415 Chapter 13 Advances in Hair Styling Raymond Rigoletto, Anand Mahadeshwar, PhD, Linda Foltis, and David Streuli Ashland Specialty Ingredients Introduction The shape that we put our hair into is very much linked to how we want to express ourselves as individuals. This puts hair style on an equal par with the clothes we wear or the model of car we drive, allowing us to make a statement to the world about who we are as individuals. The number of hair style types is endless, due to the creativity of an ever evolving salon industry, the technical advancements in the personal care industry, the creativity exhibited by formulation chemists, and the everyday grooming behaviors of the average consumer. Hair styles range from short simple crew cuts that boys get when they go to summer camp to extreme styles that are evident on the red carpet during Oscar night. Besides individual expression, there is a psychological component to putting hair into a particular configuration. The biological or functional necessity of scalp hair has become extinct. Hair now serves more of a sociological role, one very much linked to self esteem and the confidence we have with other people. Male pattern baldness in young men therefore often results in self-consciousness and a degree of insecurity, and hair loss in women, which is less socially accepted as “normal,” can be even more traumatic. There are many skills necessary to style hair properly, both from the point of view of professional beauticians and the average
Previous Page Next Page