! Davis Biton has a unique talent for creating updos that are not fussy looking and would be equally stunning on both younger and older women. The creativity of Biton's styles is incredible! I have several hairstyling reference books and most of Biton's styles and techniques I have not seen before. Yes, some of the styles have teased ends or resemble mohawks but I truly could see myself or others wearing these funky styles for a night out or a fun weekend. There is a also a selection of more traditional Victorian-like low-buns, French Twist-like styles and some beautiful curly hair styles if you prefer to wear your hair down (complete with instructions on how to curl your hair if you aren't blessed with natural curls). The styles are demonstrated on women of all races which is a nice touch as well. I am so inspired by this book. Definitely put this on your wish list.

I am not a hair professional. That being said, I have healthy, well maintained waist length hair that I know how to style several ways, including french braids, a french twist, twisted rope, inside out french braids, and anything using hair elastics that you can dream up. On other people's hair, I can style it into herringbones, french rope braid, cornrows, etc. so I have a decent amount of experience for a non-professional. That being said, I was really, really disappointed with this book, and really, really glad I got it from the library.

The pros:
Lots of very pretty styles for your longer hair, with clear instructions on how to create each style.

The cons:
There weren't many styles that someone could do themselves. Most required someone to help or do them for you.

Nearly half the styles (or more) in this book use bobby pins. If you have really fine, super shiny hair, bobby pins don't stay in 90% of the time, making several of the styles shown completely useless.

Speaking of bobby pins: If I'm putting my hair up elegantly, I consider it "bad form" to have bobby pins showing. In many of these styles, you can see the pins. Easily.

A few of the really pretty styles in this book use hair extensions. I have waist length hair, and enough of it to probably do some of the styles without an extension, but there aren't directions to do it without extensions. I figured out most of them, but you have to improvise.

Many of the final photos of the completed style are using dark haired models photographed on a really dark background that makes the hairstyle blend in, and difficult to see.

Lots of the styles in this book involve pin curls (basically forming a section of your hair into a curl that is held in place with bobby pins.) While most of the styles were very pretty, I sort of thought that once your hands know how to make a pin curl, it's kind of a waste of paper showing so many styles that are nothing more than a variation on how many pin curls and where they're placed on your head.

This is nit-picking, but one of the styles shows a chain wrapped through someone's hair. I've tried a variation of this style with a soldered shut chain (so the links won't as easily catch in my super straight, super fine hair.) It's a recipe for a hair disaster. The chain got snarled and tangled in my hair so badly I ended up cutting the chain out. I imagine if you have thick & heavy straight hair, this style would work fine. But any curl, frizz, or fine hair, I would avoid, avoid, avoid this style.

I bought 4 hair style books and about 6 magazines. This book is the best because of the reasons listed below.

- There are many styles, more than sixty. A few of them look pretty the same but most of them are beautiful, useful and look professional.

- The pictures are large, eye-catching, and printed on glossy paper. They show many details.

- Each style has more than 10 pictures that show you how to do it step-by-step. Consequently, it's very easy to follow. In fact, this book is the easiest to learn how to do it from the BEGINNING to the END. All the other books show me only incomplete steps with 6 pictures. As a result, I had to make many guesses during the process.

- The price is unbeatable.

- It's easy to follow but not easy to achieve unless you're a stylist. If you are not a professional, you'll need help and it will take time. At least, the book gives you the ideas. Well, if you want a professional look, you must have the basic knowledge.

I bought it for my friend who is a stylist. She's very happy with it. It's the BEST that MY MONEY CAN GET. We need more book like this.

I wanted easy ways to do an up do on my own hair. This gives ideas (but you can find those online and on tv, magazines, etc)

You'll probably need someone to do these styles for you.

I have really long hair and wanted to learn how to do some hair styles on my own. This book is great for dress-up days, and even some for everyday use. The step-by-step process is easy to understand, though many of the hair styles I don't think I could pull off on my own! I really like this book.

I purchased this in a package with a practice hair dummy. I work in fashion and was hoping for some inspiration for hairstyles... I wish I had seen this book in person. I would not have purchased it if I'd actually looked through it in the store. The styles are dated and can verge toward cheesy. It would have been relevant in the mid 90's, but not now. Bottom line: there are many other books out there that are better hairstyling books than this.

I bought this book for semi-professional purposes. As it seems, though, hairstyles in this book are less than professional. Sure, diversity is the key strength of the book. But execution is rather messy and looks unfinished (pins and clips in the hair of the models, a few hairs sticking out here and there....) But otherwise, the explanations as to how you get to the final stage and how when is such hair appropriate, are pretty ok.