Vidal Sassoon

Vidal Sassoon's extraordinary life has taken him from an impoverished East End childhood to global fame. The father of modern hairdressing, his slick sharp cutting took the fashion world by storm and reinvented the hairdressers' art. Before Vidal Sassoon, a trip to the hairdressers meant a shampoo and set or a stiffly lacquered up-do that would last a week - or more. After Vidal Sassoon, hair was sleek, smooth and very, very stylish. Along with his lifelong friend and partner in style, Mary Quant, who he first met in 1957 and who to this day sports a Sassoon-style geometric bob, he styled the 1960s. As memorable as the mini - be it car or skirt - he is one of the few people who can genuinely be described as iconic. His memoirs are as rich in anecdote as one might hope and full of surprising and often moving stories of his early life - his time at the Spanish & Portuguese Jewish Orphanage in Maida Vale, fighting Fascists in London's East End and fighting in the army of the fledgling state of Israel in the late Forties. And then there's the extraordinary career, during which he cut the hair of everyone who was anyone, launched salons all over the world, founded the hairdressing school that still bears his name and became a global brand, with Vidal Sassoon products on all our bathroom shelves.

This comprehensive manual marks an important milestone in the Vidal Sassoon success story. For the first time the man who is the acknowledged master in the world of haircutting and hair care reveals in book form the secrets of the techniques that have made him famous all over the world. 'Cutting Hair the Vidal Sassoon Way' will teach you, step-by-step, how the main basic and advanced haircuts are achieved. It is backed by many photographs which actively demonstrate how to improve your technique and perform the perfect cut.

Oswald Mosley decided he could carry on where Hitler and Mussolini had left off. On street corners his fascist speakers would proclaim ‘not enough Jews were burned at Belsen’. Enter the 43 Group. In a ferocious, bloody and brilliantly covert five-year campaign, they destroyed the Mosleyites. The membership of the Group was almost entirely made up of British servicemen, the original 43 members quickly swelling to more than 300 and including a Battle of Britain ace, a VC winner – and Vidal Sasson! The Groups philosophy of the ‘3 D's’ - Discuss, Decide and Do it – were quickly manifested on the streets of London, with thousands of fascist meetings and rallies sent packing. The Group was organised in 'wedges' of a dozen or so. These wedges would attend a BUF rally and at a given signal would storm the speaker’s platform, attacking BUF stewards and speaker. The members' military background ensured tight discipline and brutally effective actions. This, combined with a number of spies within the fascist ranks, ensured the 43 Group almost always came out on top, closing down two-thirds of all fascist activity in the UK until its simultaneous demise with organised fascism in Britain in 1950. As capitalism falters, fascism is gathering strength in Europe today. This book is a timely reminder of how it gathers that strength - and one way of stopping it.

A captivating look at the career of social and style revolutionary Vidal Sassoon. A visionary hairstylist who became a household name, Vidal Sassoon was an instrument of change during the cultural shifts of the 1960s. Inspired by Bauhaus architecture, Sassoon’s career took off with the Nancy Kwan bob in 1963, followed by the boyish five-point haircut that blurred class and sexual distinctions in the unisex era. These low-maintenance styles signaled liberation from the constraints of the past and led to a mix of social strata in his Bond Street salon as both ladies and shopgirls had their hair trimmed side by side. His singular and iconic haircuts for tastemakers such as Grace Coddington and Mia Farrow charted a new course for ideals of feminine beauty. Combining fashion photography, candid snapshots, and recollections by Sassoon and members of his artistic circle, such as David Bailey, Terence Donovan, and Mary Quant, this book is a fascinating look at one man’s driven efforts to transform style and the radical changes wrought by progressive fashion.

This comprehensive manual marks an important milestone in the Vidal Sassoon success story. For the first time the man who is the acknowledged master in the world of haircutting and hair care reveals in book form the secrets of the techniques that have made him famous all over the world. 'Cutting Hair the Vidal Sassoon Way' will teach you, step-by-step, how the main basic and advanced haircuts are achieved. It is backed by many photographs which actively demonstrate how to improve your technique and perform the perfect cut.