Curly Girl-the handbook

Image source-Amazon.com

Hey there my lovelies,

I trust that everyone has voted in the mid-term elections and is now ready for some good old Curly Girl talk :-) So I read this book Curly Girl by Lorraine Massey. Lorraine is a curly girl herself, and she was among the first wave of women to make it a mission to publicly embrace her curls and encourage others to do the same in this straight haired society. Overall, I liked the book. I thought that there were some good helpful hints in the book. Although, I have to admit, as far as "African American" textured hair (I try to avoid blanket statements and categorizations, but work with me on this one) goes the advice is lacking a bit. However, Lorraine did try to include her darker skinned sisters and there is a chapter on "African American" hair and everything in that chapter comes from African American hair stylists. Unfortunately, I disagreed with a lot of what was said by the African Americans; most of them focused on using texturizers. Anyhoo, my favorite thing about this book was that Lorraine included "Confessions of a curly girl" throughout the book; these are stories told by real life women with curly hair-or mothers of curly haired children-and gives them a chance to talk about the downtrodden lives they had to live as curly girls. I found these stories to be quite interesting and eerily similar, not only similar to one another but similar to my story as well as many women of color who I have talked with. These "confessions" really opened my eyes to the fact that women with highly textured hair despite background, culture, skin color, socioeconomic class etc. all share many of the same-or very similar-concerns and problems. Some things that I read in the "confessions" that I could relate to included: I'm still trying to figure my hair out, I love how versatile my curls are, my hair is too frizzy, my parents still don't like me wearing my hair curly. I have to say, while it saddens me that curly girls have had so many negative feelings about their hair for so long, it is nice to be reminded of the fact that as human beings, despite our obvious outward differences we have SO much in common with one another. So I really enjoyed reading the book. I would recommend this book mainly for the "confessions." I wouldn't put this book at the top of the reading list if you're looking for some advice on taking care of your hair. However, I will share with you a few ideas that I liked.

• Lavender Mist-1/2 gallon water, 5 drops lavender essential oil-boil water in a large pot to remove impurities, remove from heat, stir in lavender, let steep until cool. This is a good cleansing and revitalizing spray. Obviously this would make a lot, but you can just keep around and use as needed.

• Be cautious when getting your curls cut. If you intend to wear your hair curly you may want to ask to have it cut in its natural state. If your stylist insists on it being straightened before cutting, remind him/her to take into consideration how much shrinkage occurs when your hair is in its natural state, and to be light with the scissors.

• Take a mini spritz bottle with you in your purse. When your hair's looking a little dry or you just get finished trying on clothes and your hair's a little frazzled, pull out your handy dandy spritzer, and set your hair back into place

Well that's all I have about this
Tootles for now,
Me