Hair Yoga

Hair Yoga

by Jawed Habib

 

Paperback, 150 pages

Published: 2014

Publisher:  Random House India

ISBN:  9788184004618

Blurb: Everyone today, whether man or woman, has some or the other concern about their hair. We all want beautiful hair and have different definitions of what beautiful hair is:shiny, thick, lustrous, soft or flowy. 

Everybody wants beautiful hair and all of us have at least one hair problem. Hair Yoga is a book by Jawed Habib who is a professional whom one can trust with their hair. He has his own salon in India and is responsible for the gorgeous hair of many celebrities. He is also the one to come up with the Xpreso cut which costs only Rupees 99. In this book he gives you the styling and hair care tips that every individual requires so they can have a good hair day every day. 

Who in today’s world doesn’t know Jawed Habib? I remember being just a little child when I first heard there was this fellow called Jawed Habib who was the hairstylist of many a celebrities and had a chain of salons of his own. I was quite smitten back then.

Now, when we had a book by him and with a person as me who has hair issues as one of the biggest of her life, I didn’t want to miss this one. After all sorts of information one would gather on the internet, there was something to actually rely on and which came from a real expert. Who would have wanted to miss the chance?

Like the book says, everyone wants great hair. Everyone has tried something or the other to make their hair better and almost everyone has a theory about how it should be done. Now that the expert himself is guiding the way through, I wanted to go by real tried and tested remedies than just the theories. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the book.

The book tries to touch every aspect of hair care that concerns an average person. Telling us of different types of hair, Jawed Habib first of all helps us to figure out our hair type. Then he enlightens us busting all the myths of haircare. Mind you, many of them pretty much left me absolutely appalled realising that we hold so, so many myths about tending our hair. The best of it was when it reduces to dust the most popular Indian concept that oiling hair helps hair grow fast. ‘Oil feeds hair. It never helps it to grow. Oil conditions hair… It is just an external hair care process and has no relation with hair growth,’ it says.

Oil being so important as a part of the Indian culture, a separate part of the book is dedicated to facts about oil and what kind of oil would suit what type of hair. Further, after oiling, washing it off is important. With separate chapters each on shampoos and conditioners which suit particular hair types, Jawed Habib repeatedly tells us that ‘everyday shampooing ruins hair’ is all a huge hoax. He tells us how shampooing is the best thing one can do for their hair.

 

Even though the book has many further chapters on myriad of things including brushing, styling, colouring, hair protection, seasonal care, hair care for children, the book still seemed somewhat incomplete to me. However, it convinced me well enough to have my waist length hair cut down to a bob, which is a proof enough that it is very convincing and informative. Yet, a lot of my questions remain unanswered in hair yoga, the questions I actually hoped to have my answers to when I bought the book.

I wouldn’t say it is the hair bible that you would ever want, yet it tells you a lot of things which you might not come across anywhere else. I would say, it is a 50-50 go. You’re definitely going to add to your knowledge if you read it, however there isn’t something great to miss on if you don’t.

How to Keep Your Man Happy

How to Keep Your Man Happy
by Seema Hingorrany

Paperback, 188 pages

Published: 2014

Publisher:  Random House India

ISBN:  9788184003550

Blurb: Is your man losing interest in you?
Do you wish to bring the spark back into your love life?

All relationships come with their fair set of challenges—communication gaps, sexual problems, conflict, commitment issues—the list is endless!

From the bestselling author of Beating the Blues: a complete guide to overcoming depression comes a book that will help women combat these challenges and help them learn the secret to attain relationship nirvana. From spotting signs of an unhappy relationship to long-term solutions that make a difference, How to Keep Your Man Happy will help make your man stay put, forever.

After having read Seema Hingorrany’s Beating the Blues around the same time last year, I had become her huge, huge fan. Beating the Blues was my first encounter with a book in the backdrop of clinical psychology and I was glad that I picked it up. After a year, when I was given yet another Seema Hingorrany book to review I couldn’t ever say no.

While Beating the Blues was about the problem of depression, How to Keep Your Man Happy takes a new direction to apply psychology in. It talks about relationships and primarily suggests women’s approach to make them better.

No wonder we’ve heard of the gender differences about perspective of things, which the popular phrase (and book) sums up as Men are From Mars, and Women are From Venus, but How to Keep Your Man happy takes us a level deeper. Dr Seema Hingorrany has touched several aspects of a relationship and has tried her level best that it should help her readers. And I am sure she is pretty successful at the attempt.

The book starts with Dr Hingorrany’s very interesting prologue followed by a chapter on dysfunctional relationships, how to detect them and what the possible causes of a dysfunctional relationship can be. I, personally didn’t know many facts about dysfunctional relationships until I came to read HTKYMH. The book is a flawless guide for understanding the nature of relationships.

The book is a perfect fit for married as well as unhitched couples alike. The book talks of the discords between couples which their minds, subconsciously, refuse to admit and deal with. From playing the blame game with the boyfriend to getting out all the frustration on a husband because of a mother-in-law, the book introduces us to all the things that women do to sabotage their relationships and fail to recognise.

It separately makes us realise the things that women do which irk the men, and also gives us suggestion on how to keep off from that kind of a behaviour. Another topic covers the common mistakes that women make in a relationship, how men are affected by it, figuring out if we are doing the same and the alternatives to keep these mistakes at bay and making our relationships healthy ones.

The second part of the book introduces us to different personality types of men. This part of the book seemed the most interesting to me. We have different personality types explained as Mr Adventurer, Mr Fun, Mr Meticulous, Mr Geek, Mr Romantic, Mr Mood Swings, Mr Sulker, Mr Commitment Phobic, Mr High Tempered, Mr Serious, Mr Protector, Mr Stingy, Mr Arguer and Mr Clingy. I don’t think there would be any girl/woman who can’t label her boyfriend/husband with at least one of these. Next, the author tells us the modus operandi of men’s thinking and how it is different from that of women, rather, how men and women look at the same thing with different perspectives. It also tells us what are the traits in women which men, generally, find attractive in women.

The third part of the book can be called the practical part of it. It tells us how we can deal with different types of men. In other words, it is a guide to making adjustments according to the personality type of your partner. Be it an angry man, a shy partner, a guy with low sex drive or a blatant liar- Ms Hingorrany gives you a perfect mantra to dealing with all kinds of men. The last chapter has full fledged tips for a healthy relationship which includes topics on getting the spark back into the relationship, creating a trusting bond, communicating better etc.

Over all, the book is very well written and very informative. I didn’t get bored reading it at any point. It might not be the best of all books on relationships out there, but it won’t be a waste if you read it because it just has so much to teach you. I is a book primarily for the fairer sex, so I would recommend it to women, naturally. Apart from a chunk of editing glitches, which at times makes the sentences incomprehensible, I didn’t find any major flaws with the book.

If you have time on your hands and want to learn about relationships and make your own relationship better, I’d say, give this book a try. You will certainly learn a good deal from it.