Customer Reviews

Haircutting For Dummies

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Spear offers many helpful tips, among them: 1) wetting the hair for 90 seconds before shampooing and 2) before cutting your bangs, in order to avoid cutting them too short, first wet them and allow the hair to dry for 3 minutes to determine shrinkage.

That said, the main purpose of this book is to teach ordinary people to cut hair, and I'm not sure it does this very well. I've been cutting my 3 boys' hair for many years, having learned by using common sense and by watching my stylist's technique as she cut my hair. I was hoping this book would help me finally understand how to give a good haircut. Not so.

If you are a visual learner, you will find it difficult to follow the step-by-step instructions, since there are few accompanying photos. At a minimum, the instructions for each type of haircut should be accompanied by a photo of that style, as well as head sketches or photos showing the progression of the haircut.

This is not a professional stylist's manual, it's for HOME use. I think that she does spend a wee bit too much time trying to convince the reader to go off to cosmetology school, but then again, that is her field, and her interest. If you want a professional manual giving tips on how to do the hottest, newest styles, go to cosmetology school. If you want the basics of hair cutting, to trim your family's, or your own hair, this book is an ideal tool. As a mother who has been cutting the hair of a husband and 4 sons, I have found corrections to problems that I have been having as an amateur stylist. The first time that I skimmed this book I saw a few tips well worth the price of the book to polish the cuts that I have been giving, and to prevent errors in the future. At about the cost of one decent haircut, this book is a frugal investment.

I feel bad giving this author 1 star because I can only imagine how difficult it is to write a book. And I'm sure she's a good stylist. But I'm a guy who wants to cut his own hair and I couldn't find any easy-to-follow instructions in this book. I truly am a haircutting 'dummy' so I need a book that will treat me like a dummy- and this isn't it. There were terms I didn't understand 100% but no glossary to explain them and the index was little help. Since the book is over 300 pages, I wasn't about to flip through the pages to find answers.

I would suggest that the next edition have far less talk and have far more photos with step-by-step instructions. As the old saying goes, a photo is worth a thousand words, but a drawing of hair is only worth about ten or twenty. Something like that...

This book is well written and easy to understand. It will teach you the basics of cutting hair and will give plenty of tips on achieving what you have in mind. As a former cosmetology student I would recommend this book. In fact I would recommend it in addition to the Milady's Standard Textbook of Cosmetology, because it explains the basics better than the text book does.

However, the book does have one problem. For visual learners some of the techniques may be difficult to grasp. But on the same note the descriptions are pretty clear, so most of us should be able to get the idea of what to do from the text. As far as pictures go buy Miladys textbook it has plenty, but make sure to get a new edition the older ones don't have the step by step pictures. I know this because I have a 1994 editon and a 2004 edition.

Overall the book is perfect for the price. I would say it is worth more than the $14.99 amazon is selling it for. It covers womens hair mostly but also briefly touches on mens and childrens haircuts. This book will also help the reader to understand why different haircutting techniques have the results that they do.

I usually like the Dummies books (although I hate their name) because they explain the most basic information. This book seems to be adapted from a hairstylist's textbook and assumes a lot of background knowledge. The directions keep commenting on my needs as a professional, which I have no desire to become. And there are not nearly enough pictures for a topic so visual a topic as haircutting. I will be shopping for other books that are more geared towards the home haircutter.

I've been growing my hair for over five years. And the only way I've been able to do it is to avoid hairdressers entirely. No matter how strongly you tell any of them that you just want a tiny trim, no matter how sincerely they promise to cut "just an inch," sheaves of hair wind up on the salon floor.

However, my hair didn't grow 100% evenly. After five years the ends were looking pretty ragged. But I was afraid to go to a hairdresser for fear of having five years of hair growing undone. Furthermore, my hair had been in an oval cut and I wanted one straight across. But, without losing a significant amount of hair. (I did a consultation with a local hairdresser who wanted to level my hair to the length of my ex-bangs, which are at least eight inches shorter than any of the rest of my hair, and which would have given me a short cut all around.)

So I finally decided to take matters into my own hands. I bought a copy of _Haircutting for Dummies._ I read the relevant sections, which turned out to be only the ones on buying tools (most of which I had), a few basic rules, and then info on the one haircut I wanted. I marked these sections for my husband, and he spent about twenty minutes reading them. Then we spent twenty minutes cutting my hair--which included setting up a chair and a mirror in the bathroom.

Even though my husband had never cut hair before in his life (nor have I) I emerged with a great cut and surprisingly little hair gone.

If you are in my situation, I could not recommend this book more highly.

I bought this book to save a little cash by learning to cut my own hair. In 300+ pages this book does not give any basic instruction (implied in the title "For Dummies") but instead goes on for almost the entire length of the book about cutting very specific styles in an innane step-by-step "instruction" that nobody but the writer could possibly follow. Waste of time and money.

I can't believe how great the chapter is on compact cutting. I can now layer my daughters' hair and put in a few details in less than 15 minutes. The cuts look great, too. I would have never thought to comb all the hair to one point and snip...but honestly, it really works. Amazing.

I took out a copy from the library, it's worth it as a library book, has some helpful tips, but no reason to spend $15 on it.

I cut my husband's hair, and was looking for some good direction for cutting and blending the back of mens hair, especially neckline and around the ears. This book could have been ever so much better if there were photos of actual hair cutting...how the hands are positioned, how the scissors are positioned, how the hair is actually held, what direction to cut in, etc.

The book contains mostly drawings of cutting guides and how you should part the hair to do the cutting. I think these drawings are more beneficial for professionals. And although there are one or two drawings of the things I think would be most helpful (described above), they do not take place of photos (or series of photos) actually showing how it is done. The few photos that are included are of finished styles.

While I did get one great tip from it, this book is not that helpful for people at home cutting their family's hair. I have liked other "Dummies" books, but I feel like I wasted my money on this one.