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Beginning Hair Braiding by Karen Ribble

Braided Image

If you've never braided someone else's hair, or simply want to improve upon the skill of braiding, this book and video/DVD will be most helpful to you. It covers many styles and shows braiding on different lengths of hair as well. A wonderful resource for learning how to braid on others!

-Fox

Beginning Hair Braiding- booklet

A nice booklet that shows many different styles. The pictures (and there are many) are beautiful and nice to look at. The instructions are easy to follow and she shows illustrations as to where your hands are supposed to go. There are many styles demonstrated in this booklet, like the perimeter braid, lace braid, five strand braid, cage
braid and many more. She also shows how to use a yarn needle to sew ribbons in some styles.

Beginning Hair Braiding DVD (she has a vhs tape of this as well)

This is my personal favorite of all of them. I love watching this dvd. There are many styles here that I wondered how to do right. Like I realized I was doing the perimeter braid wrong until I saw this. She shows many styles on different girls with different hair lengths. Some of the styles include a combination braid, perimeter, french crown and
dutch crown, rope twists, french braid and dutch braids. She also shows how to use accent braids for the styles. One of my favorites is when she does the french crown on a girl with real short hair. It turned out great. She gives hair tips throughout the video which
helps. Karen does a wonderful job on all her products. I am a fan. :)

-Melissa

Braid Your Own Hair by Karen Ribble

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If you want to learn how to braid your own hair, give this book and video/DVD a try! I learned how to braid my own hair awhile back, but my finger holds are different. Since I feel this may make more difficult styles of braids easier to do, I have become a student of Karen's through her book and DVD. I encourage you to give it a try! I think the book and DVD/video work best together. Her books and DVD's are reasonably priced! Finding good braiding books is difficult, but I think these will be a great part of your hair care library!

-Fox

Braid Your Own Hair Booklet

Nice Illustrations and pictures of many braids. Teaches you how to
french braid and more. This book along with the accompanying video/dvd
introduces two different handholds used to do a french braid and a
dutch/inside out braid. This handhold is the basis of all the more
complicated styles in the book. I like the variations in the back of
the book that shows diffrent styles you can do using the techniques in
the book.

Braid Your Own Hair DVD (she has a vhs tape of this as well)

I really liked the dvd. It really helps to see where your hands are
supposed to go. It helps to see someone do the styles themselves and
how they do it. There are many styles on this tape and is a great
compliment to the book. She shows many styles and pictures of braided
do's. She even shows how to do crown braid on yourself. They are easy
to follow instructions, even for the more complicated styles. She
offeres many tips throughout the tape, which are useful. She even
shows how to use a bobby pin properly. (Which I am not too good at,
using bobby pins.) Karen has very long hair which can be used to show
many different styles. Some of the styles demonstrated are the french
braid, dutch/inside out braid, crown, lace braid and others.

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Complete Guide to Hairstyling and Haircare
by Jacki Wadeson

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0754805611

I give the this book 8out of 10 - rating reason: It is just a basic hair care book but it did go above and beyond with those instructions and pictures.

This book has lots of Updos and Braiding ideas with great pictures and step by step instructions. It also has alot of useful information on caring for hair and choosing styles. Mostly general stuff. This is a good book for beginners who don't know much. It's not really a grow your hair long book. This book focuses on Women's hairstyles and the styles look like they are for ages 16 and up. Alot of the models look like they are college age. I haven't tried many hair care books. Most of mine are style books.

-Robert (Purple Bubba)

Curly Girl by Lorraine Massey

Curly Girl is an easy read and focuses on what YOU can do to help your hair (and not what the author can do for you). It is easy to understand for both young children and adults and offers a lot of good advice. There are tips for washing, but no strict guidelines (she says that going off shampoo really helps curly hair, but offers advice on which shampoo to use if you really have to). She even offers some advice for long curls! There are homemade recipes to try as well as washing routines and styling tips. It is well-illustrated and even has some short articles written by other curly haired girls about coming to acceptance with their hair. I would rate this book 9/10 and recommend it to you any of you curly girls!

-Leia

Curl Talk

Unlike Curly Girl, Curl Talk, is approached by the author in a different way. Some of the views in the book differ from our views as "longhairs", so it may be more of a benefit for short-haired curlies. It seems like following her routine would take a very long time every morning, what with all the gel and diffuse drying and shampooing and everything. Also, unlike Curly Girl, it seems like she is giving you rules to follow, rather than guidelines. As I said, in MY opinion this book would be more of a benefit for those who have shorter hair.

The good things about Curl Talk: Lots of 'dos and styling advice, product information, and information about what to do with your hair in certain situations (eg at the beach, going out for the evening, etc). I would give this book a 6.5/10.

-Leia

Cutting Your Family's Hair by Gloria Handel

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0806958510
I'll give this one 8out of 10 - Reason for rating: This is probably the nicest book of it's kind. It has actual photos and not drawings.

My only real complaint is that it could have had a few more pictures for each cut. But there were plenty. But at least it wasn't all illustrations or nothing but instructions. Considering the fact that most videos will only give you 3-6 styles tops, I think she did a good job on this and put a lot into it. Its worth buying if you want to cut hair and don't know how. One plus, it shows instructions for a lady with at least mid back length hair getting a trim so maybe that could help you or someone you know.

-Robert (Purple Bubba)

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Great Braids: The New Way to Exciting Hair Styles
Thomas Hardy

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0806986174

I give it 8 out of 10 - Reason for rating: It's almost as good as the Klutz book but it cannot be ranked the same. If the Klutz book did not exist this book would get the 10.

Its got the same basic styles as the Klutz books but doesn't lay flat or come with stuff. It also uses a system of explaining that might be difficult to understand. It has illustrations of a hand and then different colored string like drawings to act as hair sections. Then it shows them moved around to different places between finger slots. This book could also be used to inspire people.

-Robert (Purple Bubba)

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Hair: A Book of Braiding and Styles
Anne Akers Johnson - Klutz Books

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570540187
I give the Klutz book 10 out of 10 - Reason for rating: This book went out of it's way to be easy to use and helpful. It came with scrunchies and a spiral binding to lay flat. It included the nice flower print box also.

I was a complete beginner when I bought my copy. Now granted I do most of the styles on my mannikin heads, but it is a good book and it even comes with stuff. Even the nice cardboard box comes in handy for my little tools.

Also if you go to a store to get this it might be in the kids section because 95% of Klutz books are for kids. My copy was in the kids section at Barnes & Noble. Also, the book has a spiral binding like a notebook. This means it lays flat while you are working on your hair. Even if you don't need this book I recommend buying it just to have on hand if company comes over or something. This book of styles could inspire someone to grow their hair longer and there are some shorter haired styles as well.

-Robert (Purple Bubba)

Kerry bought me a very neat book. It's from Klutz and it's Hair, A book of braiding and styles by Anne Akers Johnson. It comes with two velvet scrunchies and one beaded one. Also a little box to keep them in.It's only about 70 pages, but it's kind of braiding for dummies, which I need! It has really cute styles and really clear directions with pictures, not surprising since most of their books are for kids. You can see it at: http://www.klutz.com/catalog/product.php?itemNo=1120&cat=7

It's rather spendy if you buy it full price, but we got it on sale for a lot less. It has:Hair Basics, Basic Braid, Twists and Rolls, Braids. Those are the sections in the Table of Contents. It shows how to do several styles of French Twist, Victorian and Gibson Girl Tuck, all sorts of buns, how to use hair sticks, something called a Quiff that is a way to wear your bangs while they are growing out, and all sorts of braids. Fancy updos, half dos and casual. Each style has a photo of the style, then clear drawings of how to do it. I'm very visual, so this is great for me, who hasn't even mastered the French Twist! It mentions variations if you have curly hair, and usually tells you if you need really long hair or not. I'm not sure there are any brand new styles here, but it's great on the basics and a few different ways of wearing them. Since it deals with various lengths of hair, it's a good idea book for while you are waiting for your hair to grow!Some of the models have super curly hair, and it makes me wish I did, so I could wear my hair like that!It's also hair friendly, on the first page it tells you to never use rubber bands, and on the second page it talks about combs and barrettes. It's written very user friendly, you won't find any Cosmo you-must-be-a-perfect-Pantene-ad here. It has an occasional mention of a curling iron, but you can always ignore that.Klutz sells their books in a lot of different places, we bought this one at the craft store my husband works at, and I've seen them in toy stores since they are  usually kid oriented. Suggested retail is $19.99. It's wire bound so you can open it fully and set it on the counter and it won't flip shut while you are wrestling with a new hair style. You might check your library, it might be in the young adults section.

-WildCatDancer

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388 Great Hairstyles

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0806994010

I give this book 7 out of 10 -Reason for rating: This is basically a photograph book with lots of different haircut styles. Its kinda like one of those big thick salon books with the photos but this one is a softcover / regular book and the pages each have like 10 - 20 pictures of different styles. Its a nice book to look at but not for learning.

This is basically a photograph book with lots of different haircut styles. Its kinda like one of those big thick salon books with the photos but this one is a softcover / regular book and the pages each have like 10 - 20 pictures of different styles. Its a nice book to look at but not for learning. I like it, but its not good for much except choosing a new haircut. I don't want to say Eh about it. I like it more than that. There are a few long hair pictures and a couple of updos but they aren't the best instructions. This might be a good book for someone who has short hair now and might need some medium length haircuts to try while growing out.

-Robert (Purple Bubba)

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