Beauty Secrets for Dummies

by Stephanie Seymour, Sarah Ferguson

Introduction

From a first glance Stephanie Seymour's Beauty Secrets For Dummies looks just like all the other bright yellow and black books in the IDG's Books For Dummies series.

For some reason I have always resisted buying any of the "For Dummies "series, no matter what the topic. I have looked at several and seriously considered buying one of the Wine For Dummies books, but never quite got out of the book store with it. So Stephanie's book was my first in the "For Dummies" series.  I have to say I was impressed.

Hot Off The Presses & Initially Hard To Find

When I was out in San Francisco recently (10/98) I saw a copy of Stephanie's new Beauty Secrets book in a local Borders. Since the book was hot off the presses, I figured I could easily pick up the book when I got back to Dallas and avoid the extra expense of having to ship it home.

As life goes, when I got back to Dallas, I was not able to find the book in any of my favorite bookstores. I finally gave up looking for it at the bookstores and ordered it from Amazon.com which is very dangerous for me. Once I start surfing through the hair and beauty books at Amazon.com I can never seem to stop at just one book. Somehow I was able to order Stephanie's book and only order a few other new hair books while I was at Amazon.com.

I have noticed in the last 2 weeks (Nov 98) that Stephanie's book is now prominently displayed in both the Dallas Borders and Barnes & Nobles stores that I hang out at.   So the good news is that the book is becoming a lot easier to find.

Lots Of Hair Care Pages

Since Hair Boutique focuses on hair care, I always direct my attention on the hair care parts of any beauty book that I buy.  I have to say that Stephanie did a good job of dedicating a large number of pages to hair care.

Stephanie's new Beauty Secrets For Dummies book contains over 80 pages of dedicated hair care information. This is a fairly high percentage considering that, not counting the information in the appendices, there are about 280 total pages of actual information related to beauty topics in the entire book.

References To Beauty Companies

There are also several pages in the back of the book that list the names, phone numbers and URLs of all the major beauty companies that also have hair care products. I was a little disappointed not to see two of my favorites in Stephanie's list in the back.

Somehow ARTec and Ouidad did not make it in her list. I guess you can't always get everyone all the time. She has done a fairly comprehensive list of the big names like Aveda, Kiehl, and KMS.

References To Web Sites

Stephanie also lists a few of the hair and beauty websites in the back. I have to admit that I was disappointed that she did not include some of my favorites like WW Beauty Store, George Caroll and Beauty Buzz. I realize that she only included a few sites as a reference, but I am always excited when my favorite sites make it onto any "best of the web" lists.

Book Sections

The Beauty Secrets For Dummies book is divided into the following sections:

• Introduction
• Part I: Skin Care
• Part II: Hair
• Part III: Makeup
• Part IV: Home Spa
• Part V: The Part of Tens
• Appendix A: Glossary of 100+ Beauty Terms
• Appendix B: Beauty Resources
• Index

Lots Of Great Hair Care Information

While this book does not have any "earth shattering" new hair secrets, it does provide lots of great hair care information that is well organized into different tables.  The way the tables are presented makes the hair care information easy to understand and follow. I have always been a fan of information presently cleanly and clearly in tables. Stephanie does a wonderful job of including the most important hair care facts.  I was very impressed.

Stephanie has a detailed table of information on shampoo formulas where she describes each type (baby shampoo, clarifying conditioning, dandruff, etc) and the positives and negatives. This type of generic hair care information is invaluable to many people who get confused by all the hundreds of product options that are currently available on the market today.

Great Information

There is also a similar table on daily hair conditioning formulas. There is a "terms" page where she explains what a humectant is.  This page also explains AHAs, Amino acids, botanicals and other definitions. There are also tables on hair care routines for the different hair types and how to shop for hair care products.

Her chapter on "Finding Your Style" also contains lots of great information. While the "Styling Your Hair" chapter is stuffed full of great hair tips, the chapter does not contain any color photographs or figure drawings of hair styles.

More Color Photos Would Be Great

In fact, Stephanie's entire book contains 8 separate pages of color photos (Makeup Workbook section). There is only one new color photo of Stephanie in the book, other than the two on the book's covers.

The "Styling Your Hair" section also has less than a dozen black and white photos of Stephanie that are nice, but would be so much better in color. Even the number of figure drawings throughout the book are limited.

In all fairness the absence of  lots of color photos keeps the cost of the book down.  I must add that where appropriate, figure drawings are included. This is mostly the case in the makeup sections where diagrams are helpful.

Stephanie In Curlers

I should also point out for all the "curler" fans that there is an interesting black and white photo of Stephanie with her hair in curlers sitting under a hood hair dryer on the front page of the hair section.

I must warn you, if you are buying this book because you love Stephanie and want to see lots of photos of her, this is probably not the right book for you. If you want a lot of good technical information on hair, beauty and skin, you have come to the right book.

Book Is Well Organized

I am impressed with the way the hair information is organized into all of the various hair chapters. Stephanie has excellent tips on working with a stylist and has a hair cutting tipsheet.

Her chapter on coloring and processing your hair has tables on hair color formulas, working with a colorist and coloring your hair at home. She includes a fairly extensive section on the most common hair questions and answers. It makes an excellent reference guide.

I Recommend This Book Highly

You are probably wondering if I would recommend that you buy this book. While the book is titled "Beauty Secrets For Dummies", I believe the book has a lot of great facts and details that can be referred to for many years to come.

The information that is presented will age well. Stephanie does not tie her hair information to specific products. This is very wise since products change.  Just recently I was devastated to discover that one of my favorite KMS styling products had been discontinued.

I found it helpful that in the hair conditioning tables, she gives the basic principles of each type of product without recommending currently available products. This prevents confusion, at least, in my opinion.

Good Price/Great Reference Guide For Years To Come

For the average person, there is lots of great hair care and beauty information included in Stephanie's book. I think the book is well priced and definitely worth the cost. Especially when purchased from Amazon.com where I paid $15.99 versus the current cover price of $19.99.

I have already stashed Stephanie's "Beauty Secrets For Dummies" on my special reference shelf  for hair care.  I have also made arrangements to order a few extra to tide me over "just in case".

I think Stephanie's book is a good investment and this book with endure for years as a good solid reference guide.  Stephanie should be congratulated on her first book project.  She provides great advice in a wonderful format.  Congratulations to Stephanie.

PS. If you happen to bump into Stephanie ask her to include the Hair Boutique's URL in her next version. Better yet, ask her to surf on over to see us on the Net. If she wants to give me an interview about her new book that would be very cool. I think I could fit it into my schedule.  :-)

Buy The Book

Paperback: 322 pages
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc (September 1, 1998)
ISBN: 0764550780