Vintage Hairstyling: Retro Styles with Step-by-Step Techniques

Very clear

This book is way more than a bunch of pretty pictures! Though it definitely DOES have a bunch of pretty pictures...it also has extremely detailed instructions on absolutely everything. Not only does it detail every single hairstyle with exhaustive written instructions and photos, it also has sections at the front of the book explaining what each kind of hair product, curling device, and other tool does along with how to best use it. For example, did you know that it's better to use hairpins to make pin curls, rather than bobby pins, because bobby pins are too tight and leave a kink in the curl? Okay, maybe you did know that but I sure didn't. It also has a big section just on combing out, so that you can fully understand the correct method to get the look you're going for, whether it's a curl, loose wave, tight wave, pompadour, etc. It also has small sections in the back on vintage makeup and nail trends, to complete your look.For each hairstyle (there are 38 including the different comb-out methods), it tells you up front what tools & products you'll need. It has a "before" photo of the model, which is not only impressive when you see the final look, but is also handy to see who has hair similar to yours before you get started. It offers tips, though, for styling alternate lengths, which is nice for me because my hair is much shorter than most of the models.I'm seriously the biggest idiot ever when it comes to doing hair, I never really learned what to do when I was growing up so today I rarely even bother to blow it dry. So you can imagine this was book was incredibly intimidating! I've been buying up lots of pin-up style clothing lately and my signature hair un-style just wasn't cutting it, so I just had to try. Even though the styles looked like so many steps and tools and seemed so hard to do, the extreme level of detail was REALLY helpful for someone like me. It was pretty scary getting started, but in the end my hair looked exactly like the photo in the book! For someone with my absolute lack of hairstyling skill, that's pretty impressive! Now I can't wait to try a few other styles!BE AWARE that the styles in this book are not "vintage with a modern twist." These are really really vintage looks! So it's really perfect for anyone who is doing a pinup photo shoot, doing hairstyles for a play or movie, or a costume. I don't know if I can pull off these very precise styles in my everyday life! But, it's a great place to start and learn, and I'll work on adding a modern twist on my own.

In my review for this authors other book,  Retro Makeup: Techniques for Applying the Vintage Look , I went into some detail as to why I went this direction as a 46 year old woman. Unlike many faithful retro-lovers, I wasn't looking to duplicate styles. Instead I wanted to try to find a new look for myself that didn't just include trying to look unobtrusive in order to disguise flegling lines or other effects of aging.One's hair helps define their face. Bottom line. You can put on a perfectly neat Mad Men face, but if your hair doesn't reflect that intention, you'll just look strange. So, for me, this book was a necessity.I read it cover to cover and discovered a great many things about hair that I simply didn't know before. Things that make you say, Huh. I also discovered that my astonishing array of expensive hair goos were entirely wrong. And finally, I discovered that these styles are surprisingly easy to pull off, even for a total amateur, if you have patience.Since I wasn't looking for a completely authentic retro style but rather an impression or accent to a specific clean look, I needed to combine some styles and enhance or dampen some elements to fit in and look good without being obvious. Again, just one practice session and I had a winner.The results of this hair and makeup were surprising and involved many enounters while shopping that were pleasant or embarrassing or both. I loved it.The book is organized so that it isn't just a linear progression of a style and then how to do it, it gives opening chapters that show the tools and how to use them in the context of the book. It also gives a good illustration of things like a basic set and what it means to be on or off angle, etc. Super informative while entertaining. Again, just from a brief reading I was able to pull off one of the more complicated styles with minimal tools (though you will need the right ones) and a bit of patience.Highly recommended for any age. Very customizable for those trying to define or redefine their own personal style. Also nice for anyone who wants to really go authentically retro and look perfectly done.

Vintage Hairstyling does a great job of providing in depth details and pictures of how to do different curling methods, the directions to roll them, etc. It also goes into detail about how to roll and set hair for a handful of different “complete” looks and updos. The directions are very clear, and this book was my go to for getting a solid handle on technique. I absolutely love having both. If I want detailed notes on how to do a certain roll, I look here.I also have Vintage Hairstyles by Emma Sundh and Sarah Wing, and I really feel like these two books compliment each other. Vintage hairstyles is great if you already know the basics of vintage hairstyles and are looking for more ideas. The book does a lovely job of giving historical notes on the looks and makeup for each time period (1910 through 1960s) and has a great section on bangs, or the front part of a hairdo. The style in front is a quick way to give most normal curly hairstyles that vintage feel, and I was looking for some variation. There is also a good selection of full updos for more formal looks.I tend to look to Vintage Hairstyles for variants to my updos, while I look at this book (Vintage Hairstyling) for all of my techniques and full 'dos. If I had to recommend a book to start with for a beginner, I'd recommend getting this book first. If you have a lot of experience with technique and doing vintage hairdos (like from watching youtube) and have the basic techniques down, I would recommend the other book first.

Gorgeous book. Easy to follow styles.

Great Product

I love this book, great instructions and pictures, much better than any other book I've brought. I haven't actually tried any of the styles as I haven't had much success in the past with other books, and I'm biding my time, but I don't think it's always the book fault. I'm a novice with my hair but I have hi hopes for this book!

A must if you love vintage hair and makeup looks! Really useful and informative. The only comment I have is that perhaps the author could have added a tip about choosing styles for hair type, style and thickness because some styles only work on very particular lengths, textures and thicknesses of hair.

Apart from the fact that as mentionned in other reviews, its a paperback book ( although a quite large one), i simply love this book. Haven't tried any of hairstyles yet; but it's clear, well illustrated and explained.There's a pretty thorough chapter on pin curls and finger waving at the beginningOne thing though, although it spans all the decades from the 20's up to the sixties, most of the hairstyles presented are inpired from the 40's.