I love trading, because I got this great 1960s hairstyle book!

I just got this great 1960s hairstyle book, thanks to a trade from a blog reader. She contacted me because she had an antique/vintage hairstyling book that she didn’t have any use for, but didn’t want to toss it or give it to the thrift store. She asked me if I knew anything about the author or if I would be interested in it.

It’s called The Art of Hairstyling by Mary Kawakami, written in 1963. It’s looks to be self-published, which is no small feat.

The author page describes Kawakami as a platform artist and teacher, who had a school in Provo, Utah called Mary’s College of Beauty.

I love that name. That is a classic style of beauty school name. My school was called B&L International Beauty College, another classic style beauty school name.

I was so pleased with it when I received this books for so many reasons.

1. I have never seen a hair book from this time period written by a minority woman.

2. It is soooo Atomic Era cool. The names of these 1960s vintage hairstyles include Marshmallow Flip, Satellite, and High Fidelity!

Right click on the images and open them up in a new window. I saved them at a higher resolution so you guys can download and learn.

Keep in mind one major thing when you are looking at these 1960s hairstyle tutorials. The hairstylist curls the hair in the direction the hairstylist wants the final curl to direct towards. That is the key to creating a style that you have control over.

If you want the hair to wave or move back, set the curl to go the same way, whether you are using a hair roller or a curling iron. In the Coquette Hairstyle in the above image, the magnetic rollers and pin curls are wet set in the direction that the final hairstyle direction is. In image #4, the pin curls rotate back and up in a counterclockwise curl. In image #10, you can see the hair brushed out above the left ear rotates back at up in the direction the hairstylist wanted the hair to go.

This hairstyle is part of the Satellite series. I find it interesting that Ms. Kawakami chose to do this hairstyle completely in stand-up pin curls. According to the book it was for, “Back to professionalism by expert use of curls which insure ease and flexibility of combout.”

So now for you guys! Does anyone want to trade?

I love collecting vintage beauty books and magazines. If you have something that you don’t have use for and want to trade for one of my new books, contact me! I am not terribly concerned about condition, although I prefer all the pages are there.