Curly Girl

Rating:
Summary: Valuable for curly, kinky afro hair. Just add comb & oil
Review: On André Walker's scale, my chemical-free long fro is a 4a: kinky, tight ringlets. As a graduate student, I have very little money, but am looking for techniques to protect my hair's health as I grow it long again. Massey and Chiel have done beautifully. The short chapter on African American hair does what most "experts" are too vain to do--it relies on the judgement of others who specialize in the field. How many times have I had a hair disaster at the hands of a stylist who only knew rumors about nappy hair? Even most Black stylists are truly experts with *straightened* hair. Massey courted some impressive professionals whose opinions did not always bend to hers. As a former researcher, I respect that!
And the no-shampoo method works! For those handling nappy hair, I would recommend the following adaptations to Massey's techniques:

1) During the conditioner wash, cover all the hair w/conditioner, then gently comb out. I comb my hair in the direction I plan to style it. Combing is necessary for kinky hair, unless you are cultivating dreadlocs.

2) Shake your hair a little once you've conditioned for step 3 (kinky ringlets sometimes need a bit of room to shape up.)

3) Massey says silicones weigh hair down. Silicones can't weigh down virgin kinky hair, but they will eventually turn your hair into a shiny, dead mess. They also resist removal by even super-stripping shampoos, so use a non-silicone conditioner with as few ingredients as possible.

4) I have dandruff, but it is under control even after many weeks on Massey's technique. I use the brown sugar scalp scrub every week. Dandruff scalps benefit from more exfoliation. Also, you can substitute cider vinegar for the lemon juice in her Lemon-Aid potion. I have a small spray bottle of vinegar in the shower and i spray some right onto my oily scalp prior to step 2. Oily scalps just need to do the scalp cleansing step more often than Massey indicates. It is not drying.

5) I use inexpensive conditioners by VO5 and CureCare (a beauty supply store brand with 5 ingredients) and have not suffered from a dull look on my hair. Learn to read labels. Try a conditioner which says it's designed for use as body moisturizer.

6) Feel free to add some olive or sesame oil to a dab of conditioner if your hair seems to crave extra. I never use gel, but i gently put this mix through my hair, when needed.

7) She describes a straw set. You can get other-sized curls by setting hair on perm rods. Just use curl papers.

Black curly girls may find it funny that the British Massey has re-invented a product familiar to many of us: oil sheen spray! She suggests putting olive oil in a culinary oil mister for use on the hair! I had to smile.
Massey's book is written with *intelligence,* *respect,* and enthusiasm for all people with textured hair. Not only does she paraphrase Marcus Garvey's thoughts on hair hatred, she actually points out the prejudiced attitudes behind the modern insistence on straight hair as "professional," "well-bred", or "intelligent." Hair is political, and this woman knows it, although her book in straight-up fun. It is valuable for women who want to look like their curly, kinky, nappy, happy selves, not like some deep-fried blow-out queen. I like that the book is inexpensive and that the models are real women with truly lovely "real-world" hair. Bravo!

Rating:
Summary: My dear curly sisters--
Review: Faboo book. Others have complained that the book had "too much" this or that, and I say there's no such thing. It contained everything I needed and more. Who can complain about that?

(And in response to the reviewer who felt that some of the photos of curly-haired women and kids were unattractive, I say they're just people, looking happy, presumably feeling at peace with their hair. Finally. And more power to them. It's a narrow definition of beauty that doesn't include happiness and peace. I loved the pics, and thought the majority were attractive.)

Last week I bought this book. Today I let my hair dry naturally, pinning up just the top curls to help them keep their shape while drying. No combing, just took out the clips when dry and gave a good shake, and I was off. I was in the rain. I was riding roller coasters. My hair loved it. Still curly, not frizzy.

I have the same stories other reviewers have: the gradeschool Pixie cut, sadistic blowdryer-wielding stylists, years of pony-tails. Loving the cut at the salon and then vowing to sue the next day when my hair wouldn't behave. Now it's time to see just how long I can grow it, cuz now I "get it". Now I need a copy for my stylist.

The author's product line is called Devacurl. There's an index of stylists on naturallycurly.com which may be helpful, too. Find your "Inner Curl"!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Quintessential.
Review: The best book for the care, treatment, cutting, cleaning and anything else pertaining to curly hair. Excellent. Quitting shampoo has been so very good for my hair (I haven't used it for a whole year). Frizz is now a rare occurance. The recipes are wonderful: Lemon-aid is a great clarifier, the lavender mist is a perfect curl reviver.

Between my mother, sister and I, we have every curl texture possible and Massey's methods have worked wonders for all of us. I lend this book to everyone I know with even the slightest natural wave and it's become worn and dog-eared accordingly; I may need another copy.

Really awesome book. The manual for curly hair!

Rating:
Summary: Now I LOVE my curls!
Review: I have hated my curly hair for years. Always wished for straight hair. I have read multiple articles and magazines trying to learn how to deal with this curly frizzy mop that is my hair. Nothing ever worked. Then I decided to read Curly Girl and it changed my curly girl life! I followed her advice in this book and soon began a love affair with my curly hair. Thanks to Lorraine Massey, I have bouncy, healthy, shiny, beautiful hair. I wear it with pride. I am a curly girl - a very happy curly girl.

Rating:
Summary: BUY this book for everyone you know with waves or curls!
Review: This book is essential for everyone with wavy or curly hair. At the middle school where I teach students have been checking it out every night, and the lucky ones buying it for themselves. Even the boys! My students have been coming in with curls that look luxurious-- frizz is down and curl-love is up. Mangaing curly hair is easy when you know how, and this book has been fabulous.

Rating:
Summary: Finally -- someone cares about us Curly Girls!
Review: I was working in a bookstore as the manager of the self-improvement/health and beauty section of the store when I noticed this book on my shelving cart. I started passing it around to all the curly girls in the store and put it on the staff recommendations area. In the first two months (it took time to re-stock the book after the first sellout), we sold way more than 70 copies of the book, which is better than most best-selling titles! I bought it (of course), and I highly recommend it. After I stopped using shampoo and following the other great tips in the book, my hair stopped breaking at the ends, and you'd be surprised how clean and healthy my hair is without shampoo! You won't regret it, ... it's cheaper than most of the fancy styling products you buy to tame those frizzies!

Rating:
Summary: Wow Finally Someone Gets it
Review: I knew there had to be someone out there that understood curly hair! Now how do I get an appointment for a cut ???

OH LORRAINE

Rating:
Summary: You Go, Curl!
Review: As a curly girl of fifteen years (my whole life), finding this book was a gift from the Curl Goddess (aka Lorraine Massey). I only looked at the Table of Contents before I decided that this book was for me! I have said no to shampoo and my hair looks better than it has in years. My only complaint is that Massey never named any specific products that might benefit curly girls. Since I got the book, my wavy and frizzy curlfriends read it as well and now we all love and constantly talk about our textured hair...the guys like it too. No more straightening for me! I also loved the curl diary, horoscopes, curl timeline and pictures of curly celebrities...a great book for the new curly millenium!

Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone
Review: I tried this book even though I was skeptical about not using shampoo. I followed the regimen religiously but got fewer compliments on my hair than I did while shampooing. Plus, by the end of the day I had smelly hair, no matter how much lavender mist I used! This book, while I think it would provide help/guidance for a curly newbie, is not for anyone who has been dealing with curly hair for the majority of their life. I am back to following my own curly hair routine, which gets me compliments everday. Worth a read, but not much more than that.

Rating:
Summary: This Book Blew Me Away!
Review: I entirely loved this book and started taking Lorraine Massey's advice as soon as I had read it. My hair has never looked better. The information Massey shares in this book is so revolutionary, I couldn't believe what I was reading at first, and I was even skeptical at times, but I was also fascinated. I tried her methods and they work so much better than what my mother taught me! Who knew you didn't need shampoo? My hair looks and feels so much better than it evr has before, I'll probably never use shampoo again.