Foreword by A'Lelia Bundles, Madame C.J. Walker's Great-Great-Granddaughter

In the ultra-glamorous, highly competitive international arena of hair fashion, Barry Fletcher is an undisputed champion.  With flare and grace, he has waved his combs, brushes and curling irons like magic wands across the tresses of thousands of beautiful women, winning scores of trophies and the affection of his clients along the way.

If Barry Fletcher chose to do so, he could rest on his laurels.  He has already reached the mountaintop of the hair care industry, displaying his artistry from the runways of the International Hair Olympics tot he cover of Essence magazine.  His master classes and training seminars are standing-room-only affairs in Paris, London, Canada, the Caribbean and throughout the United States.  He has opened a salon in St. Croix, with more to come.  He has created styles for movie stars, Congresswomen, fashion models and corporate executives.

All the accolades could go to a guy's head.  Instead, they have moved Barry to a higher level of hair care consciousness.  The result: He wants to go back to basics, to help black women recapture the power and vitality of their crowning glory.

During his 20 years as a hairstylist, Barry has treated the spectrum of emergency beauty ailments, chronic hair abuse, habitual scalp battering, chemically dependehnt perm disorders and tortured stress syndrome.

The cure, he has discovered, is Grooming! Grooming! Grooming!  The medicine that he always prescribes is Conditioning, Conditioning, Conditioning.  But the real miracle ingredient, he will tell you, no matter how you wear your hair is a generous dose of self-acceptance and self-love.

I first read about Barry several years ago when he dared to challenge the status quo of the prestigious International Hair Olympics.  Instead of being oh-so-grateful for the invitation to compete in London, he made a revolutionary decision.  His model, much to the U.S. team leader's consternation, would be a black woman, someone whom they declared would not do.  Didn't black hair lack "certain versatility," they wispered amongst themselves? In the end, Barry prevailed, and he has not looked back.

My interest in Barry's work has continued ever since, because like my great-great grandmother, the hair care industry pioneer, Madame C.J. Walker, he cares deeply about black women and their hair.  Just as she discovered almost a century ago, he has learned that promoting ahir care among his clients is more important than serving up the latest hair fashion.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's, thousands of black women were going bald, not only because of stress and poor diet, but because their hair has been neglected and mistreated.  Too many of us believed an old wives' tale that it was bad luck to wash our hair more than once a month.  In rural areas where there was a lack of indoor plumbing and electricity, many women left their hair unwashed all winter for fear they would catch a cold.  The scalp disease that resulted is almost too horrible to imagine.

At a time when few were celebrating the beauty of black women, Madame Walker and Poro Company founder Annie Malone were among those who exposed us to a new way of viewing our hair.  Today, Madame Walker is often identified with hot combs and hair straightening, even though she did not invent either.  In reality, she was more concerned with hygiene and hair restoration.  Calling herself a "Scalp Specialist," she once told a reporter, "Let me correct the erroneous impression held by some that I always held myself out as a hair culturist.  I grow hair - I want the great masses of my people to take greater pride in their appearance and to give their hair proper attention."

"Giving our hair proper attention" is also Barry Fletcher's goal.

As you turn these pages, you will be treated to his vision of hair care empowerment.  In the process, I hope you will discover ways to nourish your inner and outer selves!