Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Now Hiring

Okay, so this African hair thing is kicking my butt. I have been so ready for Laila's hair to grow out(they shaved it before we got her). Now, it is growing, and I am finding it to be a lot of work. First of all, she has this weird "old man" receding hair line on each side with hair coming forward in the middle. This makes the cute little puff on each side really hard to do. She is still a baby so I don't want to do the braided hair extensions. I want her to still look like a baby. Then, there are the hair care products. I have been trying to find inexpensive ones that work, but her hair is really dry so I have taken the leap and purchased the more expensive stuff. It seems to make a difference. It is just painful to spend so much on hair. Even when I do fix her hair, by midmorning, it looks matted in the back from her nap or carseat. If I go the route of cornrows, they can be at least $50 every 4-6 weeks. Listen, people, I do good to get my own hair fixed. This is really complicating my mornings. Oh, and did you know that you are only supposed to wash their hair once a week. Otherwise, it dries out too much. Living in CO doesn't help that.
So, I guess I say all of this to say if you have suggestions I am open. I want her to have nice hair. I don't want my ignorance as a white woman to ruin her hair. I have always said if I had a lot of money, I would pay for someone to fix my hair each day. Now, if I had a lot of money, I would pay someone to fix mine and Laila's hair each day. Any takers? Those without experience need not apply. :)

2 comments:

  1. My hairstylist has a mixed race baby. I was actually her nanny for awhile and have babysat her a lot. When I have her on Saturdays, I bathe her. It takes me 20 minutes to cut out all her rubberbands. I'm so scared I'll clip off one of her braids! Anyway, she uses special shampoo and the conditioner she uses is some sort of olive oil stuff. If I put it in my hair, my hair would drip with grease for a week, but it makes her hair soft and pretty. It's not cheap to take care of African hair. I'm going to e-mail my hairstylist and ask her if she has any ideas for you. I do actually know it's quite a challenge and, like you, I'm lucky to get own hair done in a day. :)

    Love, Patti

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  2. Asked a woman at work & she said to only wash her hair once a week. Only brush it when they wake up, to not brush it all day long, that will really dry out the hair. It's baby hair so it's fine enough as it is. It may take several different oils before you find the one that works for her hair. You should only put the oil in once a day. She also said that the babies hair is "trying to find its way" and since she is a baby it will take awhile for her hair to calm down (if it ever does). Just let their hair be natural until it's long enough for braids. You can fix her hair all you want but if it gets matted down that is the way it will be. Unless you are going out of the house I wouldn't worry about how her hair looks, just let it rest and hopefully it will work itself out.

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