Curl Talk: Everything You Need to Know to Love and Care for Your Curly, Kinky, Wavy, or Frizzy Hair

by Ouidad

At loose ends with your locks? Let the “Queen of Curl” show you how to bring out the best in your hair.

The lengths that women go to in order to tame their curls! If you’ve been blessed with curly hair, chances are that you’ve thought of it as a curse, complaining, “It’s uncontrollable!” “It’s a mess!” or “It’s so frizzy and
tangly!” Out of frustration, you may have mistakenly resorted to methods (straighteners, irons, blow-dryers) that only cause more damage to your hair. Now renowned New York City stylist Ouidad sets the record straight on curly hair and shows you how to start loving the waves, kinks, and curls you were born with. In Curl Talk , Ouidad reveals the secrets to bringing out your natural beauty,
* Finding the right cut
* How often to shampoo (and why you never wrap your wet hair in a towel)
* Why brushes and mousses should be outlawed
* The best conditioning and styling treatments
* Blow-drying, coloring, and straightening the safe way

Based on Ouidad’s experience catering solely to curly-haired clients at her exclusive Manhattan salon, Curl Talk is a straight-talking guide for your daily struggle with the frizzies, offering simple, step-by-step solutions for getting a gorgeous head of curls. It will revolutionize the way you treat your hair.

Genres: Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

Reviews

[Oriana]

I am kind of embarrassed to be reading this, but maybe I'll learn something. Also, it's not like I paid for it, so what the hell.

***

Ok ok ok ok. I've been kind of reading this, like a few pages a week, for months and months. And that's mostly because I'm pretty torn about reading it at all; it really feels like capitulating to a vanity that I tend to deny. But anyway, fuck it. I have curly hair, I like my curly hair, and I'd like it to be prettier. There, ok? Sheesh.

Um, that aside, this book is decently good. Although it's really PEPPY!! and Ms. Ouidad REALLY WANTS YOU TO LOVE YOUR CURLS. So that gets pretty irritating. She's also interspersed all these "real-life stories" about ladies going from frizzy to fabulous in one easy step. (Generally that step is paying lots of money at an Ouidad salon.) So that's fairly annoying too.

But she does give some good tips. Here is the best one: She is way against the flip-your-head-over-and-scrunch method of applying gel to wet hair. Instead she says: "Rub a small amount of styling lotion between your palms and smooth your hands over the hair in one fluid movement from front to back, as if you're gathering your hair into a ponytail." Shockingly, this actually works!

Also included are lists of good & bad ingredients that you should check hair care products for. (Believe it or not, I have yet to commit this list to memory; I still buy shampoo and shit based on bottle color and promo copy. Please don't tell anyone. That's another thing I tend to pretend I'm "above" doing.) She also gives step-by-step instrux for healthy blow-dry straightening, does a how-to-shampoo bit, and on and on. I kind of forget the rest, but yeah. Pretty good. I will probably put it in the bathroom to read again.

[Shannon]

My hair is wavy and frizzy and curly and straight and if this book can help it I will be forever indebted. I'm not willing to buy it though, I don't think. The cover is too sassy.

[Nicole]

This has some good tips for curly hair but it's quite outdated. It was published in 2002, so I feel old saying that, but the beauty industry is a very different world than it was sixteen years ago. The basic hair care tips are the same but tools and products have come a long way.

[Bethany]

I didn’t love this book. But I did learn a few things. I struggle with my curls. And have for years. I’m going to try some of her products and methods and see how I feel. But I hate the carved and sliced haircut. And I hate the gel look. We shall see.

[Marie-Elise Diamond]

This was a fantastic ( although a tad dated) read while I was sitting under the hair dryer at the salon after a curly cut. I learned a lot about how to care for my curly hair even though I've lived with my hair for over 30 years....

[Amber]

This book does not follow the Curly Girl Method (CGM) at all! I was highly disappointed that most of the stuff I read contradicted everything I know about curly hair. I give it one star because it does have some beneficial knowledge (like how to do certain updos with bobby pins and chopsticks) but this information could also be learned from a simple YouTube video. Ouidad talks a lot about her hair care products and I get it. If I had a hair care line and wrote a book about hair, I would mention my hair care products as well. But I was heavily disappointed that her hair care line has sulfates, silicones, and alcohols (something the CGM is HIGHLY against and many curlies that I know wouldn't dare touch them). The beauty industry has evolved a lot since this book was published and I just feel like this books needs to be re-evaluated.

[Erin]

Doing some research on my wavy hair and came across Ouidad and her products. This book had some good information about the quality of hair with wave or curl. I learned that I am way too rough on my hair! I'm going to try her products and see how they work because I liked her advice.

[Kai Tucker]

This book was okay. I loved the author's story and passion but some her recommendations (products, tools, and supplies) conflicted with others I have read elsewhere. I do not doubt her results, but I do not think her methods are for my curls.

[Laura]

Helpful in some ways, but mainly just says the stuff you can find online for free. Hairstyles could have had better pictures.

[Bryn]

I don't buy into Ouidad's philosophy of curly hair, but it's worth a look.

[Katie J Schwartz]

Although my curls are still quite unruly, I found the advice in the book pretty helpful.