Good Hair: For Colored Girls Who've Considered Weaves When the Chemicals Became Too Ruff

I bought this book years ago, after I had lost the majority of my hair to a relaxer (which had happened several times up to this point). I was fed up and knew that I couldn't continue to relax my hair and keep risking breakage, but had no idea what my options were. One day I was browsing my local bookstore and happened upon this book. It saved my hair and my sanity. Finally someone was talking to me, telling me that I didn't have to keeping doing insane things to myself in the name of beauty. Are there better natural haircare books out there? Of course. For the negative viewers, you fail to realize that back when this book was written, there weren't many books on the market related to natural hair care. Folks weren't as receptive to letting go of the relaxer. It was good for what it offered back in the day. The author has since evolved in her own natural haircare. Lonnice, you're alright with me gurl - you helped me love my real hair!

Ms. Brittenum Bonner's book is an excellent (not to mention affordable) resource, that any woman (or man) with African hair should have in his/her library. ...The information is presented in a casual and humorous style that most people will identify with. The information provided is plentiful and makes a good deal of sense. Skin and hair are very similar and if we are delicate with our skin, then why not with the hair?... She not only talks about natural hair (which I am most interested in), but also perms, curly perms (jheri curls), extensions and texturizers. For all of these, she tells you how you can have any of these things, but also how to get acquainted with your own individual hair structure and type, and with good habits, how to get length, but mostly keep it HEALTHY. Every hair type IS made of the same thing regardless of race, it is the information you arm yourself with about your own hair and the practice you put into it which determines if you have healthy hair. Yes, that's right. There is no "good" or "bad" hair. That is a myth. There is only healthy and unhealthy hair. ....Intertwined with funny personal experiences, she tells you briefly about the structure of the hair, the proper methods for everything from shampooing, conditioning, combing, brushing, using your fingers, the proper things to do before going to bed (I was SO relieved to know I don't have to wear painful rollers -they're bad for you to sleep in anyway.), moisturizing, getting shine and yes! - Even styling! She recommends some products for all of these, that are already on the market and don't cost very much that you can pick up easily and implement into nourishing your hair. She also includes pictures and instructions to help you achieve gorgeous hairstyles, EASILY and without the use of harsh and expensive chemicals. Still, even if you can't do without your perms, extensions and texturizers, she tells you how to use them responsibly and eventually transition to even healthier NATURAL hair.... To my surprise, she has the exact hairstyles in there that I've been wanting. Until I can nurse my hair back to health, these are easy things that I can do that resemble what my hair will look like on its own when it grows out, but that I can acheive now, naturally, just by being informed about my hair's structure and enchancing it with some easy methods... Some of the natural twists and such that she shows you in the book, will give you those beautiful hair styles, that look natural and ARE natural, because you're using your own hair, it doesn't take long to do and doesn't cost much. They also promote hair growth, as you're not doing further damage to the hair, and breaking off the hair that you have before new hair grows. ... This is the best book I've bought on the topic so far, and I'm so glad that I bought it. It's an easy read that I will continue to come back to and recommend to others. Already, I feel as though the book has worked if only that I fee

Thank God for this book! My hair has been natural for six years now and I couldn't be happier-thanks to this book. I felt like she was writing about MY hair horror experiences with perms and idiot hairdressers (I'm sure just about every African American woman can relate to at least one of Bonner's experiences!) The hairstyles are indeed practical and beautiful, excellent information about our hair structure and products to use and most importantly-HOW to treat our hair (ie: using satin pillowcases & scarves instead of cotton for sleeping). I was also pleasantly pleased to see that my hair became naturally wavier with time by consistently using these styling methods over the years (especially the Corkscrew crimp style-my favorite); my hair became easier to manage. I think that EVERY black woman should have this book-even if she doesn't prefer natural hairstyles!

In June of 1998, my mother told me she was going natural, and gave me this book to read. I picked it up and read if from cover to cover. Since that day, I have not used a blow dryer or curling iron on my hair! I started by cutting my hair very short. I then used ideas from the book to style my hair. It has been a year, and I now have strong, beautiful, curly, natural shoulder length hair. This is an excellent book, the author seemed to know everything that I had been going through my entire life. I have tryed all the perms, curls, etc. I've also had one bad hair day after another. Wearing natural hair has given me a freedom that is impossible to describe. I don't spend alot of time or money on my hair anymore, and I am proud to wear my hair in its natural state, the way God intended. I have received numerous complements, but most importantly, I have found my natural hair! To the author--Thank you for taking the time to write this excellent informative book.

I had been considering cutting my relaxer and going natural. This book gave me the needed push to go on and do just that. She was very honest about the reactions you get when you cut your hair off. I had to deal with all the comments about how a woman should have long hair, but her book helped me from getting depressed. During the growing-out period, I would get depressed sometimes because I thought my hair would never grow back to its original length. Many times I wanted to put a relaxer in it again. However, this book (and braids) helped me make it. Whenever I was close to scheduling a relaxer appointment, I picked up the book and read over it again and looked at the pictures of her beautiful, healthy, NATURAL head of hair. Now, I have my own head of healthy, NATURAL, hair past my shoulders. It was a long year, but it was worth it. Her styling ideas are also very interesting. The BEST part, though, is how healthy my hair is now thanks to her tips on hair products as well as lessons on the anatomy of black hair.