[.ca] Textured Tresses: The Ultimate Guide to Maintaining and ... (ISBN 0743235509)

Understanding My Natural Texture:
After reading Ms. Da Cost's book I now have a positive attitude about my tightly coiled textured hair. Before I was led to beleive my "Kinky or Nappy" Hair was unruly and unmanageable. Now I love and accept my "Tightly Coiled" hair and know that there are many styles that I can wear. Ms. Da Costa covers shampoos and conditions that are especially formulated for my hair texture and names them. This is very different from all other books. There are many great books written before this one that break down structure and style, but I think this book brings a new dimension by concentrating on loving and accepting naturally textured hair, caring and maintaining for your hair with conditioners and products and the styles are easy to follow and achieve. Thanks for the wealth of information. Love the Photos.

Nothing new...:
I also was really excited when I heard this book was coming out, but became quickly disappointed. I was hoping Ms. DaCosta would offer added information to the care and styling of natural African hair. There isn't anything that has been displayed better than Pamela Farrell's Let's Talk Hair or Tulani Kinard's NO LYE in this book. Unfortunately I saw nothing new.

The Ultimate Name Droppers Hair Book:
If you want to know the stars that Ms. Da Costa has styled, or the styles that she is credited with discovering, then this is the book for you. If you need a substantive book on caring for natural or textured hair, this is not it. The first 85 or so pages contain very little hair care information, for example only a page or so is devoted to starting locs. I was extremely disappointed in the section of the book devoted to haircuts and styling of textured hair. There is not a lot of information for those of us who want to do our hair at home.

Got compliments on my 'do after trying one from this book:
I live in one of the smaller medium-sized towns in North Carolina. It's a college town and I like it, but it's prone to hipness on a rare occasion. It's hard to find a salon to do something different on your hair. I tried two of the styles in this book and one in particular - the Nubian nots - netted me major compliments. Brothers in cars were even turning their heads and waving. One was crossing the street when I was leavng a book store and shouted "I like that a lot!" and he pointed to his hair and then pointed to my head. "Your hair!" he yelled. "I like that style." I could not stop smiling. It was my first time trying it and Diane's book inspired it. The best compliment was from a man at church who told me he wished he could get his daughter's hair like my style. The good thing is that not only can you get ideas for styles, you learn how to get a healthier scalp. I want to mix some of the natural oil recipes Diane suggests and massage them into my scalp next!

Book would be okay if it took "Ultimate" out of the title:
If you're newly nappy, this book is probably for you. It gives some general information on hair textures and has some interesting styles. "Ultimate" it ain't. The author apparently isn't aware that there are several excellent natural hair care texts that cover this ground more thoroughly than she does. She even claims to have invented the twist out. Now for all I know she may be right, but there is at least one book out there (Pamela Ferrell's Let's Talk Hair) that already addresses this style by that name, and another (Lonnice Brittenum Bonner's books) that use another name but is essentially the same style). If you've been nappy for a number of years and are looking for an "ultimate" style book, give this book a pass. If you're newly nappy, buy Pamela Ferrell's Let's Talk Hair, and take this book out of the library for some additional styles.