I write this review as I sit here with my conditioner-laden, oh-so-defined teeny weeny afro in air dry mode. I've just finished reading "Curly Like Me" and I want to scream from the rooftops: "I've uncovered the Holy Grail of natural afro-textured hair care!!!"If you're 1/10th as skeptical as I am when it comes to claims of a great hair technique, you'll want to know my credentials to see whether or not I'm qualified to make such a bold claim.
I'm biracial. My father is black and my mother is white. However, growing up, when asked the infamous "What are you?" question all you mixed chicks know what I'm talking about I would always apologetically suffix my reply with "...but I just don't have biracial hair". My brother has jet black big loose curls, but from infancy I was dubbed the one with the "bad hair" (not by my loving parents however, just the rest of the world). I believed it mind, body and soul. Why else would my evil hairdresser aunt force a relaxer on me when I was but a preschooler? Something must be very very wrong with my hair, I thought, since even with a relaxer it was an unruly Simba-mane. (I really did look like I belonged on The Lion King).
So, up until 10 months ago, I thought I couldn't live without the relaxer. Then one day several months ago, I decided to stretch my standard every 3 or 4 month relaxer fix by doing straw sets since it was so damaged. Time kept going and soon I was 6 then 7 months post, but with no thoughts of going natural. Then on month 8, a funny thing happened. For the first time, I really felt my new growth as I was washing my hair, what's this? Then I looked at it...CURLS?!?! Tight small spirally things growing from my head? YES! MY HEAD!
I began lurking on afo-textured hair care forums and other sites and began soaking up the knowledge from the ladies in the natural hair community. But, I feared that my hair wouldn't dry curly, that it would just turn into a hard matted Simba-poof; plus there was NO WAY I wanted to cut my hair.
About six weeks ago I heard about Teri LaFlesh and her method for the first time as I was lurking on a hair forum. I went to her Tightly Curly website, and I saw this biracial chick with hair to her butt. My instinctual reaction: jealousy and shame. All the feelings of my childhood rushed back. As a child, I would see biracial children with beautiful curls, soft and flowing or tight and spirally and I would be overcome with jealousy. I would see their hair flow down their backs whereas my relaxed ends seemed to be allergic to touching my shoulders and broke off at the sight of them.
What could this little hair queen teach me, I wondered. Surely our hairs have nothing in common! Then I saw her photo history; then I was floored. Her hair used to be a matted, relaxed Simba-explosion, like mine! Not a pretty cottony afro, not kinky spirals, but an evil, crunchy broken poof! I came to see that with her many hair disasters she could relate to me, and I began to become a Tightly Curly convert.
Fast forward a few weeks later as I waited with bated breath on THIS book to be released. At the end of April I snapped it up and bit into it like a...like a...like a person who really wanted to bite into something!
One day when I was reading it, I tried my Herbal Essences Hello Hydration on a bit of my hair where the relaxer had broken off to see if it would make curls and dry like that. I didn't think it would work. But it did!!! I began to see that other natural chicks with even tighter curls had done the method and experienced success. The scales began to drop from my eyes and I began to appreciate that there really is no such thing as "bad hair" after all. I came to appreciate that any hair that is healthy, happy and loved by its owner is "good hair", and I wanted good hair too.
Though the Tightly Curly Method is explained on the website, it is explained in greater detail in the book. I especially love the "Choosing Shampoos & Conditioners: What to Avoid" sections in the book as, since I don't live in the States, only a few of the recommended shampoos and conditioners are available. The book empowers me to find my own POOs and COs with in the recommended guidelines.
Teri has also gone to a lot of trouble uncovering hair and ingredient myths. Also, she describes on a molecular level what you're really doing when chemically altering your hair. I'm no scientist so I can't attest to the accuracy of her statements. However, I can say that what she had to say was scary enough to make me never want to hurt my hair with relaxers again. Ever.
I had originally planned to transition for another 6 months or so. But less than a week ago, when I was nearly done with the book, I was convinced that there was no reason for me to hold back. So, on that fateful Saturday afternoon of, May 1, 2010, I cut, I conditioned, I defined and I left in. FINALLY SOMETHING THAT WORKS!!!
I wish she had included in the book exactly how she came to discover this method, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this method works.
And so, dear reader, if you have tightly curly hair, do yourself a favour and purchase this book. Your hair will thank you, and it will thank Teri.
To Teri LaFlesh, thank you so much. My hair wants to be just like yours when it grows up.
To my hair, I promise from now on to love you unconditionally but always with plenty conditioner!
Anyhow, I digress. After many attempts, first following Teri's method by the book, then trying the many variations found online, I came to the conclusion that this method just wasn't my cup of tea. I have a nice, perfectly formed coil pattern when my hair is in its natural state but like many other reviewers I ran into issues with dryish, breaking locks. Sometimes it looked and felt filmy. There were just too many versions of this method and not only had I lost patience but I'd lost too much hair (and I wasn't willing to part with any more).
What I did take away from this book was an pleasant reintroduction to my natural coils which I hadn't seen since I was a kid. Teri gave me the confidence to go natural and the confidence that I could grow my hair to great lengths. She also put me on a path to find OTHER methods for achieving my hair goals.
Unbeknownst to me there's an entire community of black women growing long hair (very, very long hair) who don't use Teri's method. Their methods vary so one has more style choices; I mean what if you don't want to deal with the shrinkage? What if you prefer your hair straight? There's a long-black-hair method for just about everyone. Just spend a little time perusing YouTube and you're bound to find someone. (My favorites are LongHairDon'tCare2011, KimmayTube and BrittneyNGray). Most importantly, for me at least, these methods are far less time-consuming than Teri's and give me far more stylistic choices. I can go curly or straight. If you're skeptical, I can tell you that the thing that all these methods have in common (including Teri's) is that they don't advocate the use of chemicals, or the heavy use of heat (some heat is allowed); all require attention to keeping your hair moisturized and protected, especially while sleeping. As long as you follow these "rules" religiously, especially the moisturizing and staying away from chemicals, you should be able to retain more length. I'm personally using the flat-iron once a month method, moisturizing with olive oil and protective serum nightly, and mine has reached collarbone length with virtually no breakage. With commitment it doesn't take long to turn your hair-health around.
So, in short, Teri is still a "Hairo" of mine but I just prefer to use other methods. I just wish she'd done more experimentation with a greater variety of kinky hair types and acknowledged some needed variations.
Buy Curly Like Me: How to Grow Your Hair Healthy, Long, and Strong Now
This is an excellent book! While I'm not directly bi-racial, my hair is exactly like Terri's due to white ancestry. I wish that I had known about using conditioner to keep my curls when they dried. My hair is short now because I cut 10 inches off to have relaxer free hair, but my curls are there and they feel great. I'm going to buy another book and give it to my bi-racial niece whose hair is a little looser than mine, but would definitely benefit from this book.While books like curly girl are good, it left me frustrated because leaving a little bit of conditioner in my hair left me with fuzzy spots. This book filled in the pieces that were missing! Terri, thank you for this book, and thank you for going through what you went through to get your beautiful curls back. I get so many compliments from everyone even though I have a dreaded layer cut.
I would recommend this book for anyone who has curls when their hair is wet but turns to curly frizz when dried. I would recommend this book to kinky kinky tightly curled hair as well because this book preaches keeping moisture in your hair, and ALL curly hair need this. Good book!
Read Best Reviews of Curly Like Me: How to Grow Your Hair Healthy, Long, and Strong Here
Whether you buy this book straight away or think about it for a while ... after you read this book, you'll realise like doing regular exercise, changing your career or leaving that loser boyfriend of yours, that this is something you should have done months or years ago. It really is a life changing book and when you have curly hair, you realise it is more than hair, it's an attitude and way of life.After reading the book in one sitting, what strikes me about the book is that looking after curly hair is relatively easy and the less you do with it, the more likely you are to have beautiful curls. If you think about the money you have spent on useless hair products over the years and throwing away money on hairdressers who were clueless about how to cut and style curly hair, this book is such a worthwhile investment.
Want Curly Like Me: How to Grow Your Hair Healthy, Long, and Strong Discount?
How is a book a friend? IT SHARES ALL! Curly Like Me shares all the trials and errors Teri made throughout her hair journey. Not to mention every shortcut and secret she's learned along the way. The book talks to us in a clear, friendly tone, and it's spiced up with humor as well.Curly Like Me addresses mistakes with a light heart. Teri mentions where she's been, but it's a small part compared to all the tips filling the pages of this book. We learn and move on from the past misunderstood hair to the future of embracing our hair as is and making it happy.
Like a true friend, the book supports and empowers us to be our best. Whether we use all the tips or just some, Curly Like Me gives us the information and tools to make informed decisions on our own hair. This book has become my simple, easy to use resource on curly hair care. I'm an on-the-go type girl who doesn't like to spend much time on hair, and I fit this method easily into my needs.
You can't go wrong with this step-by-step book. For me, the getting to know your curls and combing chapters by themselves were well worth the price. I like having the kindle version (iPhone app) as a helpful on-the-go reminder of steps, tools, and ingredients. Plus, it allows me to show fellow curly heads some of the book's tips at a glance.
The only thing I'd improve on or change is adding color pictures so the curls and styles demonstrated could be shown in more detail. Other than that, it's a perfect resource and friend. I think many will benefit from the overall time and research put into this book.
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