AS I was led down the street I came up to a row of stores. One had a large picture window with black letters outlined in gold that made me stop. What I saw inside both scared me and fascinated me at the same time. Sitting in a row alongside one wall were women wearing tall hats that looked like silver ice cream cones turned upside down. I could not tell if they were locked in because each of them sat perfectly still as if they were in a trance. Suddenly it occurred to me they may have gone through surgery and were now recovering from their procedure. As quickly as that thought entered my mind another one popped up; maybe these women were being fitted for uniforms they needed to travel to outer space. My imagination took off with all kinds of possibilities those silver cones could have been and the image of those women sitting underneath them has stayed with me all these years.   THAT was the first time I had ever seen a beauty shop. Memories of that shop came back to me when I started working at a company who had a receptionist with red hair that was piled up, I swear, at least 15 inches above her scalp. Her hair never moved because the amount of hair spray she used on it which always caused a brief fog around her sealed each strand of hair in place until the entire hairdo looked as if it had been covered in varnish. Hearing the amount of time she spent each week at the beauty shop was hard for me to comprehend; though if I put it into movie viewing time it did not seem so long, maybe one very long feature film. Now that I am “follicularly” challenged I have a whole different outlook on hair which made me more curious about the things I saw in this documentary.   HAIRSTYLES were never looked at the same way after a young British man named Vidal Sassoon picked up a pair of shears and starting cutting women’s hair in a mathematical, precise way. I did not realize the impact Vidal had on the hair industry; for the most part I just remember seeing his hair care products on store shelves. His story was interesting to me; it had this “rags to riches” element that played out predominately due to Vidal’s determination. Another aspect I enjoyed was seeing where he fit into pop culture during his time. There were many curious elements in this film that was written and directed by Craig Teper (Hit and Runaway, No Way Home). As the movie progressed I started feeling as if the story was turning into a self promoting piece; the majority of Vidal’s story was kept at the surface. I never got a sense of the why and how he was so fascinated with hair. Except for a couple of scenes everything was kept upbeat and cheery which after awhile started to become monotonous. For those interested in hairstyles and even just the curious, this DVD would be an easy viewing experience and if nothing else seeing what this one man did to the fashion world and pop culture might even surprise you.

2 1/4 stars — DVD