Tiffanie recently sent an e-mail requesting recommendations for coloring her hair that has never been chemically processed.

My personal experience with hair color is that it always slows my length retention progress. Most of the time we get stuck in a rut and want to switch up our hair and color is one of the ways we do it. It requires quite a bit of maintenance, you have to keep coloring it, grow it out or color over it if you get bored with it. You can do a google search and see all the complaints about dyes and even henna changing curl patterns/hair textures. You have to decide for yourself if its worth all that.

Safely coloring hair is such a complex topic. There could be whole blogs dedicated just to coloring hair. There are whole books on the topic, whole classes in cosmetology schools. If you are interested in coloring your hair, I strongly suggest you read two of my favorite books: The Science of Black Hair and Naturally Healthy Hair: Herbal Treatments And Daily Care for Fabulous Hair. Both of these books have extensive information on coloring hair without chemicals among other amazing info.

So before you do anything to your hair, I implore you to read at least one of those books. They are both in my personal hair reference library and I reference them frequently. Don’t rush into, make an informed decision so that you don’t have any regrets. You might also consider some sort of temporary hair additions to achieve a certain look without permanently putting your hair at risk.

Can I be frank with you? I don’t take hair advice from very many people. I really have to trust the person I’m taking advice from and the person really has to know what they are talking about. One of the people that I trust implicitly when it comes to high texture hair know-how is Audrey Davis-Sivasothy. I have learned so much from her articles, so I was so excited to get her new book entitled The Science of Black Hair: A Comprehensive Guide to Textured Hair Care.

Just browsing through and reading some of the chapters, I can already tell you that this is a must have reference book for women with high texture hair. In the book, Audrey actually lists recommended products based on what they can do for your hair’s protein/moisture balance. The book is very technical, but also insanely practical and straight-forward. If you want to know the science of how our hair thrives and flourishes, get this book. It literally is a text book for managing high texture hair. You’ll read about the hair structure, scalp structure, porosity, building healthy hair regimens, product selection, coloring, transitioning, hair care for children and so much more.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, good hair books are an investment and well worth every penny you spend on them. When you splurge on a $25 hair product, you and I both know that sometimes it’s a hit, but a lot of times… it’s a miss. With books like this, you actually get the knowledge you need to make more informed decisions as a consumer and save yourself time and money on your hair. So, before you take another trip to Ricky’s, Whole Foods, Sephora or Target to hoard hair products that may or may not work, I highly recommend that you invest in this book. I certainly will be keeping my copy of the book bedside while on my journey to waist length.

The Black Woman’s Guide to Beautiful Hair: A Positive Approach to Managing any Hair Type and Style by Lisa Akbari. In my opinion this book is one of the best things you can do for your hair. It was from this book that I developed the way I deep condition my hair. Learning that technique is one of the biggest changes I made in my hair care regimen that helped me transition for nearly a year and half with little breakage. You must read this book if you haven’t already. I love the fact that Lisa Akbari isn’t just some Jane Schmo that wrote a book, she’s a trichologist, a pioneer in caring for naturally curly-kinky hair. This book is Mane and Chic’s top 5 hair books.

The Black Woman’s Guide to Beautiful Hair: A Positive Approach to Managing any Hair Type and Style by Lisa Akbari. In my opinion this book is one of the best things you can do for your hair. It was from this book that I developed the way I deep condition my hair. Learning that technique is one of the biggest changes I made in my hair care regimen that helped me transition for nearly a year and half with little breakage. You must read this book if you haven’t already. I love the fact that Lisa Akbari isn’t just some Jane Schmo that wrote a book, she’s a trichologist, a pioneer in caring for naturally curly-kinky hair. This book is Mane and Chic’s top 5 hair books.

Lorraine Massey, founder and owner of Devachan (a chain of curly hair salons), has done it again. Curly Girl: The Handbook is the latest book from the curly hair guru. It won’t be released until after January 2011, but you can pre-order it now on Amazon.

Amazon’s Product Description

The Curly Girl manifesto is back, now completely revised, updated, and expanded by more than a third with all-new material. Created by curly hair evangelist Lorraine Massey—the go-to curl expert featured in Allure, InStyle, Lucky, Seventeen, and The New York Times; owner of the Devachan salons in New York; and creator of a multimillion-dollar line of all-natural Devachan products—Curly Girl is the surprising bible for the 65 percent of women with naturally curly or wavy hair and a desire to celebrate it.


Curly Girl is packed with unique and fail-proof hair-care methods, inspiration, and an empowering pro-curl attitude. It’s all here: daily routines for Botticelli, fractal, and wavy curls; Lorraine’s no-more-shampoo epiphany—handle your hair as gently as you do your best cashmere sweater; homemade lotions and potions. New to this edition: an illustrated, step-by-step guide to trimming your own hair (Remember: It’s not what you take off; it’s what you leave on.); a section on the particular needs of wavy hair; Lorraine’s Down-and-Dirty Curly Boy Routine; more fabulous ’dos for weddings and other special occasions; a chapter on multicurltural hair written by an African American specialist at Devachan. Plus, updated information on green and chemical-free products, 20 new Q&A’s, and a DVD with tutorials on caring for four different types of curls. From now on, there’s no such thing as a bad hair day.

Q: I’m just starting to take care of my hair. You list so many amazing books, but I don’t know where to start.

A: I am a huge fan of Lisa Akbari. You should check out her website. One of my favorite hair books is Lisa Akbari’s The Black Woman’s Guide to Beautiful Hair. I purchased it used for $5 and it was the best $5 I’ve ever spent on my hair. It’s one of the first books I read. The deep condition and recondition method that I talk about a lot on the blog is a tip that I got from her book and it saved my hair.

Teri La Flesh’s book Curly Like Me is in stock and ready to ship on Amazon.com.

Amazon.com’s Product Description

Check out Teri’s TightlyCurly.com.

Teri La Flesh’s book Curly Like Me is on sale for $11.43 on Amazon.com. The book has not been released yet, but the regular price is $16.95. It’s already #35 on Amazon’s bestselling hair books list. You can lock in the $11.43 price and it will be shipped whenever it is released. Her techniques helped me when I didn’t have a clue about being natural. I didn’t realize my hair was curly until I began reading her site and using her ‘Curly Primer’ method to style my curls. I had NO CLUE. Plus, look at how long her hair is. She’s doing something right. I think it takes a lot of skill and discipline to maintain long hair. Even if it’s not your goal to grow super long hair, I’m sure many of her techniques and expertise can aid in maintaining healthy curly hair. Check out Teri’s TightlyCurly.com.