Organic Root Stimulator, Shea Moisture, Jane Carter’s Solution, Oyin Handmade, Uncle funky’s Daughter, As I Am, Ouidad, Talijah Wajid, Carol’s Daughter, Hair Rules, Koils by Nature, Karen’s Body Beautiful, Jessicurl, Komaza Care, Mixed Chicks, Giovanni Cosmetics, Darcy’s Botanicals, Hairveda, and so on….. The list is getting longer and longer as natural hair becomes more popular in the African-American community.  Companies are jumping on the natural hair bandwagon to try to earn lots of money in the ever-growing market of natural hair products.  Companies that are developing natural hair care products are sprouting like mushrooms.  Some are even trying to sell their products, while promising stupendous results, without even taking an ounce of care towards the ingredients that they use in their products.  Inticing naturals who are searching for the product that will give them the perfect curl, the product names often contain the word curl or curly.  The question is:  Which products are the best for your hair?

In the beginning, I spent time worrying about products and living in France didn’t make it easy for me.  Sporting my twa (teeny-weeny afro), I realized that I needed moisture in my hair and I wasn’t ready to turn into a product junkie trying to find the right one, especially since I would have to order everything online.  I survived and my hair grew with the simplest methods, *co-washing, leave-in, and sealing with jojoba oil.  Two years ago, I didn’t have Hair Products 101 A 4-Step Process to Empower You To  Select the Best Products for Your Hair.  Chicoro hadn’t written it yet.  I was fortunate enough to have read her first book, Grow it!  How to Grow Afro-Textured Hair to Maximum Lengths in the Shortest Time.  Having been very impressed with all the efficient information in Grow it! made me want to check out Hair Products 101 and I wasn’t disappointed.  This is an excellent guide for choosing the right hair products for your texture.  Chicoro breaks it down and explains how we can get side tracked into buying products because we like the shape of the bottle or the color of the label.  These new companies are using all the marketing strategies possible to make their products attractive.  But, did you? “Most studies on hair are conducted using Caucasian and Asian hair.  It is difficult for research centers to obtain long, unaltered, unprocessed Afro-textured hair……The practice of the hair care industry is to use Asian hair to represent Afro-textured hair.  The Asian hair is treated with alkali, or it is steamed and heat damaged until it crinkles so that it looks “kinky” and curly.” Hair Products 101 p. 7

An overview of the 4-step process is given in the beginning after explaining the rare commodity value of afro hair.  She then gives an explanation of the human hair fiber, comparing Afro, Asian, and Caucasian hair.  She then urges naturals to follow the growth of their hair through photos and answering all the questions in her “understanding your hair” survey.  It’s a template that you can copy from pages 42 to 49 and answer with care to continue a successful healthy hair growth journey.  There is also a big section on solvents , surfactants, protein treatments,etc.  This leads into what Chicoro calls cheat sheets.  They designate how to identify, recognize, and categorize, ingredients.  The end of the book contains case studies.  There you can read a problematic from a natural and what Chicoro suggests as solutions.

Interesting book and explained clearly and simply in 111 pages.  I rate it 4 1/2 stars.  This could be the book to help a product junkie to repent and to prevent others from becoming one.  I don’t know much about Chicoro, but she definitely has a wealth of information that should be more publicized.  This information will enable us to stop being victims of the sharp marketing tactics in the hair care industry.  Please check out both of her books and her website at http://beautifybitbybit-chicoro.blogspot.fr/