I just found something new that I've been using for the past two weeks on my little one's hair. It's put out by Aussie and called KNOTT
forgotten...a conditioner and detangler all in one. Can't believe the difference in her hair and so easy to manage and comb out.
I am impressed with a couple products. Pantene now has a shampoo and conditioner that are designed for women of color. They come in a brown bottle. Note from me/webmaster: I tried the Pantene shampoo, and it did not help at all. Again, that is why you need to try different products until you find what works best for your child. But even better is Alberto VO5 hot oil treatment. The hot oil is heated up under the hot water faucet, applied to wet hair, let stand for about 5 minutes, then rinse out, just a little, not a bunch. Both work real well.
I was letting my duaghter’s hair grow out naturally, due to bad experiences with an AA hairdresser who burned off most of her hair a couple years ago. But I got fed up and bought a "kiddie perm" again. Not the adult relaxer, the one for kids. If you leave it on just for a total of 15 minutes the hair turns out soft and straight-not bone straight. I never had problems with relaxing AA kid's hair until I let a "professional" hairdresser do her hair. Never again. Every 6-8 weeks by me alone!
Mane and Tail Shampoo: sounds silly - but folks use it all the time. Use Mane and Tail
shampoo and most especially the conditioner. It is excellent and will recondition even the horrible straw texture that my son had - and turn it
nice and silky. It took a while to repair - wasn't all at once - but it
works wonders around anything else I've seen.
My girls get braids so far....I love it.
If only *I* could figure out how to do a good job -
so far, I end up paying for the nice braiding that stays several weeks. In between, I do simple braids or twists. Guess I need more practice time.
My girl with the hardest hair, though, is NEVER going to let practice time be on her hair.
She's the older, but the worst at patient sitting.
The hairdresser suggested I buy myself a "hair head" (they have different hair textures on each head). I checked them out - like $45? If I can't get some kids to sit for me, I might just go get one.
I've watched REALLY carefully - and the hairdresser goes REALLY slowly to try to teach me - guess doing cornrows is just not going to be on my list of God-given talents...
I see a lot of mentioning regarding extentions in the hair. Extentions are nice, but you have to be careful not to put to many extentions in the hair. The reason being the extentions can be very
heavy on the child's hair and can cause breakage. The 100% human hair is lighter but it cost much more.
Also if you put the extentions in nice braids you can wash the child's hair with the extentions still in. The trick is to put a stocking cap on the child's hair and wash it that way. There is
braiding shampoo which is design to wash the hair. Also there is braiding oil to spray on the hair after washing.
A Haitian lady did not exactly roll the end of the foil, but rather rolled it around the hair, and folded it upwards, and then she inserted
The last bead in the bottom end of the foil, that was turned up. Then she pressed the part of the folded foil, that came out under the bead, and kind ofcrushed it against the bead, to avoid it from falling. I guess this prevents not only the bead from falling, but the foil itself from falling.
The foil looks like pretty silver beads on the bottom of each braid.
A must have is a bonnet for drying braids and weaves. This bonnet attaches to any blow dryer and throughly dries hair so you will not get hair mildew. Never go to bed with a wet head of hair. This is a recipe for a tangled, matted mess.
Spritz - two tablespoons conditioner, 1/2-1 teaspoon olive oil, 2 drops lavender oil (more if not pure) and water. Put in an 8 oz spray
bottle and Voile!! The lavender oil is a growth stimulator so it is important. I discovered that often times lavender oil is bottled for
aromatherapy so it is for the fragrance not the elements of it.
You can find lavender essential oil at local health food stores,but be on the lookout not to get ones made with "lavendin". It smells similar so is often used as a cheaper substitute, but does not have the same properties. The ones at the craft store are usually not true essential oils. They
Are usually scents used for making soaps, popourries, etc. Pure essential oils have some amazing health properties and the purer, the better. Lavender is one of the best all around oils, can be used for almost every ailment (and is absolutely miraculous when put on burns and scratches), so if you buy a bottle of it, you'd be able to use for many other purposes too, and they don't "go bad".
My daughter wears a pair of old (but clean!) panty hose with the legs cut off over her head every night. It helps alot in keeping her hair nice and she just knows she has to wear it.
As for the styles...My daughter (3 years old) didn't have much hair when I started twisting it...lots of bald spots...but it grew incredibly fast after I started doing it all the time. A Jamacian friend told me to softly brush the bald spots and try and just twist what I could between my fingers so that it did not matte or break off.
When my daughter came home, her hair was very short, as it had been pretty much shaved at the Center, due to ringworm.
It was not patchy, just short. When it was about 2 inches, I started doing puffs all over. Then, I decided to try to twist that puff. I used elastics next to the scalp to hold the hair, like you
would for the puff, and then I combed into the hair a gel...twist and lock gel, purple lid...I used a rat tail comb for this, the tail of the comb for the parting, and the fine teeth for carefully combing the hair as smooth as possible, and kind of stretching it out....split the hair into two sections, and then I, with my right hand (fingers) would roll the right section in my fingers (did you
ever fiddle with your hair, and roll the hair in your fingers?)
Anyway, I 'roll' the right section, and bring it over the left, now the left is on the right, and I 'roll' it with my fingers (right hand), and put that over the left section, roll right section, over the left, roll right section, over the left.
Two inches is good enough...finish off by rolling the two ends into one, using your thumb, and pointer finger. Now you can place a small bead on the end, bring the end of the hair over the bead back to the twisted hair, and put an elastic around that to hold the bead in. If you are concerned with your daughter pulling the bead out, and putting them in her mouth, then just finish off with the twisting between thumb, and pointer finger...won't stay in as long, but....
Piggy back twists, are pretty easy...make the section, elastic, twist, and then bring it the neighbor section of hair, and elastic the two together, comb these to together, and twist, bring it to the next section, elastic these together, and on, and on. Go from side to side, or front to back, or back to front.
As her hair gets longer, the braiding will become easier, at least that is what I found....I had a hard time braiding short, slippery hair (due to the gel), but the twist were easier. I just started
braiding, and that eliminated the need for the elastic at the scalp.
The elastics break fairly quickly due to the product on the hair. I have found Scunci silicone elastics that look like 'rubber' bands, and they last a bit longer than the thin 'ouchless' elastics
The satin pillow case: I received as gifts, P.J. tops that were satiny, slippery material, and I don't wear them, so I put those over the pillow, button side down of course. I find that helps, as I do not have a du rag as yet. I think that a satiny material would be better than silk.
It just takes some practice and getting used to hair texture and which products work best, etc. My daughter has been home 7 weeks, and I have to say her hairstyles today are much improved over the ones I did when she first came home. Also,
because she is older and has an opinion about her hair, I was at first worried that she wouldn't like the styles I put in her hair -- I am always excited when I get a smile from her and a big "thank you,
Mommy!" I guess if she is pleased with how she looks, that is what matters!!!
Books to Read:
My daughter came home with thousands of little microbraids, and it took me several hours to take them out when I wanted to start playing with
her hair!! I thought I would *never* want to put those tiny braids in again!! But, guess what? The other day I just started parting and braiding and before I knew it, she had a head full of little
braids! Even though poofs and twists are cute, they don't last as long as the braids. Also, I have been experimenting with products for the last 7 weeks. Some products that people have recommended and I've bought don't seem to work well in her hair, and so I have just found what I like by trying different products. Eventually, you will get the knack of it and know your daughter's hair and what works best and what looks best!
One key thing that I have found with my daughter’s hair is that it really is important to keep it moist. I used a scalp conditioner and just
rub into her scalp at the parts occasionally. I use a braid spray that adds moisture when she has braids that I don't want to take out every day. And when I have a simpler style with say 4-6 twists or braids, then I do occasionally take them out and really slather up her hair with oil moisturizing lotion.
I parted her hair down the middle, and then across from ear to ear on top and then from ear to ear across the back. This gave me six sections of hair to work with! I greased her hair with some lotion
and put small elastics around each section. Next, I 3-strand braided each section. In the front two braides I tied some ribbon into bows around the top part of the section, and put some matching mini-
barrettes at the bottom. In the middle, I put two pony-tail holders that were a different color with mini-barettes on the bottom. In the back, I put another set of pony-tail holders (different color) with butterfly clips at the bottom.
That's it!! It's a very simple style, but looks cute -- and I think what makes it fun is the different color ribbons and pony-tail holders (all matching her outfit, of course!). Now tomorrow I might change the colors of ribbons and pony-tail holders to match whatever she is wearing, but I won't have to take the braids out -- I'll just spray it with braid spray.
Even if the braids get messy and you have to redo some of them, it only takes a few minutes. I put her hair in a du-rag at night after I put some more moisturizer in it (more braid spray).
It took me 3 years to find the product that worked best for my daughter, lol, and that is the Jamaican gel. I have some braid spray from African Royale. It seems to work well and is pretty light. I know Proclaim has a tea tree oil spray that is light and
soaksinto braids well. My daughter has some serious dry scalp issues, so I have to spray and then supplement with some grease on her actual scalp most nights..
I wanted to help the mother who was concerned about dry skin. My three daughters have dry skin. We were prescribed a hydrocortisone as well. We also use a moisturizing lotion and cream called Cetaphil. We were instructed to put the lotion on the body, then rub on the cream and then the hydrocortisone. The hydrocortisone locks in the moisture from the lotion and cream. This process helps teach the skin how to keep moisture in. It has worked for my first two daughters. If I could only get the third to catch up. It does take at least a year before the skin can adapt so be patient. We would do this twice or three times a day. It may seem like a lot but it does help. I understand the caution of being dependant on the hydrocortisone. It is possible but my pediatrician informed me that teaching the skin how to keep moisture will eliminate prolonged use of the cortisone.
1. A good book is the "It's All Good Hair". Lots of pictures.
"It's All Good Hair: The Guide to Grooming and Styling Black
Children's Hair"
"Kid's Talk Hair: An Instruction Book for Grown-ups and Kids"
I just found this on the internet, but I haven’t viewed it yet. I think I’ll order it though.
African-American and Biracial Hair Care DVD:
a parent’s practical guide to managing hair care, available at Here.
Here is what some of what is on the site.
Have you adopted transracially? You may sometimes wonder how you’ll ever meet the challenge of hair care for your African-American or biracial child. Wonder no longer. Master stylists use live models to help you work with a texture that is different than your own, with practical advice and suggestions for new styling techniques.
Subjects covered:
• hair care basics
• hair care, continued
• combing out
• processing
• styling
• braids, twists, and knots
• styling for toddlers
length: 97 minutes
