It is important how your hair looks and to what extent it flatters you. Be guided by your beautician while choosing a hair style. Choose a hair style to suit the shape of your face. This should not be too difficult if you follow the basic rule of balancing your bone structure. Usually faces are of three shapes–round, long and square. If your face is round, add length to your face by having fullness on the top of head and by either having no parting or one which is placed to one side. Avoid styles where hair is very long and straight or flat at the top of your head. For a long face, the forehead, cheek bones and jaw are often of equal width and this can be hard, so a soft hair style is usually more flattering. Avoid center parting and dead straight shoulder length hair but aim at a short one. If your hair is very long and straight or flat at the top of your head.

Square face has an angular shape and any hair style should be gentle to soften the outline. Shoulder length hair, flicking at the ends or straight, is flattering and so is a short style flicking away from the face at ear–level. Hair swept to one side or with a diagonal fringe is attractive.

Setting Lotions
For a good style setting lotions and lacquers are used. Beer, milk, Gelatin and lemon are some of the things generally used as setting lotions. Beer is probably the most effective and popular product. Simply wet the hair with beer before setting. It gives added beauty and helps the set to stay in. Milk can also be used in the same way.

Lemon juice makes a good setting lotion too, and is especially good for fair or greasy hair. Squeeze a lemon and use the strained juice to obtain a very firm set. It makes the hair soft and shiny. Lemon juice dries very fast and can be used as an effective hair lacquer. To make a lemon hair lacquer, cut a lemon in pieces and boil it with a cup of water until it remains only half a cup. Strain and use. A few drops of alcohol (or Vodka ) should be added to preserve it.

Gelatin is a protein agent, and is excellent for a setting lotion, giving body to limp hair. Dissolve 2 tablespoons gelatin in 2 cups of boiling water, and use it as the final rinse. To use sugar as a lacquer, simply add one tablespoon sugar to a glass of boiling water and when it has dissolved use it as a setting lotion by putting it into a spray bottle.

Wood Shavings Lacquer
Wood shavings are soaked in water overnight, and the translucent sticky fluid rising to the water surface can be well used as lacquer. It should be applied with a brush. This lacquer is very common in China.

Hair Setting Lotion
Collect the following ingredients

• 1 teaspoon gum tragacanth.
• 8 tablespoons water.
• 1 tablespoon alcohol.
• 1/2 teaspoon glycerin.

Crush the gum tragacanth with a pestle and mortar. Now add water to it and stir until the gum dissolves and you have a smooth solution. Now add alcohol and glycerin. After a couple of hours the lotion will thicken.

Brilliantine
The brilliantine holds the most untruly hair and can be made easily by melting the following ingredients together over a water–bath.

• 1 tablespoon castor oil.
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil.
• 1 tablespoon petroleum jelly (or Vaseline).
• 1 teaspoon emulsifying wax, and perfume.

Remove the bowl from the heat and add perfume to it, if desired. Beat the solution till you have made brilliantine. To make it more useful, you can add 2 teaspoons of lanolin to the above while melting and when removed from heat just mix 1 teaspoon of water.

Hair Perfume
It is pleasant to perfume the hair after washing it when the hair is half dry. The following ingredients are required to make this fragrant perfume.

• 6 tablespoons powdered charcoal.
• 5 tablespoons powders myrrh.
• 1 tablespoon powdered benzoin.
• 1 tablespoon potassium nitrate.
• 2–3 drops oil of bergamot.
• 2–3 drops of sandalwood.
• mucilage of tragacanth.

Mix the powders together and sieve, and then add the oils. Add the potassium nitrate, and then sufficient mucilage of tragacanth to make a stiff paste. Heat the mixture over a water bath and then make into little cones and dry. Just light one of the cones and let the smoke go into the damp hair. The smell is highly aromatic and exotic.