Big Hair (Hardcover)

~ James Innes-Smith (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A hair-raising journey through the era when big was king.

In the beginning, there was the hair. And some of the hair was bad, but it was small. As men and women everywhere worked to improve and increase their lot, however, they stumbled onto some of humankind's most miraculous innovations: spray, gel, mousse, crimping irons, and of course, the perm. With these new tools, people everywhere suddenly found themselves able to coax their lank, lifeless tresses toward glorious new heights. The age of big hair had begun.

Now, the greatest of these bouffants, afros, rakes, beehives, and Flock-of-Seagulls have been plucked from their spots in hairdressers' windows and given the respect they so clearly demand. Bigger and badder than you ever dreamed possible, Big Hair goes out to all those people of yesteryear who were unafraid to think BIG.

About the Author

James Innes Smith is the author of the renowned Bad Hair.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (December 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582344493
• ISBN-13: 978-1582344492
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #943,172 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another hair-larious book (bad pun intended), January 18, 2004

By	Scott Wejmar (Turlock, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Innes-Smith is back again with another hilarious book. When you were a kid waiting at the salon/barber to get your hair cut, do you remember picking up those large books filled with the latest hairstyles? I remember thinking they were hideous back then. Well, they really were hideous/hilarious and the author has collected them for this pictorial of bad coifs. Great book to leave on your coffee table to amuse your guests.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A small book about big hair, January 2, 2004

By	Eileen Rieback (Coral Springs, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

One of the authors of "Bad Hair" is back with another off-the-wall collection of atrocious but funny Do's. But this time, they are so voluminous that they make Marge Simpson's hair look like a crew cut. The photos, gathered from window displays of hair salons, depict a dazzling array of outrageously hairy heads. Frizzed, teased, poufed, upswept, sculpted, bobbed, and coerced into outsized and unnatural shapes, these hairstyles are not for the faint of heart. Captions would have enhanced the presentation of these masterpieces.

14 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Big Hair, Bigger Rip-Off, December 6, 2005

By	Moe Charles (Anaheim, Calif.) - See all my reviews

This is a cut-and-paste non-book that features a lot of punky 1980s hairdos that never made it into the mainstream and were purposely ironic and off-putting; so there's not a lot of snickering "what-were-they-thinking" laughs to be found in this small tome. The book should have been titled "Outrageous Hair For Homosexuals." Strangely enough, there's not a lot of "big hair" in the book! Many of the women and some of the "men" depicted have short hair, so go figure. The book is also completely devoid of text or credits or captions or any historical perspective--just a bunch of kooky pictures probably retrieved from Dumpsters behind salons in Manhattan and West Hollywood. A book on "big hair" should probably show us beehives from 1962 or Cleopatras (the kind of Priscilla Presley used to sport) or preacher pompadours (like Oral Roberts) or Elvis Presley and Jack Lord or country queens like Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn and show us big hair from history. Nothing doing. This one's definitely a hair-don't!!