Rating: 
Summary: New Beginnings
Review: "No Lye" is a great beginners guide to natural haircare. It is life-affirming and inspiring. After wrestling with my hair for years up until Januray 2000, when I permed my hair for the last time, this book has solidified my resolve to stay 100% natural. Like a lot of sisters who have gone natural, the journey has been long and arduous. I have experimented with so many different styles: synthetic braids, twists, relaxers, you name it I tried it; you'd think by now I'd be permanently bald. I guess you can say, the straw that finally broke the camels back, occured during the summer of 1998, just before my graduation from college. I got so fed up with my hair breaking off from perms and braids, that I just decided to start twisting my hair in knots, then undoing them once they were dry. I liked the look so much, I kept doing it, even in spite of some negative comments and looks from friends. It would take me forever to twist and pin those little tiny nots, but words can not describe how liberated I felt. I was even exercising regularly; getting up at the crack of dawn to go running. But this natural twisting ritual state only lasted through the summer. Under the pressure of trying to find a job, I cracked. Thinking I would appear unprofessional to potential employers, I permed my hair. While I found a good job which I am currently still at, slowly but surely I began to feel like I was betraying my race, my culture, my self-respect and dignity. So, again, I started experimenting with my hair. I tried so many different styles within the course of a year, that I was hailed "Queen of Most Changed Hairdos" by my officemates, white and black a like. The marking of the year 2000 was and still is symbolic for me in many ways. It was finally the opportunity for me to not only change my life for good, but for me to shed my ever changing image. Since perming my hair for the last time in January, I feel like a new woman. I am no longer slave to my hair, or what others think of me. Going natural has even motivated me to change other things in my life. I am exercisng regularly, and getting involved in more life-affirming and changing activities. Each day I embrace the natural, and that's "No Lye".
Rating:
Summary: New Beginnings
Review: "No Lye" is a great beginners guide to natural haircare. It is life-affirming and inspiring. After wrestling with my hair for years up until Januray 2000, when I permed my hair for the last time, this book has solidified my resolve to stay 100% natural. Like a lot of sisters who have gone natural, the journey has been long and arduous. I have experimented with so many different styles: synthetic braids, twists, relaxers, you name it I tried it; you'd think by now I'd be permanently bald. I guess you can say, the straw that finally broke the camels back, occured during the summer of 1998, just before my graduation from college. I got so fed up with my hair breaking off from perms and braids, that I just decided to start twisting my hair in knots, then undoing them once they were dry. I liked the look so much, I kept doing it, even in spite of some negative comments and looks from friends. It would take me forever to twist and pin those little tiny nots, but words can not describe how liberated I felt. I was even exercising regularly; getting up at the crack of dawn to go running. But this natural twisting ritual state only lasted through the summer. Under the pressure of trying to find a job, I cracked. Thinking I would appear unprofessional to potential employers, I permed my hair. While I found a good job which I am currently still at, slowly but surely I began to feel like I was betraying my race, my culture, my self-respect and dignity. So, again, I started experimenting with my hair. I tried so many different styles within the course of a year, that I was hailed "Queen of Most Changed Hairdos" by my officemates, white and black a like. The marking of the year 2000 was and still is symbolic for me in many ways. It was finally the opportunity for me to not only change my life for good, but for me to shed my ever changing image. Since perming my hair for the last time in January, I feel like a new woman. I am no longer slave to my hair, or what others think of me. Going natural has even motivated me to change other things in my life. I am exercisng regularly, and getting involved in more life-affirming and changing activities. Each day I embrace the natural, and that's "No Lye".
Rating:
Summary: No Lye
Review: After years of going through the continual, depressing cycle of relaxing my hair and watching it break, despite following some of the rubbish advice given by hairdressers, I found No Lye to be a welcome relief.
I found it to be a helpful and informative guide on how to manage natural afro hair. Although I was already familiar with some of the books pointers on braids and twists, I think that No Lye offers some useful tips on how to condition and maintain tight kinky head of afro hair. I found Tulani Kinard's advice on natural conditioners and hair creams to be particularly useful. The the banana conditioner remedy really softened/moisturised my hair. I have had my hair natural for about 9 months and I don't intend to relax my hair any time soon. I would reccomend this book as a good starting point on how to maintain natural hair after years of damage caused by relaxers.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: First off, kudos to any African American how-to book for females! However, I was more than a bit put off by the numerous PENCIL illustrations in the book. I would've preferred (and expected) professional and color real-life pictures. And more step by step photos as opposed to the "step 3" outta 7 steps photos.
Rating: 
Summary: Kudos to Ms. Kinard
Review: For three years I have worn my hair natural. I've read other natural hair care books by the likes of Nekehna and Lonnice Brittenaum Bonner, but "No Lye " is my hands down favorite. This sister breaks down the facts on the care and maintenence of African textured hair. The pictures of gorgeous men and women sporting stylish braids and fierce locs is inspiring. For those who are serious about cultivating a healthy beautiful head of hair, I cannot recommend a better resource than "No Lye".
Rating: 
Summary: great loc start-up
Review: from a person who has been natural for the past 6 yrs...the book was very informative on differnet styles to achieve...i'm glad there is a forum out here that touches on natural hair...the book was a great help to start my locs...but, i was very disappointed that there was no information in the book that touched on maintaining the locs...i also found disappointing(nothing new) were the styles...i believe there are more to natural hair than braids, locs & afros...what about the natural styles we see on tv & the products they use to maintain them???
Rating:
Summary: A must for understanding African-American Hair!
Review: Full of important hair tips and a great guide to understanding "our" hair and its properties. Let's you know you can be beautiful without your hair being chemically enhanced.
Rating:
Summary: No Lye is the natural way to beautiful hair
Review: I bought this book for a friend for Kwanzaa. I skimmed throught it and immediately wished I could have gone back and bought one for myself (the boutique only had one copy). This book gives several alternatives to natural hair styling and realistic suggestions on caring for them. It is thorough and creative. You can tell that the author believes every word she writes and that this is a for-real lifestyle and not just a fad.
Rating:
Summary: Companion book
Review: I call "No Lye" a companion book, because there was not enough useful information regarding free form natural hairstyles for my purposes. This book has much more information on braiding and locking than it does on styling freedom hair. Having said that, I still give it 4 stars because I find myself referring to it frequently. Ms. Kinard gives a lot of information on caring for the hair and scalp using natural oils and herbs. She gives useful information on the ingredients contained in commercially prepared shampoos and conditioners. I love the pictures and her writing style. As far as the care of natural hair is concerned, this is an excellent book. If you want to learn to style free form natural hair, you would be better off with "Let's Talk Hair" by Pamela Ferrell.
Rating:
Summary: Companion book
Review: I call "No Lye" a companion book, because there was not enough useful information regarding free form natural hairstyles for my purposes. This book has much more information on braiding and locking than it does on styling freedom hair. Having said that, I still give it 4 stars because I find myself referring to it frequently. Ms. Kinard gives a lot of information on caring for the hair and scalp using natural oils and herbs. She gives useful information on the ingredients contained in commercially prepared shampoos and conditioners. I love the pictures and her writing style. As far as the care of natural hair is concerned, this is an excellent book. If you want to learn to style free form natural hair, you would be better off with "Let's Talk Hair" by Pamela Ferrell.
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