Customer Reviews

Curly Girl: A Celebration of Curls: How to Cut Them, Care for Them, Love Them, and Set Them Free

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was a little wary of her advice, until I started following it. The book has a bit of religious fervor (towards haircare) that I wasn't sure I appreciated, until I started her regimen. Now I'm a convert! I'm just thrilled with how easy it is to care for my hair and how great it looks just about every day. I highly recommend this to anyone with curly hair.

Awesome book! easy to read, great inexpensive solutions to curly hair problems. My curls look great! I love that I don't need to have a cabinet full of hair products anymore.

My hair has always been difficult. Not always curly, but more than wavy, and always tempermental. On a friends advice, I bought Lorraine Massey's CURLY GIRL book. Wow!!! I finally know how to deal with my hair. The book is down to earth and user friendly. The advice seems strange (using only conditioner to cleanse your hair, never brushing/combing...) but it made all the difference. My hair is finally able to figure out what it wants to do (it wants to curl in loose corkscrews and waves) and I get frequent compliments. I was skeptical of the conditioner only cleansing, but my hair feels clean, smells clean, and looks great.
I would also like to mention that one thing I appreciate about the book is the lack of marketing for overpriced, multiple step hair care systems. She is not selling anything other than salvation for curly girls!

Almost a year since I have shampooed, SAVED HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS AND FINALLY received the results I'd been searching for. The book has paid me back ten times over in the one year!

Thanks to this book I finally understand my curly hair and work with it instead of against it. The wonderful thing about the book is you don't have to purchase her products, lots of 'recipes' for home treatments. I am completely hooked on misting every morning with a mixture of about 4 oz water to two-three drops of natural essence lavendar oil (purchased anywhere), and I don't boil the water. My husband LOVES the subtle scent and my hair always feels soft and smells fresh .... despite the fact I only 'CONDITION' (clean) my hair ONCE a week!!!! I also found the "Curl on Que" gel products at Bath and Body Works work well, esp. the spray, it stays soft and defines the curls. My hair is shoulder length and it is absolutely necessary to use a huge amount of a quality conditioner, thoroughly massage into scalp, leave on, and I DON'T rinse it totally out.

I was a skeptic, but I could see and FEEL the change immediately and it has just gotten better and better. Even if ALL the suggestions don't work for your hair, there's still valuable information EVERY Curly Girl should know and great style suggestions.

SHAMPOO WILL NEVER TOUCH MY SCALP AGAIN !!!!!!!!

For years I have hated my curly, full of tangles hair. Brushing it was painfull, getting braids was torture (plus my hair would break off in clumps), relaxers destroyed my hair (making it brittle). I've been natural for 4 years and frustrated. Just as I was considering shaving it all off I came across this book. Had to get used to the "no shampoo" part. My hair has NEVER looked this good. I have confidence now that was not before, because I was ashamed of my hair. Have gotten so many compliments, and questions as to what I do to get my hair to look the way it does, even my mother(who has straight hair) likes it, even asks me "Can I touch it?" Now all I need is a stylist that cuts curly hair. Best book for curly hair, and fun to read many times over.

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!

I've now gone almost 6 months without using shampoo and I'm never going back! This book is a must-read for anyone with curly, wavy, or just plain frizzy hair. My hair has never felt better!

This book saved my hair!! i was at the point of shaving my head of its thick uncontrollable frizzy sometimes curly barnet, knowing that when i was younger, before years of evil shampoo, i had lovely curls, that just seemed to have been replaced by horrible frizz and undefined curls. As soon as i followed the advice in this book, my hair became what it has always wanted to be! My hair is now so beautiful!! and i am a modest person, honest!!i have defined corkscrew and botticelli curls that define themselves and my hair is never frizzy. I was given this book 2 years ago, and in these two years i have had so many people comment on my curls and how lovely my hair is, more than in the previous 25yrs of my life, so buy this book! THANK YOU LORRAINE!!!!

Was ready to pig-shave my daughter's locks after years of crying every night as I tried to comb it out. An angel recommended this method and it is absolutely amazing... My daughter has long curly coarse, and oh so very thick amazing hair that matts under her neck. This method completely eliminated the matts and makes caring for it a pleasant experience for both of us. I cannot recommend this book and method enough. Her past frizzy, confused hair now has defined spirals, looks amazing, and is much easier to care for.

I gobbled it up to learn how to get a handle on this mop of hair.
Loved the information & recipes for hair products. One more to add would be Burts Bees Avacado hair product for the frizzless.